Japanese Etiquette

Hey gang,

Sorry I haven't posted the last few days. Have been having so much fuuuuun~

One of the biggest culture shocks for me was the common etiquette in Japan, so different from back home. It's cool! This'll probs just be like bullet points of random observations.

Everyone bows on first meeting with one another. The more important the person, the lower your bow. Like if you met the Prime minister or something you'd do a 90degree bow.

In shops, customers are treated like royalty. The whole staff shouts "IRRASHAIMASE" (welcome) whenever somebody enters the shop. In the case of a restaurant, the whole staff will also shout "ARIGATOU GOZAIMASU" (thank you very much) when you leave.

In restaurants in Japan, you don't tip. It's considered very rude to leave anything other than the cost of your bill - the mentality is that the service is covered in the cost of the food, so why pay extra?

Japanese language has varying levels of politeness, and it's very important to use the appropriate form when speaking to people. Thankfully, I learned polite, formal Japanese before coming here, and I've come to the conclusion that you should always use polite Japanese until you're on a first name basis with someone.

As a Westerner, lots of people try to shake my hand, which is really cute. I've had a few half bow, half handshake incidents..

On the train and bus, it's very rude to talk on the phone. Not only is this common courtesy, but it's requested by the train companies themselves that you set your phone to silent and refrain from talking. Near the priority seats, you're not supposed to use your phone at all.

Instead of prefixes such as Mr and Dr, Japanese uses suffixes, and there are lots. The most common is -San, meaning Mr or Mrs. It's a polite word and generally applied to strangers' names or elders' names.
Then there is -Sensei, meaning Teacher but also Doctor.
-Chan is a term of endearment used mainly for children. It's also commonly used between teenage girls. It's not applied to teenage boys, and never for adults (except maybe close women)
-Kun is used for boys or men younger than yourself.
-Sama is a more formal version of -San
-Senpai is your elder or superior in a club or work environment

Weeaboos (oh don't worry I'll explain them) are infamous for misusing the suffixes. I think Littlekuriboh put it best on his YouTube series of Naruto Abridged with his weeaboo impression
"David Bowie-sama-Senpai-Sensei-San-Senpai-San-sama....Kun"

Hate Weeaboos

Love
クイーヴァ
Caoimhe