Stocktc1

When you are walking towards someone , do you pass them to your right or left ? In USA, seems we pass to the right .

a lot of cultures meet in Japan, and it seems so confusing in a busy train station . It does get very tiring when you almost walk into people .

jib71

This is a funny one ...

In situations where there are no explicit directions, I think people tend to walk on the left. But there's no rule. In stations, you will often see arrows to indicate the flow on each side of a stair or hallway. Depending on the layout of the station and the location of pinch points, the directions can be for left-side or right-side traffic. And you'll sometimes find the general flow of traffic does its own thing regardless. Finally, in some big stations, you'll find yourself in a human maelstrom with flows from every whichaway, and the best that you can do is shuffle generally toward the platform that you want - or failing that, toward an open space. After years of assimilating to the collective you will astonish yourself with a Gretzky-like ability to see not only where the gap in the sea of humanity is at the moment, but where it will be. You will find yourself gracefully slicing through the crowds ... until a brutal, old, lady takes you out at the knees with her buggy full of groceries.

TA

I think you just have to look and observe the pattern being used at the moment and for the city in question. I found it amusing that Osaka went the opposite passing convention compared to Tokyo. (such as on escalators)

Mizunara

Been living here for a few years now, and I tend to pass most people coming head on when going left, and reverse that when in Osaka. You just sort of get used to it.

MSPeconomist

I've always had the impression that where cars drive on the right, the convention is that pedestrians keep to the right and conversely in places where cars drive on the left hand side of the road, the local norm is for pedestrians to stay toward the left of the sidewalk, walkway, hall/corridor, etc.

shuigao

In general I find that people tend to pass according to the country's road system, i.e. you drive on the right in the US, so you also subconsciously pass on the right when walking.

nishimark

In Osaka, you need to add bicycle riders to the mix.

PAX_fips

And if you have to stop, go to the side. Aside street markets, do not walk and eat.

rustykettel

I like to find a solid object like a column or vending machine as well if it's a very crowded location.

LapLap

The problem is that this question assumes that both parties are actually looking ahead of them at the time.

It’s a completely moot point if they are head down with their nose in some portable device. Annoyed me no end when I was in a wheelchair - but I got myself some workmen’s steelcapped tabi boots, fabulous! Solved SO many problems. Now I get annoyed and preternaturally angry when screen zombies careen into my kid. I’d surround her with electrified barbed wire if I could. Main nexus rail station entrances and corridors are the worst for this, if you’re with someone with little mass it’s much scarier than the seemingly more anarchic London. Those brutal tiny old ladies jib71 mentioned have been tempered by decades of patriarchal entitlement, they’re not taking it any more!
https://www.thecut.com/2015/01/mansl...gressions.html

Was looking at examples of 歩きスマホ (can’t lie, seeing the way some injure themselves is horribly entertaining, I’m not proud to admit it). But then stumbled onto this -
- examples of which I periodically come across, and not just in Japan.

freecia

@LapLap I was going to post the same as I also came across a transit station shoulder slammer in Japan somewhat recently. I don't count the guy who encountered me as a bumper, seeing as he came from behind me in a blind spot with plenty of space to avoid me and almost knocked my glasses off.
https://soranews24.com/2018/06/02/bu...wded-stations/

evergrn

This question has never crossed my mind in US or Jpn. I would think it's case by case, but I don't even think about it.
And in stations like Ikebukuro, everyone's going in different directions and your sole goal is get through the place one way or another without a collision.

Loren Pechtel

In my experience it follows the drive direction.

kochleffel

According to this article, the practice is the same on escalators: in Tokyo, stand on the left, walk on the right. In Osaka, the opposite.

PAX_fips

Left side is "default" in Tokyo, but there are stations where it is the other way round -- with a lot of signs about it.