LINE

LINE is Japan’s favorite messaging app by far, outpacing other messaging and social media apps. When making friends with Japanese people and exchanging information, they won’t want your phone number, they will ask for your LINE profile/info.

If you’ll be interacting with locals and want to communicate in the most common and comfortable way for them, get LINE. Be prepared, download it, and set up your profile before you get to Japan.

LINE is much more than just a messaging app. In addition to texting and exchanging stickers, people can make calls, send/request money, and more. I mostly use it for messaging.

Especially for people going to study, work, or stay longer term as digital nomads, LINE is a must-have app.

Here’s the LINE app website

LINE is a free app. I am not associated with LINE in any way. This is not an advertisement. LINE is simply the way Japanese people prefer to communicate.

Rainy Nights

For many people, rainy nights can be a peaceful time to stay home, light the fireplace, and relax with a good book. However, in Japan, rainy nights present a perfect opportunity to go out, socialize, and make new friends, even if only for that evening.

A shop with only room for 4-6 people at a counter is the perfect cozy place to weather a storm, even if it’s only a mild rain. There’s something about going from being cold and wet outside to sheltering with a small group in a little, warm shop that creates instant camaraderie and unforgettable memories.

Rainy nights in Japan are often the most enchanting. You can enjoy socializing the Danish/Norwegian way, “hygge”, and discover the cozy, contented feeling evoked by the comfort and warmth of sharing a space with a small group of new friends.

Tasty food and convivial conversation will make it hard to leave. You’ll likely have at least one too many drinks. That’s ok. These moments are what travel and life are all about. The shared human experience. It doesn’t matter where you’re from or what you believe in, finding shelter from the elements is universal.

Don’t be afraid to go out in the rain and explore. You’ll increase your luck surface area for meeting new people and see a different side of Japan. Rainy nights are magical. Use them to your advantage.

If you’re unsure where to go, Harmonica Yokocho in Kichijoji, Yakitori Alley in Shinjuku, and Ebisu Yokocho in Ebisu are all great places to hang out and meet people.

When choosing your establishment, don’t go to a ramen shop. While ramen shops can be small and intimate, ramen is a meal designed to be eaten quickly. It is not something people in Japan generally linger over and have conversations over at the counter. Choose a type of food that people order in rounds like yakitori, kushikatsu, yakiniku, or another small plate type of food restaurant.

Japanese Hand Gestures

Like any country, Japan has commonly used hand gestures. Some of them differ from what you’re used to in your country.

Crossing your index fingers to make an x shape in front of you signals servers to bring your check. This is super useful in a noisy bar, if your server is far away, or even if it is super busy and you don’t want to interrupt them, but you want them to know you’re ready to pay and go. You will use this one a lot.

Crossing your arms in front of you making a big X (the arms cross at the forearm). This means a few things: something is not allowed, don’t enter, you can’t do something, stop doing whatever you’re doing, don’t come in here. It’s situation-based. If you walk into most gyms or onsens and have visible tattoos showing you will encounter this gesture.

Pointing at your face (nose) with your index finger. That’s how Japanese people refer to themselves. In the US, we would point to our chest.

Walking karate chop. This will come in handy, especially in crowded areas. It means excuse me, I need to get through here or cut through here. You can pair it with a bunch of sumimasen’s (excuse me’s) and even add a slight forward bow of your body. You’ll see it a lot in crowded train stations, supermarkets, cutting through a line, etc…

Waving your hand with your fingers and palm facing down. It looks a bit like how the go-away movement looks in America, but you are pulling your fingers toward your palm instead of flicking them away. This is how you call someone over. The way Westerners are most likely used to, where you have your palm facing towards you when you beckon someone over is only used in Japan to call animals over. So, if you are looking for a fight or want to insult someone, you can wave them over the way you would in America and other Western countries. This is a situation where you just need to be aware enough to not do what you are used to doing.

Waving your hand back and forth in front of your face in a what stinks around here type of motion means “no, no” in response to something someone has said. You’ll often see this when you compliment someone on something. They’ll wave their hand in front of their face and say “iie, iie, iie” or “iya, iya, iya”. Both mean “no” with the latter being the casual way to say “no”. It is also used to turn down an offer of something like if someone is offered food they don’t want, they will use this gesture paired with the phrase “kekkou desu” which basically translates to “no thanks”.

Index fingers on the side of your head, pointing up like horns means angry. It’s usually done behind someone’s back. An example is when you come into work and your coworker nods toward the boss’s office and then makes the horns sign to let you know the boss is angry so you should tread lightly.

Counting on your hands is also different. You start with your hand open instead of closed and you start by closing your thumb for 1. Close your index finger for 2, etc... Continue until you close your pinky, forming a kind of fist, for 5.

Pointing at people and even things or directions can be viewed as aggressive and angry, so when you want to point at something it’s best to use your entire open hand and generally gesture in that direction. It’s similar to when you go in a restaurant and the host/Maitre d’ says “right this way” and waves their open hand in the general direction of where they want you to walk.

These are just some of the hand gestures you’ll see most often in Japan.