Mind your manners, please. Toilet and tipping protocol are among the behaviors many tourists have yet to master in Japan’s historic city of Kyoto.
Kyoto residents have had enough. A surge in tourism in recent years has brought with it an outbreak of dirty toilets and misbehaving travelers.
The toilet guides, which come in four languages, cater to users of both Japanese- and Western-style toilets. The three-step guides illustrate how to sit on the toilet, where to throw toilet paper and how to flush.
The leaflet is topped with an illustration of five grumpy-looking Kyotoites captioned, « Kyotoites are pretty fastidious! »
Each impolite act gets an « AKiMaHen » rating from one mildly unhappy emoticon to three red, fiercely angry faces.
Some of the least unacceptable behaviors are tipping — how dare you! — and opening taxi doors by yourself. Taxi doors in Japan are opened and closed remotely by taxi drivers.
The most serious offenses include smoking outdoors in non-designated areas — punishable by a fine of 1,000 yen ($8) .
Bicycling while drunk carries a whopping penalty of up to one million yen ($8,000) or five years in prison.
Other tips include being polite when asking a maiko (an apprentice dancer who wears a traditional kimono) for pictures and not canceling restaurant reservations at the last minute.
