A recent survey asked 2,008 men and women in Japan if they considered their city to be the worst-mannered in Japan. The result may shock you. But probably not.

And the winner is…

The survey, by online language tutoring company Preply, asked people two questions: Do you consider your city to have the worst manners of any city in Japan? And what about your city makes it ill-mannered?

Preply published the results of the survey in Japanese on the site PRTimes. It also included some advice for Japanese readers on how manners differ between Japan and countries they may want to visit in the near future.

Preply gave respondents a list of manner violations and asked if they thought denizens of their city were often guilty of the offense. It then averaged the answers together to compute a “manners score” for each city. A higher number indicates a greater lack of manners.

The number three placement was a bit of a surprise: Aomori, which rests in Aomori Prefecture on the northernmost portion of Japan’s main island of Honshu. Number two was Tokyo – which is, perhaps, to be expected as Japan’s largest city.

The city in first place? Osaka. And it wasn’t even close. While Aomori scored an 8 on the rudeness scale and Tokyo scored a 10, Osaka came out on top with a whopping score of 38.

So what are Japan’s most best-mannered cities? According to residents, the three that top the list are Chiba (Chiba Prefecture), Kumamoto (Kumamoto Prefecture), and Sapporo (Hokkaido), each ranking at 1.3. Asahikawa (Hokkaido), Hamamatsu (Shizuoka), Kobe (Hyogo), and Sendai (Miyagi) follow up close behind, all tying at 2.

The biggest sin committed by Osakans

So what, exactly, are the great sins committed by Osaka residents that rank them at the top of the rudeness scale? Preply broke the results down by question. In each and every category, Osaka ranked above every other city.

The two worse offenses committed by citizens: Not saying thanks to bus drivers and not picking up their dog’s poop. Osakans scored 13% on both questions. By contrast, Kanazawa residents are most likely to pay respects to drivers, while people in Kumamoto do the best job remembering to bring their poop scoops.

Ranking in at 11% – and perhaps the most alarming – is that drivers don’t reduce their speeds when someone enters a crosswalk. Kyoto ranked the most well-mannered in this category. At 10% is a refusal to hold open the door for the person behind you. That’s apparently not a problem in either Asahikawa or Niigata, which both ranked number one for this bit of kindness.

Other areas where Osaka comes up short in the manners department include:

Crossing a crosswalk against the light (8%)
Not giving up priority seats to the elderly, pregnant, or disabled (8%)
Being rude to other citizens (8%)
Using your cell phone while walking (7%)
Not apologizing when you walk into someone (5%)
Being noisy in public (5%)
Being rude to store staff (4%)
Doing makeup on the train or in another public space (4%)
Butting ahead in line (3%)

Why does Osaka outrank Tokyo?

Osaka at night as seen from the Sakishima Cosmo Tower. (Picture: 蝶（ファラージャ） / PIXTA(ピクスタ))

Preply notes in its press release that population plays a huge factor here. it’s simply harder to install a culture of good manners in heavily populated cities like Tokyo and Osaka – and easier to do in smaller cities.

But in that case, why does Osaka, with its population of some 2.6 million people in the city itself (and 8.8 million in the greater metropolis), rank well below Tokyo, with its population of over 13 million?

Preply chalks up Osaka’s results to it being a city of close quarters where even tourists say they feel a natural closeness to other people. As a result, Osakans may be more likely to be less hesitant and more direct.

Commentators on Japan’s CBC TV chalk these results up to being a merchant city. Osaka never had samurai stationed in the city and instead became known as a center of commerce. To this day, says Osaka-born announcer Ujita Tomoko, people tend to have frank discussions about money that might be interpreted as rude elsewhere.

What the heck, Aomori?!

This isn’t a new observation by any means. The opinion that folks from Kansai, in general, are more direct is widely held among both residents of and visitors to Japan. The general consensus is that, if someone in Japan doesn’t like you or has an issue, they’ll find a polite way not to associate with you any longer but avoid discussing the issue in detail. Unless they’re from Kansai, in which case, you can expect to hear about all your faults in painful detail.

Indeed, Japanese commenters didn’t see too shocked with this survey. What did surprise people was the result for Aomori. “I can see Tokyo and Osaka given their big populations,” said one Yahoo! News commenter in a well-liked comment. “But I’m curious what caused Aomori to rank third.”

Indeed, Aomori ranked 3rd or 4th in nearly all the categories listed above. What historical hardship, geographical oddity, or cultural calamity led to turning the hearts of Aomori residents to stone? The world may never know.

Sources

全国で最もマナーが悪い都市はどこ！？各都市の「マナーの実態」に関する調査結果を発表！Preply (via PRTimes)

「マナーが悪いと思う都市」ランキング！3位は青森、2位は東京、1位は？エピソードから見る地域の特色. CBC TV

関西って失礼な人が多くないですか？１人の人間を尊重しないというか。Yahoo! Chiebukuro

And the winner is…

The biggest sin committed by Osakans

Why does Osaka outrank Tokyo?

What the heck, Aomori?!

What to read next

Sources