Visit Japan - The Don'ts of Visiting Japan

hey there fellow travelers mark here with Walters rules and today we're in Kyoto Japan the former capital Japan and definitely one of places you don't want to miss when you do come to this beautiful country of Japan and today's video are some of the cultural don'ts and tours don'ts before when you do come here to Japan so you can have a better time when you're here and not maybe make your guests or your hosts I should say go hmm hello these foreigners doing now now my next don't for you is don't put the toilet on high pressure at least for the first time for those do you don't know the toilets of Japan are like super advanced like they're a gift from the future when you come here I mean heated toilet seats the bidet part is built into it music so you don't have to hear people or people don't have to hear you doing your business it's really cool but the thing is if it's your first time and you're not sure what the buttons do we have a video to explain that if you put the pressure on high you might get quite the surprise that being no colonoscopy this year because you totally cleaned everything out down there so do be careful with that one okay the first time we have for you actually has to deal with before you come to Japan and that is don't forget to get your junior pass your Japan Rail Pass before you come because you can't get it when you're here when you have the junior pass they'll give you a 7 14 21 days different intervals where you can travel as much as you can and as much as you want on the Japan rail lines and what's cool is those junior passes just are for Tokyo to Kyoto but they also work sometimes in the cities on local trains not all of them but some of them but don't forget to do that before you come because once you get here man that the train tickets I mean just back and forth to Kyoto from Tokyo will pay for it no problem whatsoever okay now next don't I have for you is when you come here to UM expect to hear a lot of English and don't expect to have a lot of English being understood and don't expect to have a lot of English menus look Japan is culture advanced in so many ways it's fantastic Bota comes to english for tourists it's not quite there yet but what's cool is people will work with you and help you out and figure things out and help you order your food and find the right places because if people are awesome but don't expect a lot of English and do expect to be doing a lot of I want this like pointing out the food and stuff like that which is great because they have a lot of plasticize food out there that you say I want that and they're like okay it's so that does work out very well but I would say at least in a few words before you come of course arigato which is thank you it's gonna be the most important one you know konnichiwa is high and we we have we know them basic numbers you know ichi need a one two things like that it makes a big difference with the locals here so that does help you out now sticking with our bathroom theme here there are some other don'ts especially if you're looking at the onsen or the spas when you come here one you don't wear clothes when you go in there but don't worry it's separated male/female also with the two towels they give you you don't take the big one with you when you go in you take this small one and that actually goes on your head the big ones for later for you to dry off okay so just so you know now the next one for you is don't just stay in Tokyo yes Tokyo is awesome yes I love Tokyo I would love to move there and work there it is an amazing city but when you come to Japan try to get out even you just come to Kyoto or you go to Osaka or you're going to some place to go get out of Tokyo the country is gorgeous the very north of the very south there's so much to see so much to do temples landscapes mountainscapes all kinds of Islands beaches all kinds of amazing things to enjoy throughout the whole country and a lot of tourists just get to Tokyo and go my god this place is so awesome I'm not gonna leave and believe me you'll have that feeling I had it too but you got to get out and explore and what's awesome is with that jr pass you can go explore the whole country for actually a pretty cheap price I mean it is pretty cheap for a week or two to come here be able to travel all over and see all these things it is awesome my next don't for you that goes along with don't you stay in Tokyo is don't think that Japan is just these things you see on TV you know the people dressed in anime costumes and neon lights and stuff like that that's that's Tokyo okay when you get out of Tokyo you get such this different cultural feelings when you go around many more temples many more nature sights and stuff like that it's not just this modern architecture there's so much to see here and so much to do that it's not this anime or kimonos kind of thing there's a lot of in-between as well now we're next don'ts for half you have to deal with when you stay here one thing is don't think you're going to get a family of four into one hotel room look there's not a lot of hotels that will be able to accommodate everybody in one room so you might need to rent two hotel rooms or we've done is actually we did find a place that'll s rent have for you know places on a floor to sleep together but they also what we ended up doing was renting apartments and houses so we could all be together and that actually was more economic adieu do that so but don't think if you're gonna go to a normal hotel that you're gonna be able to get everybody in there because it is a lot smaller okay another don't is when you go