Practice for everyday situations in Japan
Culture makes more sense when you can try it.
Each activity puts you in a short scene, such as waiting on a train platform, washing your hands at a shrine, or paying at a small shop. You choose what to do, then read why that choice fits.
How it works
- Read the scene
Each activity starts with a short situation and the cues you would notice there.
- Make a choice
Choose a response, select an area in a scene, or put steps in order.
- Learn why
Feedback explains the reason behind the choice.
- 15 topics and 63 short activities
- No account needed
- Your progress is saved only in this browser
All topics
Food
- Dining Etiquette
Practice reading a restaurant's table setup, sharing food with chopsticks, and checking the bill without treating one dining custom as universal.
3 activities
Travel
- Payment Confidence
Practice reading payment cues, checking what a venue accepts, and switching calmly to another accepted method when needed.
3 activities - Trash & Recycling
Practice keeping waste with you when no bin is available, checking public-bin labels, and following accommodation-specific disposal instructions.
4 activities - Train Etiquette in Japan
Practice reading platform cues, sharing space inside a train, and adapting to the route, crowd level, and operator guidance.
3 activities - Rail Travel Help
Practice five rail decisions with every unfamiliar term explained on the activity screen.
5 activities - Luggage Strategy
Practice choosing when to carry, leave, store, forward, or replan luggage at different stages of a Japan trip.
5 activities - Lost Items & Recovery
Practice reconstructing an accidental loss, choosing the most likely recovery channel, preserving trace evidence, and continuing safely when there is no immediate match.
5 activities - Local Bus Decisions
Learn to read the current local bus's route, boarding, fare, next-stop, and recovery cues instead of memorizing one procedure for all of Japan.
5 activities - Medical Help
Practice choosing and confirming a current care route, switching when the first route fails, communicating during an established 119 call, and keeping essential information together.
5 activities - Mobility Access
Practice comparing complete step-free routes, coordinating rail assistance, recovering around closed access links, verifying one exact facility need, and balancing time, energy, and certainty.
5 activities - Connectivity & Offline Recovery
Practice keeping essential travel information usable offline and recovering when mobile data, maps, translation, bookings, or messages stop working.
5 activities - Rental-Car Safety
Practice legal-readiness checks, the first departure decision, Japan-specific road priority, respectful plan switching, and the police-reporting step after a collision.
5 activities
Culture
- Shrine Etiquette in Japan
Practice approaching a Shinto shrine, using a temizuya, and following a common worship sequence while giving current local guidance priority.
3 activities - Onsen Etiquette
Practice the shared-bath flow: check the facility's rules, prepare in the changing area, wash and rinse before soaking, and keep the transition back to the changing area dry.
3 activities
Manners
- Shoes in Japan
Practice reading entrance cues, using slippers considerately, and checking the rule when footwear expectations vary.
4 activities
Part of Why Japan
Why Japan Academy is the practice section of Why Japan, a site of guides that explain Japanese culture, manners, and travel for international readers. You can read a guide there and practice the same situation here.