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Etiquette & taboos

Etiquette & taboos

Understanding local customs is where a journey begins. Find the topics that matter to you and feel at ease wherever you go.

5 rules found

Cultural sensitivitiesEveryday mannersCountry-wide guidance · Japan

Convenience stores and vending machines: say you're eating in, and recycling bins take bottles and cans only

Do

  • Queue at the register and place your money on the tray if there is one
  • Answer clearly when the clerk asks whether to heat your bento
  • If you will eat in the store's seating area, say so when paying (eat-in and takeaway are taxed differently)
  • Don't linger in the eat-in area, and sort your containers and chopsticks into the store's bins
  • If you can't find a bin, bag your trash and take it back to where you're staying

Don’t

  • Don't bring household or outside trash to a convenience store to dump
  • Don't stuff rice-ball wrappers, coffee cups or bento boxes into the bins beside vending machines
  • Don't drink alcohol in the eat-in area where the store prohibits it
  • Don't leave trash on benches or the ground

The bins beside vending machines are for plastic bottles and cans only, and forcing other trash into them is considered very rude in Japan; stores accept only trash from items bought there, so dumping household waste is not allowed.

Verified Oct 19, 2026Source: Makimono Manners: Convenience store manners

Cultural sensitivitiesEveryday mannersCountry-wide guidance · Japan

Castles and museums: don't touch exhibits, check photo signs before shooting

Do

  • Check each gallery's photography sign before raising your camera
  • Turn off the flash even where photos are allowed
  • Keep your voice down and follow the visiting route
  • Leave large bags in the lockers or storage the venue provides
  • Check tickets, opening hours and special-exhibition rules in the venue's official information

Don’t

  • Don't touch exhibits, armor, folding screens or the building's woodwork
  • Don't take photos in no-photography areas
  • Don't let tripods or selfie sticks block the way or bump exhibits
  • Don't walk against the route or step past ropes and barriers
  • Don't give loud commentary or take phone calls in the galleries

Oil and sweat from hands damage the surfaces of cultural properties; touching exhibits or breaking photo rules will be stopped by staff, and in serious cases you may be asked to leave.

Verified Oct 19, 2026Source: Romancing Japan: Temple and shrine etiquette

Cultural sensitivitiesEveryday mannersCountry-wide guidance · Japan

Sort your rubbish and take it back to your lodging or a convenience store

Do

  • Sort waste into burnable, non-burnable, recyclable, and oversized
  • Rinse PET bottles and remove the cap and label before recycling
  • If staying in a rental or long term, put rubbish out at the designated spot on the morning of collection day
  • Use transparent, semi-transparent, or designated bags as your area requires
  • Street bins are rare, so take rubbish back to your lodging or a convenience store
  • Book oversized rubbish collection in advance and pay the fee; check the official rates

Don’t

  • Do not drop rubbish on the street
  • Do not put bags out the night before
  • Do not throw other rubbish into PET bottle bins
  • Do not assume rules are the same everywhere; follow your lodging's and the local government's guide

Wrongly sorted rubbish, or rubbish put out on the wrong day, is refused and left where it is, and it annoys the neighbors. Bags put out too early get torn open by crows.

Verified Oct 19, 2026Source: tsunagu Japan: Everything You Need to Know About Garbage in Japan

Cultural sensitivitiesEveryday mannersCountry-wide guidance · Japan

Take off your shoes when you see a genkan (entrance step)

Do

  • Take off your shoes at the entrance of homes, some restaurants, temples and hot-spring facilities
  • If unsure, look for a shoe rack or slippers at the entrance

Don’t

  • Stepping onto tatami or indoor wooden floors in shoes

It is seen as very rude.

Verified Oct 19, 2026Source: JNTO: Japanese etiquette

Local customsEveryday mannersCountry-wide guidance · Japan

Staying at a ryokan: no slippers on tatami, keep to meal times, mind the curfew

Do

  • Take off even your indoor slippers before stepping onto tatami
  • Leave luggage at the entrance or the designated spot
  • Eat dinner and breakfast at the times the inn sets, and call ahead if you will be late
  • Note the curfew and ask before going out late
  • Put valuables in the room safe
  • Ask the inn whether you may go out in the inn's yukata

Don’t

  • Don't drag a suitcase across the tatami
  • Don't put personal belongings in the tokonoma alcove
  • Don't take the inn's yukata, towels or other items home
  • Don't strip or wash the bedding yourself

Ryokan dinners are served at set times, so arriving late may mean missing the meal; most ryokan have a curfew, and coming back after it may leave you locked out.

Verified Oct 19, 2026Source: Japan Ryokan Association: Staying at a ryokan