3 Important Things To Know When Traveling to Japan

Traveling has been made easy thanks to the power of the internet. Long gone are the days where you had to call a travel agency to find the best price, now those are reserved for luxury or busy families.

Leveraging the power of the internet you can now search hundreds of travel agencies and affiliate websites to airlines, hotels and experiences.

Influencers are prevalent on all social media platforms capitalizing on the beauty, culture and popular destinations in Japan. While many of them focus on the various experiences you can have and some travel hacks a lot of them show the positive light of traveling through Japan. The reality is that you are moving within a country with a wholly different culture and language not to mention that they are fundamentally different than any other metropolitan infrastructure.

Once you understand the basics of traversal in Japan visit our other posts talking about what to wear, what to bring and other travel tips that will make traveling through Japan and the rest of the world a breeze.

Step 1: Understanding Your Fishbowl

A fishbowl, in terms of travel, refers your view of the world. If you think about an actual fishbowl, perhaps a standard round one made of glass, it basically makes up your world. It surrounds you at all points except the top and its comfortable containing all the things you need to survive. Metaphorically, this means all the stuff in your brain that helps you survive in your world or helps complete your daily routines with comfort and control. It also is your limit to understanding.

Japan is a very straightforward country from the outside, especially as a visitor. There are depths to their culture that are dark and there's the fun loving creative surface of being a tourist there. Your fishbowl for traveling to Japan will need to be expanded or you will need to take a leap of faith per se.

Although you may see it innocently enough that you are, for example: Walking to your next destination eating one of the viral Egg Salad Sandwiches for 7-Eleven. Doesn't seem wrong does it? Everyone in Japan is in a rush and I am a tourist so I don't need to follow the rules, right? Wrong. Your fishbowl does not trump an entire countries. RULE 1: Monkey See, Monkey Do. If you do not see other locals eating their Egg Salad Sandwich on the run, then you do not eat the Egg Salad Sandwich on the run. (Japanese are very demure, very mindful of their actions and careful to respect public space. This is a big part of understanding the beauty of their country in it's entirety. Everything has a time and a place. More on this a little later.)

STEP 2: You are NOT Godzilla

In the early days of the 1950s Japan had these rather obscure monster movies about a radioactive lizard that demolishes [Insert City in Japan]. Don't be Godzilla. This movie, while spawning many franchise hits in the time since it's inception, is a satire. I don't want to spoil anything but as an American I have mixed feelings about being part of the responsible party that dropped bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, yes, they would not have stopped their conquest of the pacific without it but that's not who they are now. If they moved on, so should we. There is a fine line between victor and dictator. Don't be the later.

Just because you have the spending power to be on vacation does not mean the people in the country you are visiting are now owned by you. Let that sink in. We are not almighty. We are not always right. We are transient in their country. We are representatives of our country. We are here to have fun and if you're dogging on the people you're visiting then you have set a red flag for others to visit and we are not having fun.

If a friend of a friend came to your space and decided they wanted to go through your underwear drawer just because their friend who is your friend invited them to come, and thought, that it gave them a pass to your personal space. Then just because they brought some 6-layer bean and guacamole dip, does that mean they have the right to riffle through your or your partner's undergarments? This is how it would feel to be disrespected by us, in their home. While they might not come out and say it, this is the most understated rule of Japan.

Step 3: Polite Way is the Right Way

When in doubt bow. You may see various videos on socials telling you to what degree to bow and I will 100% attest to their videos. When listening to instructions bow after every sentence at a 10-15 degree angle like little nods. These bow are a very tiny way to show respect to the speaker and show that you are paying attention. In North America it is common to stare into the eyes of the speaker, this is RUDE in Japan. Staring at them is kind of a threat like, "I'm not backing down," think of a weigh in during a boxing match.

Seeing how subtle just making the wrong type of eye contact is enough to make you want to shy away from meeting anyone at all, but don't work the respect goes both ways. That is to say, so long as you are being genuine in your attempts to adapt to their culture the Japanese will for the most part be forgiving. Yet, this should not result in the thought process that being foreign and simply "unaware," of their culture gives you a free ride you are very wrong.

In Conclusion, these should be your take away.

If you are unsure of a situation please, observe others. There is no doubt in our minds that "monkey see, monkey do," works. I once found myself in a situation at a Gurdwara in India where I was wholly unfamiliar with Sikh traditions and fully embarrassed myself. While following the standard custom of washing my hands and removing my shoes I failed to realized one very important detail. I happened to be in a group with women when entering the Gurdwara and because the members of the community were so polite they kindly directed me to the area which Men are sat. In this situation although I was watching one part of the whole and if I wasn't so fixated on the small details I wouldn't have missed the whole. What I should have done is stood back and observed from the outside instead of jumping in straight away. Learn from my mistakes.

There are a hundred plus rules to any society, culture and sub-culture and the deeper you go the more it will compound. While we will never know every subtly make sure you know the difference between a cookie and a biscuit. Don't stress over everything but also don't assume that grace is given around every corner. Culture shock is aptly named but don't allow it to ruin your vacation and don't use it as the cornerstone to disrespecting another's culture.