to stay at someone's home are you gonna rent a house or something like that or anytime you visiting once home if you're lucky enough to visit someone's home here it's awesome take your shoes off you don't wear your shoes in people's house okay once you come in shoes come off and then they'll give you slippers no big guest slippers right there you slide your feet in them and you walk in there with that also if they have bathroom slippers or toilet slippers don't forget to take off the toilet slippers and switch back into your normal slippers when you walk around okay that that's one thing I have for you another don't I have is if you're gonna be staying in more of a historical place or or if you're staying you know here in Kyoto you're exploring more of the country you're staying in kind of the traditional hotels or a traditional home or something like that I will say this don't get too rambunctious when you're there because you don't paper walls and sliding doors and stuff like that pee it's very easy to irritate people and make a lot of noise and break through the doors and stuff like that because it does happen so do be careful with that now they don't make a noise so don't get too rambunctious in your in your hotel and stuff like that really goes back into the don't make noise in general and public transportation here in Japan it is a very quiet country you take the metrics you take the bus as you walk around it's a quiet place I'm in a city of a hunt 1.5 million people and it's pretty quiet right now and you do have that so make sure you're not making a lot of noise when you are using public transport or when you're going around because the Japanese they're not loud people it's much more of a quiet kind of thing we honestly this is the loudest it's gotten in a week and a half we've been here now looking at a safety don't I have for you is don't forget to look right when you cross the street here in Japan they drive on the left like in England and Scotland and stuff like that and the thing is is your if you're used to looking left and then right it'll be too late because either the car or the bike will be coming through and Mail you okay so do watch out for that make sure you pay attention for that also don't freak out if your taxi doors pop open for you because they're automatic in the back of the taxis that they just open it for you so just just a heads up for that one all right so don't freak out about that now when you hop out you're taxing you're gonna be walking around and doing things one of the things you don't do when you're walking around in Japan is smoke and you will see signs on the street on the walls all over the place saying don't smoke and walk because you can get fined for that okay so don't smoke and walk also you don't walk and eat at the same time so you'll see people sit down and eat but they're not walking around and eating because that's kind of a cultural faux pas so do be careful with that another don't have for you with the food is when you go to a restaurant okay you'll sit down and they'll bring like a hot towel for you or hot napkin for you that is only for your hands don't use it on your face okay that is just for your hands to wipe them off and put it to the side all right and if we kind of look into some of the don'ts in terms of the chopstick stuff don't have bad chopstick etiquette probably the three most important ones for tourists to know is one you don't point with your chopsticks to you don't pass food from chopstick to chopstick okay you put it down letting you know look they let them pick their own stuff up and don't put the chopsticks straight down into the rice or the food like this because that's kind of a it's it's from a ceremony at funerals so you don't want to do that okay another don't I have you is don't pay your waiter now when I say don't pay your waiter I'm not saying don't pay I'm saying you don't pay your waiter when you pay the bill what you do is the waiter will leave the bill at your table before you basically started eating it's already down there okay what you'll do is when you're done you just take your bill and you go to the front of the restaurant in the front of restaurant there'll be a cashier then you just give them the thing and you pay their with cash and you leave that's all you have to do also you don't tip in Japan so you don't have to worry about thinking is it ten or fifteen percent no you don't tip that's at restaurants and taxis just don't do it okay and the thing is when you eat in Japan don't worry about having any clue about what you're eating because you may see it outside and go I have no idea what this is but it looks good and you're gonna order that don't worry also don't worry if you don't know how to eat the food but I will say is don't be afraid to ask the waiter how you eat it even if they don't speak English it's okay because they'll give you an ideas like this goes with this this with that and that could be super helpful okay now some other don'ts that go with the eating kind of stuff when you are here cuz man the foods so fantastic you're meeting all kinds of crazy stuff that you're gonna love one don't worry about the slurping sound with the noodles it's supposed to help enhance the flavor but of course with me being such a messy Pig when I eat this is why I'm wearing black a lot of the videos this time because my shirts just covered with stuff whether it's the sober that we Don or ramen oh my god it is so good when you eat here but the thing is don't worry about the slurping it's okay it's not bad manners you'll be all right another don't I have for you is if someone invites you out to