WHO IS ACTUALLY BEHAVING BADLY IN JAPAN?

The Japanese English-language media such as The Japan Times often publishes what seem at first to be mild-mannered, well-balanced pieces modelling the style of the BBC : in other words, bland and wishy-washy, desperately trying to not appear to be taking any side or having any agenda. However, behind the veneer it’s not hard to detect something rather unsavoury.

I came across an article in the aforementioned newspaper talking about everyone’s favourite topic here : the problems caused by overtourism. For those who don’t know, since the COVID restrictions were lifted, the weak yen has led to record numbers of foreigners coming to Japan. Some of these tourists have behaved badly - the media is rife with tales of people scratching their names on UNESCO-listed monuments, offensive YouTubers disturbing commuters and Geisha being harrassed on their way to work. Now, the rather mild article in question didn’t dwell on these sensationalist incidents, it just mentioned the distribution of posters in various places reminding foreign tourists of local etiquette. Nothing wrong with that, right?

The rather unpleasant undercurrent of the article, however, was the unsaid assumption that all breaches in manners and etiquette in Japan are carried out by foreigners. The well-publicised extreme cases seek to reinforce this view. This is very similiar to the way in which criminal cases involving foreginers get exaggerated meida attention leading people to believe that most crimes are done by non-Japanese, and implying that foreigners are somehow inherently criminal. The reality, of course, is that the vast majority of crimes committted in Japan are done by Japanese.

The same is true for breaches of etiquette and lapses in manners - almost all of the incidents are done by Japanese. If you ride on public transportation in Japan, you’ll see in every train carriage, bus, tram or monorail posters in Japanese reminding people of basic etiquette such as not talking loudly, not using your phone, not taking up too much space, not blocking entrances, keeping priority seats clear for those who need them, etc. The very fact that these posters are everywhere shows that Japanese people not observing the rules is a problem.

Despite what the smug Japan Times would like to think, some Japanese people are behaving badly in public on a regular basis. As a commuter using public transport, I see this all the time. Let’s take yesterday as an example : I noticed two cases of obnoxious behaviour by locals.

Case One: The first occurred as I was waiting for an early morning train. In Japan you are expected to line up on the platform. I had arrived early, so I was at the front, with maybe three or four people eventually joining behind me. Suddenly, a young man appeared, ignored the other people, and stood next to me at the front. This is pretty outrageous behaviour, but this isn’t the first time I’ve seen this while waiting for this same train.

Case Two: The second one happened in the early afternoon as I was returning home on the monorail. The carriage was half-full. I suddenly heard some odd bursts of shrill noise, but I couldn’t identify it. Then a high school girl who had been sitting somewhere else, got up and sat in the corner near my seat, and I heard the noises again : she was doing a video call with some guy and using the speaker on her phone rather than earphones. This is pretty anti-social behviour by Japanese standards.

We’re not done, though - the next part of the incident was quite weird and funny. After a couple of stops, she ceased the call, and hailed a young man who was waiting on the platform to come and join her (presumeably the guy she’d been face-timing with). He came and sat next to her, and then for the rest of their journey, bizzarely, they didn’t speak a single word to each other! During this time, however, the girl suddenly put her hands under her school uniform skirt and pulled off a pair of shorts she’d been wearing underneath, accompanied by the release of what I can only describe as the reek of unwashed human. Multiple breaches (or breeches?) of etiquette here, but everyone in the carriage ignored it with typical Japanese stoicism.

Anecdotal evidence isn’t proof, of course, but I do see these kind of things on a daily basis. But what of the foreign tourists?

The train line I regularly use connects with a major touristic site here in Western Japan, so I see visitors frequently, and I can honestly say that I never witness any kind of obnoxious behaviour, aside from sometimes an overexcited group of Americans or Mediterraneans talking a bit too loudly (or at least louder than any Japanese would), or occasionally people trying to bring their suitcases onto crowded commuter trains (hey tourists, please don’t attempt to use the trains between 6 and 9am and 5 to 8pm if you’ve got bulky baggage). For the most part they are friendly and respectful to the locals.

So, I’ll conclude by answering the question posed in the title of this blog entry : who is actually behaving badly in Japan? It’s overwhelmingly the Japanese, aside from a few ignorant foreign tourists who draw exaggerated media attention.