Japanese train commuters (i.e. practically all Japanese) supply a ranking of the behaviours they find most annoying on a train, making essential reading for Japanese and uncultured barbarians alike.
The ranking (with votes in parentheses):
1. Getting on the train before waiting for the people on it to get off (7694)
The most basic rule of getting on a Japanese train is to stand aside and wait for everyone to disembark before alighting.2. Talking too loudly (6794)
Conversing is permitted, but carriages are usually silent and conversations held in muted tones. Conversations held at American tourist volume are likely to attract the discrete opprobrium of the entire carriage.3. Talking on a cell phone (5336)
Nobody but a drunk or an uncouth foreigner would ever be seen conversing on a cell phone on a Japanese train, although it is permissible (barely) to answer a call to hang up on someone with a terse warning that the answerer is on a train. The terror of disapproving silence awaits those who violate this sacred taboo.4. Not budging up to free up a seat (5335)
The proper seating behaviour is to occupy the corner and middle seats first, then the spaces equidistantly between these points, at all times never sitting next to a stranger – only when no space remains can a seat between two people be taken, and at this point it is polite for those already seated to shuffle around to maximise seating.5. Cutting in line when boarding the train (4540)
The honourable way to board a train is for two orderly queues to form at the door markings on the platform, which then move to the side to make way for the disembarking passengers and only alight when they have all escaped.6. Letting noise leak from headphones (3378)
Since the main activities on a Japanese train consist of a staring into space, fiddling with a phone, reading a book or sleeping, usually the only scope there is for noisiness is with handheld games…7. Leaning on a stranger (3326)
Usually a problem with seated, sleeping passengers – although in the case of attractive young members of the opposite sex it is considered a rare blessing to be leaned on.8. Eating or drinking on the train (1623)
Nobody (save perhaps utter barbarians) is ever seen eating or drinking on a commuter train.9. Letting your luggage interfere with other passengers (1407)
Luggage is normally stowed overhead or closely guarded. Poking ladies with luggage runs the double risk of being misinterpreted…10. “Other” (1133)
Don’t do anything else either!
The only other major item of train etiquette not covered here is the proper method for boarding a train which is so solidly packed with commuters that it requires bodily pushing to get on – in these cases, the trick is to turn around and push onto the train without facing the mass of humanity already crushed within its confines.
no drinking
pretty uptight
what about chikan activities w/ female passengers?
me thinks yes
i stayed in japan for 2 months and saw japanese breaking these rules all the time. i listened to a japanese businessman talk on his cellphone during entire subway ride. i saw teenagers talking loudly and just taking over the subway atmosphere. i saw some eating snacks. japanese have the crazy belief they are perfect social beings. they have stupid old rules that have nothing to do with social grace but more to do with outdated japanese rules. it’s why young japanese are not allowed to be free entrepreneurs or embrace new ideas. a silly rule system takes the heart and soul right out of many young japanese. it’s not because they are polite. deep down they resent and hate much of the japanese way. it’s really only foreigners who get off on the current japan system. there’s a lot of old dumb rules in japan that only stupid foreigners admire while most japanese want to vomit at the stupid rules. and their subway system is no different than any decent city in the world. most people in nyc subway just sit and stare at the floor until their ride is over and the subway cars are clean. i didn’t see this perfect japan that everyone told me existed nor did i see the science fiction futuristic japan. it’s a good country and definitely organized, safe, and things are clean. but most cities look like queens or brooklyn, not manhattan or shanghai. nyc is just as clean and safe as tokyo but no japanese person will ever admit that. i was in kameido section of tokyo and every night the walk back to my hotel the pathway had garbage from people eating and drinking on benches or just tossing papers on the ground. it was just like nyc but my japanese friend insisted tokyo is a lot cleaner. it’s not. it’s a little bit cleaner and japanese are not necessarily more polite they just still begrudgingly adhere to an old rule system they really don’t want to do anymore. i would love to see japan lighten up and just relax more. they’d be happier people. they look tired and miserable a lot of the time. they should worry less about stupid rules like this and focus more on the fact that these kind of stupid rules were quaint 40 years ago but they serve no purpose at all. nyc functions amazingly well and people are just as well behaved.
In my country none of this rules are used, travel in a train is like travel surrounded by stinky monkeys, just annoying.
I wish only have rules like 1 and 5 to make a orderly board in the train.
All the help to them if someone decides they want a tuna and sardine sandwich in transit.
2. Talking too loudly
soo true, new york is probably the worst