Train etiquette

The basic principle

Japanese train etiquette rests on one idea: do not impose on the people around you. Carriages are shared space, often crowded, and the default is to make yourself as small and quiet as possible. This is not coldness. It is a form of consideration that assumes strangers deserve a calm commute.

Phones on silent

Before boarding, most people set their phone to マナーモード（まなーもーど）, literally "manner mode" — silent or vibrate. Taking a call on a train is the clearest breach of etiquette. Announcements regularly ask passengers to refrain from 通話（つうわ）, phone calls, and to keep phones silent near priority seats. If you must take a call, the accepted move is to get off at the next station, take it on the platform, and board the following train.

Typing, reading, games and music are all fine. Use イヤホン（いやほん）, earphones. Leaking sound from headphones is treated as a minor but real offence, and some operators ask you to keep volume low enough that others cannot hear it.

Priority seats

優先席（ゆうせんせき）are marked seats, usually at the ends of a carriage, reserved for お年寄り（おとしより）, elderly people; 妊婦（にんぷ）, pregnant passengers; 体の不自由な方（からだのふじゆうなかた）, passengers with disabilities; and 小さなお子様（ちいさなおこさま）を連れた方, those travelling with small children. The seats are not legally reserved, and you may sit in them if nobody needs them. The expectation is that you give them up immediately when someone who needs one boards. Near priority seats, phones should be switched off entirely on some lines, because of concerns about implanted medical devices — a rule posted on many carriages, though its practical necessity is debated.

Queueing and boarding

Platforms have 乗車位置（じょうしゃいち）, boarding position markers, showing where each door will stop. Passengers form two lines at the sides of the door and let exiting passengers out first. Boarding before others have exited is one of the few things that draws visible irritation. On escalators, the convention in Tokyo is to stand on the left and walk on the right; in Osaka it is reversed. This is custom, not rule, and operators have asked people to stop walking on escalators altogether.

The unwritten rules

A partial list of things regular commuters notice:

• Backpacks are worn on the front, or placed on the overhead rack, in crowded carriages.
• Large luggage is avoided during rush hour where possible; some lines now require reservations for oversized bags on certain services.
• Eating is uncommon on commuter trains, though long-distance 新幹線（しんかんせん）are a different matter, and 駅弁（えきべん）, station bentō, are part of the experience.
• Makeup is generally not applied on commuter trains.
• Seats are not saved for friends who have not yet boarded.
• Conversations are kept quiet; loud talking in a group stands out.
• When the carriage is full, you stand, even if a seat frees up near someone who was waiting longer.

Where the rules are written

Railway operators publish etiquette posters and car announcements. The wording is polite and indirect: お願いします（おねがいします）, please, rather than prohibition. Staff rarely intervene. Enforcement is social. This is why the rules feel strong to visitors even though almost nothing is illegal.

A note on the phrase

マナー in Japanese covers both formal manners and this everyday consideration. It is not identical to the English "etiquette", which often implies formal occasions. On a train, マナー means something closer to "don't be a nuisance". Learning the word is useful; learning the behaviour matters more. For related vocabulary, see the vocabulary section.