Japanese manga icons like Sailor Moon teach train etiquette to foreign tourists

The campaign follows a survey indicating that over 60 per cent of Japanese train users have been ‘annoyed’ by the behaviour of foreign tourists

A Japanese railway company has launched an etiquette campaign aimed at foreign tourists that taps into one of the nation’s most globally recognisable cultural icons – manga characters – in response to increasing annoyance regarding the behaviour of some international visitors on trains.

In April, Central Japan Railway Company, in collaboration with publisher Kodansha, began displaying posters of characters from 17 popular manga series at stations along the Tokaido shinkansen line between Tokyo and Osaka.

Each of the Manga Manners posters – featuring the stars of comic books including Sailor Moon, Fairy Tale, and Attack on Titan – is accompanied by a message asking foreign visitors to follow the rules for a safer and more enjoyable stay in Japan.

For example, the poster featuring Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon instructs women renting kimonos for sightseeing in Kyoto “wear kimono and yukata [summer kimono] correctly by crossing the left side over the right”.

While Cardcaptor Sakura declared, “a bow at a 45-degree angle is customary to show gratitude”, Blue Lock advised travellers, “be mindful of others and keep conversations quiet on the train”.

“We wanted to use manga characters that are popular overseas to make travelling in Japan more comfortable and enjoyable for customers from overseas,” railway spokesman Yusuke Sasaki said.

“We hope that customers from abroad will learn Japanese manners that are useful for everyday life and for using public transport,” he told This Week in Asia, adding that the campaign also coincided with the opening of the Osaka 2025 Expo.

The initiative is timely, given that a March survey found most Japanese train users were “annoyed” by the behaviour of foreign tourists on trains or at stations.

The annual Japan Private Railway Association survey found that 63.9 per cent of respondents had been angered by visitors from abroad, mainly due to loud conversations and “boisterous behaviour”.

Others were unhappy with tourists who blocked passageways with their luggage on trains or “moved through station facilities”.

The association told Kyodo News that it incorporated a question specifically about foreign tourists for the first time this year, to find ways to encourage travellers from abroad to adhere to Japanese travel etiquette.

Another major complaint was passengers coughing or sneezing “without consideration” for others, the survey showed. Some were unhappy with passengers who wore too much perfume or bumped into people when boarding or disembarking a train.

Yet another issue was passengers taking up too much space by spreading their legs or occupying more space than necessary.

Of the 5,314 participants, more than 47 per cent said the manners of passengers had deteriorated in the last year, while only 17.5 per cent believed they had improved.