dinner don't try to pay okay don't be like oh no I want to get this no that's an insult you pay whoever invites people that's the person that pays so don't forget if you invite somebody dinner you're expected to pay okay another thing you want to look at in terms if you have business meetings or stuff like that or any kind of thing here giving somebody something or there you're there handing something to you that's kind of a little bit of reverence or kind of good manners you always hand with two hands so you might give your money with two hands or they might give you the receipt back in two hands or business cards always two hands and have respect for that because if you don't it's kind of like showing disrespect for the person so remember two hands accepting and two hands giving that's the way we do things here okay and also kind of going along with the business thing here is if you're gonna be drinking which might happen with your business colleagues you don't pour for yourself you always pour for the person that you're drinking with and you pour away towards them you don't pour you for yourself you don't pour this way no it's pouring out for them okay just just FYI otherwise people be like hey what are you doing ma'am okay so don't pour your own drink alright and going along with the business stuff don't be late and when I say don't be late in Japan I mean don't be late the buses the trains the meetings this shows that anything everything is on time and if it's not on time people are embarrassed by that and that's not a good thing to be embarrassed by here people will tell you they're sorry about four thousand times that they are late so as a foreigner I know we get a little bit of leeway because we're not from here but you really got to be on time all right it's a really key thing here and it's funny I say that you should be on time and hurry up and get there on time when I will also say is don't get in a hurry and don't freak out when you get surrounded by a lot of people or you're waiting in a long line to get on a bus or a subway or something like that because there very efficient here in getting things done meaning you may see this long line you're like oh my god we're gonna make it are we gonna make it look it's gonna work in the efficient way you will get there you're good on your train you'll get on the bus might not be this one it might be the next one they'll make it happen and that's what's so cool and another thing is if you're taking a subway in places like Tokyo or here in Kyoto and there's lots of people that got a stop that want to get off you don't like smoosh back in what you do is you actually step out of the subway don't let people out and then they let you back in and then everyone comes it's not like you know in Germany where people are trying to go in and out at the same time it's just like I'm playing explosion no don't forget your manners when you're on the public transportation okay and don't forget when you're heading down to the subway or heading up from the subway you know a lot of places that stand right and walk left oh no no if you're in Kyoto if you're in Tokyo it's actually you stand on the left to let people walk on the right and that might be different in other places but since there's so many people going here make sure you pay attention to make sure you're standing on the left side and let people on the right go by okay and I guess the last couple things I'll talk about is the garbage here because you'll notice that one don't expect to find a lot of garbage cans here if you have stuff and you you're gonna be you know one of the throw things away it could be that you're gonna be carrying your garbage around with you for a while so so don't forget to bring some plastic bags with you or like just something you know if you go to the store hassle those plastic bags have it with you so you can kind of put your trash in there so when you do find trash you can throw it away and the thing is don't forget to separate your trash too when you do have the chance to throw it away because they do incinerate a lot of things here so make sure you're separating burning versus non burning for there's plastics and bottles and stuff like that because it is really important now I hope that helped you know a little bit more about visiting Japan so you're more ready to come don't skip out on Japan it is a fantastic country a wonderful place I highly recommend it so don't miss out and if you want to learn more check us out on our website at Walter's rule calm we're also on Twitter Facebook Instagram YouTube and we really appreciate your line subscriptions and if you like don't videos like this we have them from all over the world so click that subscribe button and every Wednesday and Saturday we put out more travel videos so I'll say bye from Japan I hope you liked the video just watched if you want to see more travel videos click over here if you want to see our newest travel video click over here and you want to subscribe to our channel like we were talking about there's probably a white dot somewhere around here you click on that you subscribe to our channel and we were going to say thank you for that see I'm so you click the button I'm all verklempt now because you did that by as I'm gonna cheer up the heck up along here in the after damn

Channel: Wolters World

Views: 1,103,364

Keywords: travel, europe, mark wolters, wolters world, travel advice, tourist attractions, travel vlogger, honest travel, fat travel guy, Japan, Culture shock, cultural faux pas

Id: MQgF5faoYdk

Length: 13min 41sec (821 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 02 2017