Destinations:

Nagano
Kyoto
Tokyo

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As we rode the train from Narita into Tokyo, I was gazing out the window at the neon lights in Kanji wondering what kind of cultural shock I might be in for. The characters I was seeing held no meaning to me, and for the first time since I was a kid, I was illiterate. It was an odd feeling at first, but as it turned out, I was in for almost no culture shock…a different culture? Sure, of course. But shock, no, not at all. We immediately fell in love with this country and to this day it is probably my favorite country I have been to. 

We decided to write a bit of a Japan overview to supplement the specific posts for those who haven’t been and might be wondering about the culture shock like I did. I’ll try to break it up into sections and hopefully cover everything *we* experienced to help with expectations and hopefully help avoid some of the faux paus we committed.

Language

Whenever we go somewhere, I always try to learn a bit of the language (see our tips section) and Japan was no different. I looked up some of the basics and some simple phrases like “Do you speak english.” I thought I had it pretty good, but I was apparently way off…the first place I broke out that phrase, the poor guy looked at me like I had three heads and I resorted to gesturing, which worked fine. 

Many younger Japanese have a better understanding and grasp of English than they will let on…they’re not being rude, rather we found that some can be a bit shy about using it as they feel they can’t speak it well, but with some respect, effort, and patience, you’ll have no problem getting by. Still, try to use Japanese whenever possible as it will establish a level of respect between you and the other person. 

Signage in the cities is often in both Kanji and English, but in more rural areas, English is more difficult to come by. I remember being in a train station in Nagano Prefecture, unsure where to go to get the next train, unable to find anyone who could speak english, and communicating the characters we were looking for, “Ok, we’re looking for a house with snow on the roof, followed by a robot with three legs.” It worked and we made it.

Lastly, we had some funny experiences with the three Japanese words for “thanks,” “thank you,” and “thank you very much” (Arigato, Arigato Gozaimasu, and Domo Arigato Gozaimasu, respectively). In American English, these words are pretty much interchangeable, the difference in sincerity comes more from tone and other cues than the words themselves or context. This is not the case in Japanese. Here, they increase in formality, with the last being reserved for only the most heartfelt and formal of thank yous. The first is more casual, think fast food, etc, and the middle falling, well, somewhere in the middle. On our first day in Tokyo, we went to a market and my friend bought some tea to take home. When I looked over, the two older ladies working the booth were repeatedly bowing to him…it was bizarre and a bit funny. Turns out he used “domo arigato gozaimasu” in a situation where it wasn’t really warranted, with a funny result. To give you another idea of the implications of using thank you very much; we were at a bar in Tokyo, Sansa, and had an incredible experience, we were the only people in there, sat at the bar having a great time talking with the owner/bartender and sharing some incredible beer. Knowing about the different ways to say thanks, we felt it was appropriate to use “domo arigato gozaimasu” in an attempt to properly thank him for his hospitality. Well, after thanking him, he came out from behind the bar, got our jackets, PUT THEM ON US, got the door, and ushered us (while bowing) a block down the street to make sure we knew where we were going.

Gestures and such

Since I mentioned it above, gestures and the way you conduct yourself in public spaces seemed to be more important in Japan than other places I’ve been, so I figured I’d list some ones that stood out here.

Pointing is seen as rude, if you do need to point, “show” what you are pointing at with your entire right hand – the left hand is seen as unclean, as it is used for, well, use your imagination.

If someone hands you something, receive it with both hands, not just one.

If you go to a temple, you may see a well or something similar with a small basin of water and a wooden ladle resting in the water near the entrance. This is used to cleanse your hands before entering the grounds. Simply ladle some water onto your left hand, then right, and lastly, fill the ladle with water and tilt it back so that the water runs down the handle, and place it back in the water. The last bit is important, as the ladle would be seen as unclean if you don’t do it. This whole thing doesn’t seem to be a huge deal, as we saw a number of other tourists not do it, but we could definitely tell it was appreciated when we were seen doing this properly.

Personal space and orderliness is important, for example when waiting to get on a train, there are painted lines on the ground to form a line. 

There is absolutely no tipping in Japan, don’t even try, it will be refused outright.

Japan is much more reserved and respectful than some other places, so try to avoid being loud or obnoxious. 

People

The people in Japan are incredible, it may take some effort, but the Japanese are some of the nicest, generous, and most genuine people I have come across in my travels. I always like to try to blend in whenever we travel, but for obvious reasons, this is not possible in Japan; we were identified as outsiders, or “gaijin” immediately anywhere we went. Rightly or wrongly, Americans tend to have a bit of a reputation of being loud, obnoxious, and disrespectful while abroad; nowhere was this reputation more evident than in Japan. It’s unfortunate both that this perception exists, and that it is likely earned. One night, we were at a bar in Kyoto (I wish I could remember the name, it was a great place), and we had been there a while drinking beers and chatting with the bartenders. They had a ton of records behind the bar, and since no music was playing, we asked the bartender to play her favorite record. We got talking about Japanese music and were enjoying listening to Crazy Ken Band when two guys from Texas walked in. We got talking, and the music playing came up. One of them, loudly and in full earshot of three bartenders (who spoke perfect English), goes “Oh is this just some bullsh*t Japanese music??” These people are the ones who create the negative perception; they are memorable, they leave a lasting impression, and they build walls. Because of these walls, you may occasionally find that your reception is a bit reserved or even cold. However, these walls are easy enough to break down, we found Crazy Ken Band to be a good ice breaker, being from Kentucky had its advantages too. Whiskey is very popular in Japan, and as such, many people knew a surprising amount about Kentucky. As one guy put it before we exchanged shots of Japanese Whisky and Bourbon, “OH! Kentucky! Bourbon, basketball, and fried chicken!!!!” 

