On the ground
The etiquette to know, the onsen, health, emergencies, tax-free shopping and the words that open doors.
- Etiquette and onsen
- Health, safety, emergencies
- Shopping and tax-free
- Useful phrases
The codes, without a misstep
Nobody expects a visitor to know everything. A few gestures are enough to be welcomed with a smile everywhere: on the train, at the temple, and all the way to the onsen bath.
- Do
- Take your shoes off when entering homes, ryokan and many temples
- Wait to the side of the train doors, and let people off
- Keep your trash until the konbini: streets have very few bins
- Leave priority seats to elderly, pregnant or disabled people
- Carry your passport at all times
- Greet with a nod: nobody expects a deep bow
- Avoid
- Phone calls on the train or bus: switch to silent
- Keeping your slippers on the tatami
- Eating while walking, or on the subway; on the Shinkansen, it's allowed
- Smoking on the street or platforms, outside designated areas
- Carrying a knife, even a pocketknife: you can be arrested
- Tipping: not at restaurants, not in taxis, not at hotels
At a Shinto shrine, four gestures
- Bow at the torii
One bow, before passing through the gate.
- Purify at the fountain
Ladle in your right hand, rinse your left hand, then your right. Rinse your mouth with water poured into your palm, never from the ladle.
- A coin in the box
Drop it in front of the altar.
- Two, two, one
Two bows, two claps, one final bow.
The torii gates of Fushimi Inari shrine, in Kyoto
PlanJapanOn the ground · Etiquette and onsenThe onsen, step by step
Separate baths for men and women, entered naked: swimsuits are not allowed. Six steps, in order.
Hot-spring water steaming in its wooden channels, in winter- Take everything offIn the changing room. The large towel, the one for drying off, stays there too.
- Wash firstWith soap, at the showers, before getting in the water. Without splashing.
- Rinse with hot waterPour water over your body, the kakeyu, to get used to the heat.
- Tie up your hairAnd the small towel never goes in the water.
- Ease in slowlyThe water is around 40 °C (104 °F), and the steam can make you dizzy: take breaks.
- Stay calmTalk quietly, no swimming, no photos. No bathing after drinking.
Tattoos are often refused in the baths. Book a private bath, the kashikiri, or a room with its own bath; some places accept a bandage covering them. Ask first.
Place by place, the recent rules
No drinking on the street from 6 pm to 5 am; 2,000 ¥ fine for littering.
Omoide Yokocho and Golden Gai: street photos only with permission. In Golden Gai, no drinking on the street.
At Kiyomizu-dera and Fushimi Inari: no drones, no eating while walking, no blocking the path for a photo.
Gion, Mount Fuji, the deer of Nara and Miyajima have their own rules too: see their chapters.
PlanJapanOn the ground · Etiquette and onsen