Japan Culture & Language

Shinto and Buddhism are not alternatives here. Most people take part in both — a shrine visit at New Year, a Buddhist funeral — without regarding it as a contradiction, and shrines and temples often stand on the same ground. Buddhism arrived from the Asian mainland, and the earliest works of Japanese literature, the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki chronicles and the Man'yōshū poetry anthology, are all from the eighth century and written in Chinese characters; the phonogram systems hiragana and katakana developed in the early Heian period.

Seasonality runs deeper than menus. Shun, the idea that an ingredient has a correct fortnight, shapes what restaurants serve, and the calendar of cherry blossom, autumn leaves and seasonal festivals structures the year for residents as much as visitors.

Craft traditions survive with unusual institutional support, including a system that designates outstanding practitioners as living national treasures.

Sport is taught, not just watched. Sumo is traditionally considered the national sport, and judo and kendo are part of the compulsory junior high school curriculum. Karate originated in the Ryukyu Kingdom. Japan hosted the Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 1964 and again in 2020, and the Winter Olympics at Sapporo in 1972 and Nagano in 1998.

Service is attentive and tipping is not part of it. Leaving money on a table is likely to result in someone chasing you down the street to return it, and can read as an insult rather than a compliment. Manga and anime are mainstream adult culture rather than a niche.

Tattoos carry a meaning they do not carry elsewhere, through a historical association with organised crime. Acceptance is increasing, but public swimming pools, hot springs, beaches and some gyms may refuse entry, and others ask that tattoos be covered.

Japanese is the only official language. Written English is good on transport, in major stations and at tourist sites; spoken English is much more limited, and less common than visitors expect in a country this internationalised.

A translation app handles most practical situations, and menus are often photographic. A few words go a long way: sumimasen serves as excuse me, sorry and to call a waiter; arigatou gozaimasu is thank you; onegaishimasu is please. A slight bow accompanying any of them is normal.