Tokyo After 50: How to Ride the Trains Without Offending Anyone

📖 Before You Land in Japan: 37 years at the concierge desk, every question a first trip asks → https://marikoaono.com Your first morning in Tokyo. You step onto the train with your coffee in one hand and your bag on your back, the doors close, and the whole car goes very, very quiet. Nobody says a word to you. Nobody frowns. But a lady beside you shifts half a step away, a man by the door glances down at your bag, and you get that terrible little feeling in your stomach that you've done something wrong. You just don't know what. Please don't feel bad. It isn't your fault. Nobody in Japan is ever going to tap you on the shoulder and tell you. For thirty-seven years I sent American guests out of a big Tokyo hotel to catch a train every morning, and every evening some of them came back to my concierge desk and asked me, very quietly, "Mariko, what did I do wrong today?" So today I count down the eleven train rules Americans break in Japan without ever knowing it, right down to the one almost no visitor would ever guess. In this video: 11. The escalator: left in Tokyo, right in Osaka, and the official rule almost nobody follows 10. The platform: where to stand when the doors open, and why you never run for a closing train 9. Stopping just inside the door, one of the top complaints in Japan's yearly railway manners survey 8. How to sit on the long bench seats when there's no spare inch 7. The backpack: why wearing it on your front is no longer the advice 6. Your suitcase on the bullet train: the size rule that can cost you a fee 5. Eating on the train: it isn't illegal, but it depends on which train you're on (and why you should buy an ekiben) 4. Your voice and your phone: the thing Japanese passengers mention about visitors more than anything else 3. Priority seats, the little red tag to look for, and the surprising story of the Silver Seats 2. The women-only car, the one that catches American husbands in the morning rush 1. Your perfume, your cologne and even your fabric softener, and why Japan has a word for "scent pollution" YOUR QUICK TRAIN CHEAT SHEET: · Escalators: hold the handrail and stand still. Left side in Tokyo, right side in Osaka. · Let everyone off first, then move away from the doors and into the car. · Bullet train suitcases: if length + width + height is over 160 cm (about 63 inches), up to 250 cm (about 98 inches), reserve a seat with an oversized baggage space. Reserving costs nothing extra. Without it you can be charged 1,000 yen. Over 250 cm isn't allowed on board. · Phone on silent ("manner mode"), and no calls on the train. · Women-only cars run in the morning rush on many city lines, usually marked in pink on the platform floor and the windows. · Rules and campaigns change, so please check the railway company's website before you travel. My favorite tip from the concierge desk: send your suitcase ahead. Hotels and convenience stores in Japan can ship your bag to your next city, and it's usually waiting for you the next day. You ride the bullet train with just a little bag, like a local. Tell me in the comments which of these eleven surprised you the most. I have a feeling I already know. And tell me which city in Japan you're dreaming of riding the trains in. I read every single one. And if you're traveling with someone who never leaves the house without a good spray of cologne, send them this video. #JapanTravel #JapanTrains #JapanTips