Onsens

Onsens, or hot springs are a major part of life in Japan, guidelines on use are all over the place, but here are some things to know.

There is a small fee to enter, and when you do, you’ll be given a small hand towel/washcloth to use. The onsens are divided, so men and women go to different sides and are not together at all. 

When you go to your side you’ll have lockers or cubbies to put your clothes and belongings in. 

Before you enter the pool/bath, you’ll be required to shower. Usually the showers were by the pool and are a good bit different than showers in the US or Europe. You’ll see some stools lined against the wall with a handheld shower head at waist height. Simply sit on the stool and shower yourself off (with soap) before getting into the onsen.

As you may know, swimsuits are not permitted, but you can use the small towel for modesty when walking around if you want; however, when you get in the onsen, the towel goes on your head to stay dry, do not get it wet. As an American, it can all be a bit awkward at first, but we quickly got used to it and thoroughly enjoyed the onsens, especially after a long day of snowboarding.

Your onsen may have different baths at different temperatures and some of them can get HOT. At one, it was almost unbearably hot, luckily another person in the bath noticed that we were uncomfortable and went over to a faucet that we hadn’t seen to add some cold water. I’m not sure what the protocol is on adjusting the temperature, but we were grateful.

Ryokan Faux Paus

In both Kyoto and Nozawa Onsen, we stayed at a traditional Japanese Inns, called Ryokan, these are amazing places to stay and you should definitely stay in at least one during your trip to Japan. 

In Kyoto we were given a key which had a large wooden stick as the keychain with our room number on it. I didn’t want to carry around the stick all day, so I took the key off so it would fit in my pocket. Well, as we were leaving the first morning, the front desk person asked our room number, and as she didn’t speak english well, asked to see our key to get the number. When I showed her the key sans wooden stick, she seemed a bit appalled that I would separate the two. Point being, they probably have a reason for what they do, and it is best to respect it.

Another pair of mishaps occurred in Nozawa Onsen. When you arrive at an inn, you will take off your shoes and be given a pair of slippers to wear around indoors, when you leave, you place them in a basket and grab another pair when you return (they’re all the same size). We were given some cloth slippers that were EXTREMELY small, like a US size 5 or something. We noticed another basket with some leather slippers that seemed a bit bigger, so when we came back, we each grabbed a pair of those. When the innkeeper saw us, she stopped dead in her tracks, and said “leather for Asian only!!!” I have no idea why this is the case; I really don’t think she was being racist, but was just using her limited english to get her point across. 

At that same Ryokan, on our first morning we went down for a traditional Japanese breakfast that was served. Many Ryokan offer this and we definitely recommend it. We didn’t know that tables were assigned (look for a card on the table with your room number on it), so we peeked in the room, saw an open table and sat down. Again, the innkeeper spotted us…”white people, that room!!” and showed us to a different room that was for non-asians. Again, I’m not sure why this is done, but I don’t think it’s for any negative reasons.

Pachinko

Ah pachinko, I’m still not really sure how to describe this game, maybe a cross between pinball and plinko? But with hundreds of little steel balls. You may or may not want to play, as it seems to be a form of gambling, but you’ll likely see pachinko parlors all over the place, so I figured I’d add our story. I’m also not really sure of the point, or how to win. But we did win. A lot. It is not a game of skill, or if it is, we were blindly good at it. Honestly, we just mashed buttons, but at the end of our first session, we each had “won” a sizable bin’s worth of these little steel bearings, with no idea what to do with them. One of the workers sensed our confusion, and ushered us and our bearings to a desk in the back where we handed the bins over. In exchange, we received a stack of poker chips and a little trinket. Again we were confused. Another panchinko-er must’ve seen our bewildered looks and had us follow him through the back door of the parlor, where we saw a separate small building, kinda like a glorified toll booth. The windows were blacked out, but below them was a secure pass through drawer, like at a bank or drive thru pharmacy. He gestured to put our poker chips in the drawer (you keep the trinket), and when the drawer pivoted back our way, we were greeted with a nice stack of yen. We played many more times, but were never quite as successful as that first time.

Other

Japan is CLEAN, extremely clean. Tokyo is the cleanest city I’ve ever been to, and in Kyoto, we literally saw a construction worker sweeping a dry river bed that had been dammed off to build a bridge pylon with a straw broom. It’s strange that it’s so clean, yet we rarely saw any trash cans on the street.

Vending machines are EVERYWHERE. I honestly doubt that you’re ever out of sight of at least one.

You probably don’t see any trash cans on the street because eating or drinking on the go is not very common here. I don’t think I ever saw someone walking down the street with coffee or food in hand, which seemed pretty bizarre given the prevalence of vending machines.