Tag: Japanese Social Norms

Why It Always Comes Back to Being an Island - Metropolis Japan

Why It Always Comes Back to Being an Island

From gara-kei to J-pop: unpacking Japan's "Galápagos syndrome," exceptionalism, and the truth behind the isolated-nation cliché.

Yellow Roses and Wagyu: Inside Japan’s Father’s Day - Metropolis Japan

Yellow Roses and Wagyu: Inside Japan’s Father’s Day

Celebrating Chichi no Hi in Japan

Mi Kasa Es Su Kasa? The Unspoken Rules of Umbrellas in Japan - Metropolis Japan

Mi Kasa Es Su Kasa? The Unspoken Rules of Umbrellas in Japan

From unspoken etiquette to environmental headaches—what’s really going on with umbrellas in Japan?

What It’s Really Like to Work as a Hostess in Tokyo’s Kabukicho - Metropolis Japan

What It’s Really Like to Work as a Hostess in Tokyo’s Kabukicho

Life behind the neon

Your Official “Hometown” Is the Imperial Palace? Welcome to Japan’s Honseki System - Metropolis Japan

Your Official “Hometown” Is the Imperial Palace? Welcome to Japan’s Honseki System

The bizarre loophole that's turning castles, stadiums and airports into official family homes

Why So Many Japanese Married Couples Sleep in Separate Beds - Metropolis Japan

Why So Many Japanese Married Couples Sleep in Separate Beds

Exploring sleep culture, relationship dynamics and how space shapes intimacy in Japan

Does It Feel Weird To Be Naked in an Onsen? - Metropolis Japan

Does It Feel Weird To Be Naked in an Onsen?

What the Japanese bathhouse can teach us about body image

Are Trains in Tokyo Safe for Women? A List of Women-Only Cars in Tokyo - Metropolis Japan

Are Trains in Tokyo Safe for Women? A List of Women-Only Cars in Tokyo

How to ride public transport safely and report an incident

Japan in New York - Metropolis Japan

Japan in New York

Japanese culture outside of the archipelago

Is Japan’s Cultural Aversion to Public Noise Suppressing Its Birth Rate? - Metropolis Japan

Is Japan’s Cultural Aversion to Public Noise Suppressing Its Birth Rate?

Is Japan’s silence pushing families away?

The Door Knockers: Jehovah’s Witnesses in Japan - Metropolis Japan

The Door Knockers: Jehovah’s Witnesses in Japan

*bing bong* 

“They Ripped Up My Resignation Letter”: 1 in 5 Japanese Workers in Their 20s Turn to Resignation Agencies - Metropolis Japan

“They Ripped Up My Resignation Letter”: 1 in 5 Japanese Workers in Their 20s Turn to Resignation Agencies

Young workers turn to resignation agencies for their mental health

Based in Japan: What’s Wrong with Sex Education in Japan? - Metropolis Japan

Based in Japan: What’s Wrong with Sex Education in Japan?

An interview with sex ed teacher June Low

Japan Now Allows Joint Custody After Divorce—Here’s What Actually Changed - Metropolis Japan

Japan Now Allows Joint Custody After Divorce—Here’s What Actually Changed

A landmark revision to Japan's Civil Code took effect April 1, 2026, ending a sole-custody system that had been in place for over a century

Being Chinese in Japan - Metropolis Japan

Being Chinese in Japan

Interviews with Chinese residents in Tokyo 

So I Married a Japanese Man…and These Are the Questions I Get - Metropolis Japan

So I Married a Japanese Man…and These Are the Questions I Get

Intercultural relationships come with plenty of rude assumptions.

Shibuya to Introduce ¥2,000 Littering Fines and Mandatory Trash Bins for Restaurants - Metropolis Japan

Shibuya to Introduce ¥2,000 Littering Fines and Mandatory Trash Bins for Restaurants

Shibuya City will introduce on-the-spot littering fines

Based in Japan: Would You Renovate an Akiya in Tokyo? - Metropolis Japan

Based in Japan: Would You Renovate an Akiya in Tokyo?

How Anton Wormann is reviving abandoned houses with a nod to tradition

Things Women Cannot Do in Japan - Metropolis Japan

Things Women Cannot Do in Japan

And why those rules exist and persist

Scrambling Through Shukatsu - Metropolis Japan

Scrambling Through Shukatsu

Japan’s daunting system of job-hunting for new graduates

Fika in Tokyo: How a Swedish Coffee Ritual Is Helping Professionals Feel Less Alone - Metropolis Japan

Fika in Tokyo: How a Swedish Coffee Ritual Is Helping Professionals Feel Less Alone

Intentional slowness to replace transactional networking.

What Is Japanese Tradition? — Editor’s Letter - Metropolis Japan

What Is Japanese Tradition? — Editor’s Letter

Should Japan stay “traditional”?

Why Do Birth Rates Plummet Every 60 Years During the Year of the Fire Horse? - Metropolis Japan

Why Do Birth Rates Plummet Every 60 Years During the Year of the Fire Horse?

Debunking an old, sexist myth

Matcha or Macho: The Performative Male - Metropolis Japan

Matcha or Macho: The Performative Male

There's so much more to him than being a meme