{"id":1034,"date":"2026-08-03T18:02:40","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T22:02:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.supremeactofwar.com\/blog\/SawWarDiary.html\/?p=1034"},"modified":"2026-08-03T18:02:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T22:02:41","slug":"tips-for-life-in-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supremeactofwar.com\/blog\/SawWarDiary.html\/tips-for-life-in-japan\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips for life in Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sorry for the slow update, there was a cloudfare-related issue that stopped me from logging in for ages, finally got it sorted out.

Anyway, as promised here’s some tips for staying\/living in Japan.

A lot of Japanese people are getting fed up with foreigners (and in many cases understandably so), here’s some tips to avoid becoming one of them.

Observe first, then copy.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you’re about to try to order\/do something you’ve never done before there, wait for someone else, then get in line behind them.
One time at a military surplus I watched the guy infront of me go through a conversation I largely didn’t understand, then the customer just said ‘S’, then a shirt appeared from behind the counter and went into his bag. I figured out that if anyone spends over a certain amount they’d get a free shirt once they told them what size they wanted. And of course me being at a military shop I spent well over the required minimum, heh. When it was my turn at the counter, all that was needed from my side of the conversation was “Hai.” “M.” “Arigatou.” The guy behind the counter seemed pretty happy that he didn’t have to spend much time trying to clue me into the situation as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obnoxious and being loud are generally despised.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pay attention to your surroundings, generally not for safety concerns like back home, but to notice how people are acting. If you’re the loudest one in the room\/train car, etc., you’re probably bothering a lot of people. They won’t tell you, and even if you ask, they’ll probably deny it just to be polite, so that’s why you’ll have to pay attention. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don’t know about you, but back home I used to scowl a lot, to keep unwanted people away.
But in Japan it just makes you look like a sourpuss. If you put on a friendly face (metal blasphemy, I know, lol), you’ll have way more interactions and people will be a lot more willing to help you if you need it as well. I’ve had people walk up to me and ask if I needed help when I was just looking at a map in a station, became friends with a woman at a park who approached me after she noticed I was speaking English on the phone and I’m sure a bunch of other situations I can’t remember off the top of my head right now as well. I’m sure none of those meetings would’ve happened if I would’ve had a mean look on my face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be polite as possible.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You probably know the stereotype, but it’s true. You’ll get along with everyone way better being as polite as you can be. Let people go before you, hold doors open, bow, say arigatou alot, etc. It will be appreciated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you’re just visiting for a short time, this might not be possible, but try to learn as many words as you can. And if you only know a couple, use them! It will be appreciated as well. In the big cities most Japanese people will know a fair amount of English. Some will be shy to speak it and some will enjoy the idea of being able to practice it. So, sometimes, even if you’re speaking decent Japanese, you might get replied to in English…although sometimes it’s because your Japanese skills are crap and it’s easier for the conversation to continue in English, hahah.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anticipate questions.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, if you’re at cashier, likely questions will be, “Card or cash?” “Would you like a bag\/box?”.
For the longest time I couldn’t recognize the Japanese phrase for “Would you like a bag?”, but because I knew it was coming I still figured out what they were asking….well, most of the time anyway.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s all for now, this list will be updated as I come up with more points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sorry for the slow update, there was a cloudfare-related issue that stopped me from logging in for ages, finally got it sorted out. Anyway, as promised here’s some tips for staying\/living in Japan. A lot of Japanese people are getting fed up with foreigners (and in many cases understandably so), here’s some tips to avoid […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.supremeactofwar.com\/blog\/SawWarDiary.html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.supremeactofwar.com\/blog\/SawWarDiary.html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.supremeactofwar.com\/blog\/SawWarDiary.html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supremeactofwar.com\/blog\/SawWarDiary.html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supremeactofwar.com\/blog\/SawWarDiary.html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1034"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.supremeactofwar.com\/blog\/SawWarDiary.html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1034\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1038,"href":"https:\/\/www.supremeactofwar.com\/blog\/SawWarDiary.html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1034\/revisions\/1038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.supremeactofwar.com\/blog\/SawWarDiary.html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supremeactofwar.com\/blog\/SawWarDiary.html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supremeactofwar.com\/blog\/SawWarDiary.html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}