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Social
Greetings, gifts, and polite distance in conversation.
23 rules published
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-san, -chan, -sensei: Getting Someone's Name Right in Japan
Honorifics aren't decoration — they encode who's inside your circle and who's outside it. Four naming mistakes visitors make constantly, and the safe default that gets you through almost every situation.
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Business Dining in Japan: Seating, Ordering & Drink Rules
A Japanese business meal is the meeting. Seating order, pour rules, and when to start eating all follow hierarchy. Here's what to do at the table.
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Don't Hug Japanese People: Personal Space Rules
Hugging is not a Japanese greeting — even a smiling person may be deeply uncomfortable. Bow, don't reach, and don't shake unless they initiate.
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Invited to a Japanese Home? How Not to Botch the Gift, the Shoes, and the Seat
Being asked over to a Japanese person's home is a real honor — and there's a whole quiet choreography to it: the gift, the genkan shoe dance, the seat you're allowed to sit in, and not wearing the toilet slippers into the living room. Here's how to get it right.
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Japanese Gift Giving: 3 Rules Most Tourists Miss
Both hands when you give, wrapped until the giver leaves, never in sets of four. These aren't optional details — they decide if the gift lands.
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Japanese Karaoke Rules: Private Rooms Change Everything
Japanese karaoke is a private room, not a stage. Don't hog the mic, cheer for every singer, order food to keep it cheap, and watch your time slot.
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Kamiza & Shimoza: Where to Sit (and Stand) So You Don't Insult the Boss
Japan has an invisible seating chart in meeting rooms, taxis, elevators, and restaurants — the kamiza (seat of honor) and shimoza (lower seat). Sit in the wrong spot at a business dinner and you'll quietly bewilder the room. Here's the one rule that ties all four scenes together.
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Meishi: How to Exchange a Japanese Business Card
Meishi koukan is a small ceremony: two hands, a slight bow, reading the card, placing it on the table. Here's the sequence professionals expect.
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Reading the Air (空気を読む): Japan's Unwritten Rule
Kuuki wo yomu — sensing mood and expectation without anyone saying a word — is one of Japan's most distinctive social skills. Here's how it works.
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Dojo Etiquette: How to Walk Into a Japanese Martial Arts Class Without Getting It Wrong
Judo, karate, kendo, aikido — a trial class or even just watching from the side is one of the best experiences a visitor can book. But a dōjō is a room with its own grammar: you bow into it, you strip off everything metal, and you never call the teacher by name. Here's what to do from the doorway onward.
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Don't Blow Your Nose in Public in Japan — Here's Why
Loud nose-blowing in public reads as gross in Japan. The expectation: sniff quietly, step into a bathroom, or wear a mask. Not at the dinner table.
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How to Bow in Japan: The 3 Bows Tourists Actually Need
Japanese bowing is a whole language, but you only need three: casual, polite, and formal. Here's the depth, duration, and when to use each.
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Invited to a Japanese Wedding? The Guest Rules That Trip Up Foreigners
Getting invited to a Japanese friend's or colleague's wedding is a real honor — and a quiet minefield of rules about cash gifts, dress colors, and a reply postcard you're supposed to edit. Here's how to be the guest they're glad they invited.
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Japanese Baseball Etiquette: How to Survive an NPB Game Without Cheering at the Wrong Time
A Japanese pro baseball game is one of the most joyful things you can do in Japan — brass bands, synchronized chants, beer poured from a keg strapped to someone's back. But the noise runs on strict rules, your ticket decides which team you're allowed to support, and the bag check at the gate is stricter than you think. Here's how it actually works.
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Japanese Money Gift Envelopes: Noshi-bukuro Rules
Wedding, funeral, and celebration cash goes in specific decorated envelopes. Amounts follow rules, bills must be crisp new, and the cord matters.
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Kabuki Theater Etiquette: How to Watch Japan's Most Dramatic Stage Without Embarrassing Yourself
Kabuki is loud, colorful, and surprisingly visitor-friendly — but those dramatic shouts from the balcony are NOT an invitation to join in, and there's a whole rhythm to when you eat, move, and clap. Here's how to enjoy a day at the Kabukiza without becoming the story.
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Movie Theater Etiquette in Japan: Assigned Seats, Dark Rooms, and the Cup You Carry Out
Every seat is assigned, the room stays silent, your phone screen is a beacon — and the trash goes to the sorting bins on your way out. Four habits that keep a Japanese cinema comfortable for everyone in it.
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Museum & Gallery Etiquette in Japan: How Not to Be the Loud Flash-Photo Person
Japanese museums run quiet, sign every room with its own photo rules, and expect you to read them. From the Tokyo National Museum to teamLab to the Ghibli Museum, here's how to enjoy the art without becoming the cautionary tale of the gallery.
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Obon: Japan's Ancestor Festival and How to Join In
Mid-August Obon honors ancestors returning home. Bon odori, floating lanterns, family reunions — visitors are welcome at the public events. Here's how.
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Offering Condolences in Japan: What to Say (and Not Say) at a Wake or Funeral
If a Japanese colleague or acquaintance loses someone, the kind, correct response looks very different from a Western one. Condolences here are quiet, brief, and built around a few fixed phrases — and a few words you carefully avoid.
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Omimai: Visiting Someone in Hospital in Japan Without Getting the Gift Wrong
A potted plant is the wrong gift, four and nine are the wrong numbers, and fifteen minutes is the right length. What Japanese custom expects when you visit someone who is unwell.
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Sumo Viewing Etiquette: How to Watch a Grand Tournament Without Becoming the Story
A honbasho grand tournament is loud, festive, and surprisingly relaxed — but there are a handful of moments where tourists accidentally cross a line, from copying the famous cushion-throw to yelling during the tense pre-bout staredown. Here's how to fit right in.
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Tea Ceremony Etiquette: How to Not Embarrass Yourself at a Tourist Tea Experience
A tourist tea ceremony (chakai 茶会) is way more relaxed than a formal study setting — but there are a few moves that separate 'lovely guest' from 'stepped on everything.' Here's how to drink the matcha like you've done it before.
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