Don’t be surprised. Yes, I’ll introduce the etiquette for using the umbrella today. Unlike Australia, Japan doesn’t have wide roads or spacious sidewalks but with a relatively large population. It is quite annoying walking on the congested streets particularly in rainy days where everyone uses an umbrella. Hence, people are usually careful about not bothering others by their umbrellas. By learning the tips below, I believe you won’t have any trouble when you walk on the street on a rainy day if you go to Japan sometime in the future.
1. Before you enter into a building, put your umbrella in the umbrella stand if there is one. In the case for no umbrella stand, you may need to prepare a plastic bag in advance.
2. Before you open your umbrella, make sure no one closely standing around you. Open an umbrella right in front of someone is very rude. In contrast, please be careful when you close your umbrella as well.
3. When you come across someone while both of you are using an umbrella, please move your umbrella to the opposite side of that person otherwise your umbrella will have a “road accident”.
4. Bringing a wet umbrella into a train will be very annoying. So make sure to get rid of the water as possible as you can (by shaking, wiping or other ways) before taking the train.
I hope these tips could be helpful sometime. Have a nice weekend.