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The story
In France, greeting the staff upon entering a shop is considered basic etiquette, and customers who skip it are seen as being rude — a claim that sparked a 5channel thread debating how Japanese customers behave when entering stores. In Japan, it’s typically the staff who call out “irasshaimase” (welcome) to customers, and there’s little custom of customers greeting back. Opinions split over how to take this difference, with some arguing “when in Rome, do as the Romans do” and others countering that “walking in without a word isn’t actually rude.”
What people said
Japanese people do return a greeting when greeted.
Isn't the point that the customer should greet first?
If anything, you're the one lying.
Hardly anyone in Japan actually responds to the clerk's greeting.
The stingy ones are the Japanese.
Greet them, but don't call out to them?
What is this, royalty?
The ones bashing Japan over this are just Westernized Japanese third parties — not even shop staff — who just want something to complain about.
Put that way, yeah, that's true.
My bad, that actually helps.
Fair, there's probably a loud French equivalent of those types too.
Understanding it doesn't mean it feels good though.
Japanese people do the exact same thing — criticizing foreigners' manners and saying "when in Rome."
So what are we supposed to do then? Whistle?
Apparently you're supposed to chat while you wait.
Though solo nerds showing up alone don't seem to be part of the plan.
So it's about matching their pace, huh.
Sounds like mutual consideration.
If the clerk's a racist, they'll just never come over then.
The clerk looks this way, right?
Then goes "ugh, an Asian" and looks away, right?
There's no way a Japanese person is saying bonjour after that.
That's exactly why you keep getting discriminated against.
You guys do the same thing, saying stuff like "Nguyen doesn't follow Japan's rules" (a common Vietnamese surname used dismissively) and discriminating too.
It goes both ways, so that's fine then.
True or not, I think the point is they treat French people the same way if they don't greet either.
Not greeting counts as discrimination now?
Why are you guys getting so prickly about it?
Isn't it because they're using some made-up, nonexistent Japanese person as the example?
No Japanese person is bold enough to skip a greeting back somewhere they're visiting for the first time.
You have no idea how hard it is just to teach kids to say hello.
That's the thing — that "normal" is different there.
Well, you should probably accept that this particular Japanese sense of normal is out of step (with everywhere else).
Japan's the only place where staff practically grovel to customers.
Japan is the weird one here.
But Asians don't have that custom, so if they don't want to deal with it, they should just put up signs in every language saying "No Asian tourists."
Not getting turned away at the door is already generous.
If it were real discrimination, they wouldn't even bother putting up a sign.
Also Japanese people: "Countries that give crappy service just because you didn't say hello are trash."
Seriously, the trash ones are the Japanese.
Seriously, this.
Total boomerang — like, look who's talking.
Japan itself slaps labels on people based on "Nguyen" traits or Chinese traits — you think that doesn't happen overseas too?
This is basically just saying "follow proper manners," isn't it.
Shouldn't this just end with "oh, that's the rule there, good to know"?
Because there's no such rule.
They're just looking down on Asians.
I don't remember ever responding to one of those greetings, and I never got treated badly either.
Background and key points of this debate
In France, exchanging a “bonjour” with staff when entering a shop is standard social etiquette, and skipping it tends to come across as unfriendly. In Japan, by contrast, it’s the shop staff who call out “irasshaimase” (welcome) to arriving customers, with no real expectation that customers greet back. The thread split over how to read this asymmetry — some treated it as nothing more than a cultural difference, while others turned it into self-criticism, noting that Japanese people are quick to criticize foreign tourists’ manners while staying oblivious to their own customs. It’s also worth noting that the text alone doesn’t confirm whether the original post described a general tendency in France or just one incident at a particular shop, so some caution against over-generalizing is warranted.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5channel (Nanademo Jikkyo G) thread “[Sad News] French person: “Japs, quit entering shops without saying hello… learn some manners!”“.
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