1. Bars at Japanese Country Inns
Do not plan a before-dinner cocktail hour when you are staying at Japanese inns in the countryside, both traditional and modern ones. Bars at such establishments, if they do exist, tend to not open until 8pm or later after the dinner hour.
The custom at these places does not seem to include the usual Western pre-dinner cocktail; I’m not sure why. In the major cities at hotels the bar is always open before dinner. Japanese country inns usually serve a fixed multi-course dinner featuring local ingredients. Often the first group of dishes – the appetizers – is served with a small glass of an aperitif such as plum wine. This is a “welcome” drink on-the-house, they say.
After the meal you may find a bar. It will be crowded with people who are staying at the inn. What they are doing is called a 'nijikai', a “second round” party following the dinner. Those who want more drinks and fun after dinner gather in these usually dark and sometimes smoky bars for libation, chatting and, sometimes alcohol-induced singing.
2. Yukata or Kimono-style Gown
A Japanese inn offers men and women a yukata, a kimono-style gown. It is found in your room. Today some Japanese inns may offer the customers a colorful and sometimes untraditional choice – a top and loose pants. While you are staying at the inn you are encouraged to shed your street clothes and don a yukata.
Wearing this garment, you may go everywhere in the hotel, including to the dining room and even for a stroll outside in a hot springs town. The yukata is very comfortable. But after wearing one for dinner five consecutive nights at several inns, I got tired of it. At my sixth dinner I put on my travel dinner “uniform,” a casual dress. It was fine and I did not feel out of place.
When you put on a yutaka, there is one rule that you must never ignore. After putting on the yukata with your arms through the sleeves – always place the right hand side of the fabric over your body with the left side of the yukata over the top of that. Doing it in the opposite way is reserved for the way in which the dead are wrapped before cremation. Women tie the obi belt that secures the yukaya, over the waistline, while men place obi a bit lower - over the hip bone. The obi is quite long. Arrange it so the knot is in front for women, and at the back, for men. And, a caution; do not attempt to run while wearing a yukata! You will expose your entire legs (and more) and you might trip.
3. Different Slippers, Different Functions
At Japanese inns, you may be asked to take off your shoes when you enter the inn. They may store your shoes at the front door. You will be given a pair of slippers, and they become your in-house shoes. At some Japanese inns, rather than at the front door you are asked to take off your shoes when you enter your own room.
You take off your shoes, leave them in the entry foyer of the room and use the in-room slippers you will find there. There is a further complication. If the room floor is covered in straw tatami mats, no slippers are worn – only bare feet or socks are acceptable on tatami. Most of the time, I ignore the in-room slippers and walk in my bare feet regardless of the floor covering, since the floor is always impeccably clean.
To make things a bit more confusing, there is an additional pair of slippers in the toilet room. These are designated slippers for use in this space. In Japan clean areas and unclean areas are strictly separated, so don’t forget to take them off. You must never walk out of your room wearing your toilet slippers. People will stare at you if you do.
4. Train Tickets
Hold onto your tickets after boarding without bending or mutilating them no matter what happens or how long your journey. It’s the system bequeathed by the British who built the first railways in Japan. You need your ticket both for entering the platform or train and for leaving the platform or station.
At Japan Railway (JR) stations you can buy a card, called Suica and fill it with funds for tickets, like the Metrocard in New York or similar systems in other major cities. Put it into your wallet as the Japanese do. At the station you just touch your wallet with the card to the ticket gate and, with the built in chip, the automatic ticket gate will open.
On exiting from a station, you do the same. The fare is debited from the card and the amount of cash remaining is briefly flashed at the exit gate. Cards can be recharged with more funds and the cards are good on non-JR railways and the subways as well. You can even use the card for purchases at station kiosks and convenience stores. It is a marvelously efficient and easy to use system.
5. Handkerchief
After landing in Japan one of the first things you should do is buy a couple of inexpensive handkerchiefs, if you don’t already have some with you. You can find simple handkerchiefs at convenience stores, and more expensive ones at department stores including international designer brands.
When you eat at casual restaurants they may serve a wet cloth, oshibori, but no paper or cloth napkins. The oshibori is too wet to put on your lap. The handkerchief is perfect for such duty. For reasons that are not at all clear, soba noodle shops do not supply napkins of any kind, so your handkerchief will be quite handy after slurping a bowl of delicious noodles.
A handkerchief is also very convenient to wipe away sweat if you are out and about during the steamy, sweltering Japanese summer. One thing we never do in Japan is to blow our nose into a handkerchief.
6. Left Side Rule - Mostly
Japan adopted the British railway system. Therefore, we drive on the left and even walk on the left. When it comes to escalators, it is not so straightforward.
In Tokyo we stand on the left side and let the hurrying people pass us on the right. In Osaka this becomes the opposite; stand on the right. A nationwide survey found out that 57% of the population follows the Tokyo way, 13%, the Osaka way, 9.2% depend on the local situation and 12.3% simply do not let other people pass. So observe and do as the locals do in each part of Japan you are visiting.
