You’ve made it to Japan. Hooray! Your wonderful new life in Tokyo awaits you. But before you go running off to tour around and stuff yourself silly with oodles of noodles and tons of gyūdon (beef bowl), you need to wise up on the Japanese way of doing things. Continue reading through this easy guide to Tokyo for all the answers.
君の名は？ Your Name?
Just like the hit animated movie, you’ll need to tell people your name. But you might be thinking, “Why would I need to learn my own name?” Good question. For starters, the order is opposite what you’re probably used to. Let’s say for example you had a friend named “Peter Bread.” In Japan, he’ll introduce himself as “Bread, Peter” or even just “Bread.” In fact, “Bread” will be the basis for his identity in Japan. If Peter was an English teacher, for example, his colleagues would call him “Bread-san,” and students would call him “Bread-sensei.”
Got that? Let’s move on. While in Japan, you’ll also need a “Japanese name.” And by that, I mean, you’ll need to make it easier for Japanese people to read your name by writing it using the corresponding syllables katakana.
In Bread-san’s case, he’ll write his name as ブレッド、ピーター (Bureddo, Pītā).
Now, the finale. Since most of the papers you’ll fill out or sign are in Japanese, you should know how to write down your name. You might be thinking, “But that’s easy. You write your last name first, duh. We just talked about that.” Well, yes and no. Japanese has a bunch of words that can translate to ‘name’ but they all have distinct uses. You wouldn’t want to accidentally give someone the wrong name, right? Boy, wouldn’t that just be awful.
Sei what? An Introduction to Japanese
You’ve (probably) just had your first encounter with the most unusual of the Japanese writing systems, katakana. It’s used mainly to spell borrowed and foreign words. But wait! There’s more. There are two more, actually. They’re called hiragana and kanji, and together they make up the bulk of written and spoken Japanese. Hiragana is the most basic unit of Japanese. They’re like the alphabet. Kanji, on the other hand, is the whole word. Both katakana and hiragana are syllabic systems. This means that each character represents a different sound. Kanji, on the other hand, is a logographic system. What that basically means is that each character represents a different word.
A bit scary, isn’t it? Well, you’re not alone. Even Japanese people have trouble with Japanese. Luckily there are ways to make it easier to understand.
It’ll be easier to see in an example so let’s jump into one now. We said before that there are several words for ‘name’ in Japanese. As whole words, they will be written in kanji, but don’t fret! You can actually use this to your advantage!
姓 (sei), 名 (mei), and 姓名 (seimei) are the ones you’ll deal with a lot so let’s start here.
So, how do you know which is which?
That’s easy. 姓 (last name), 名 (first name), and 姓名 (full name).
You’ll notice that each word is made up of at least two parts. Logographs like kanji have a basis in real life and if you think of them that way, you can learn to understand kanji by looking at its individual pieces!
For example, 名 (mei) is made up of 夕 (yū) and 口 (kuchi) on top of each other. What do you think these two mean? Give yourself a minute to have a good guess first.
夕 (yū) means night and 口 (kuchi) means mouth. “But how?” you might be thinking. Doesn’t it look just like a crescent moon? And when do we usually see the moon? And what about kuchi? Doesn’t it look like an open box? Just like when you open your mouth to speak?
Now, the fun part. How do night and mouth together mean first name? Think about it this way, at work, your colleagues and your boss probably call you by your last name (remember Bread-san and Bread-sensei). But at night, you hang out with your friends and they call you by what? Yes! Your first name!
Make sense? Good! Let’s try 姓 (sei). It’s made of 女 (onna – woman) and 生 (sei – birth). How do woman and birth together mean last name? Like in every traditional and patriarchal society, a Japanese woman begins her new life after getting married AND taking her husband’s last name.
How Japanese Dating Works
Congratulations on making it this far into our guide to Tokyo! For your reward, here’s another convoluted system to learn. In this section, you’ll learn about the Japanese dating system. No, no, not dating in Japan, the calendar system in Japan. Although the Gregorian calendar is used, some documents also express dates in terms of eras of imperial rule as shown below.
In current use are 明治 (Meiji), 大正 (Taishō), 昭和 (Shōwa), 平成 (Heisei), and 令和 (Reiwa).
- 1908 Jan. 1 (Meiji 41) to 1912 Jul. 30 (Meiji 45)
- 1912 Jul. 30 (Taishō 1) to 1926 Dec. 25 (Taishō 15)
- 1926 Dec. 25 (Shōwa 1) to 1989 Jan. 7 (Shōwa 64)
- 1989 Jan. 8 (Heisei 1) to 2019 Apr. 30 (Heisei 31)
- 2019 May 1 (Reiwa 1) to present
Another less common marker you might encounter is 西暦 (seireki – Common Era).
In Japan, dates are written as: 年 (nen – year), 月 (gatsu – month), 日 (nichi – day). Now, let’s check in again with good ol’ Bread-san for another example. He was born on February 5, 1988.
So, he can write 西暦 1988 年 2 月 5 日, 1988 年 2 月 5 日, or 平成 63 年 2 月 5 日, depending on what options the document has.
Addressing Things Properly
Let’s take for example the Foreign Resident’s Advisory Center’s address in Shinjuku.
〒163-8001 東京都新宿区西新宿2丁目8番1号都庁第一本庁舎3階都民の声課外国人相談
Citizens’ Consultation Section, Public Relations and Public Hearings Division, Bureau of Citizens and Cultural Affairs, Foreign Residents’ Advisory Center, 3F Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building 1, 2 Chome, 8-1, Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku 〒163-8001
As you can immediately tell, addresses in Japan are written from the top-down (largest to smallest area), whereas addresses in English are written from the bottom-up (smallest to largest area).
You needn’t worry too much about having the best kanji handwriting. However, it is important that you can write your address in both Japanese and English.
It’s also worth noting now that when searching addresses in Japanese on Google Maps, it’s important to know (at the very least) the correct 丁目 – 番 – 号 (chōme – ban – gō) information.
Minding Your Manners
Before you go, let’s talk about one last thing, manners. If you were to take just one thing from this condensed guide to Tokyo, it should probably be this one.
Now, you need to understand that not everyone follows these unspoken rules (yes, everyone means even Japanese people), but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. Japanese people aren’t very vocal about their thoughts but you can bet everyone who sees you breaking rules is taking furious notes. In a place where saving face and having a good reputation can make or break your chances, it’s better not to flirt with disaster.
Right, well, let’s get down to business then! Here are the most common, general rules you’ll need to keep in mind from now on, in no particular order.
- Don’t eat while walking. It’s considered rude. If you can’t find a seat, at least find a spot that’s not in anyone’s way.
- You’ve heard the proverb “Silence is golden.” Well, here it’s palladium (bet you didn’t know gold isn’t the most expensive metal anymore). You’ll immediately notice that, for all the hustle and bustle of Tokyo, the folk here barely make a peep in a crowd.
- Train etiquette asks that you:
- line up at the designated areas on the platform – no cutting in line.
- please move into the middle of the car, especially if your stop is far away.
- keep your bag in front of you so it doesn’t bother those behind in you when the train is crowded.
- keep your voice at a reasonable level.
- avoid taking phone calls. If you have to, keep it quiet and quick. Excuse yourself and say you’ll return the call immediately.
- give your seat to women with children, pregnant women, the elderly, and the disabled, especially if no one else will.
- wear a flu mask if you feel sick, and especially if you are sick.
- Keep to the left on the stairs and escalators. If you’re in a hurry, take the right.
Need help with figuring out living in Tokyo? Our Tokyo 101 guides take the stress out of navigating life in Japan.
Featured image by Clay Banks on Unsplash
