Is It Rude to Talk on the Phone on a Train in Japan? "It's Not the Call, It's the Volume": 1,961 Japanese Riders Explain the Rule
日本の電車で通話はマナー違反？「電話がダメなんじゃなくて、うるさいのがダメ」——1,961件の日本人コメントが語る禁止の理由
By Rakutaro · Tokyo, Japan
When a Japanese YouTuber asked in 2024 why phone calls are banned on trains, the most-liked reply (1,260 likes) was: if you're fine with a stranger cackling into his phone next to you, go ahead, I'm not, so keep the ban. In the top 200 of a 1,961-comment thread, the reason Japanese riders give is not a law but volume: people on the phone get loud and can't hear it themselves (979 likes), and "the person asking is exactly the type who can't judge" (1,009). A vocal minority pushes back that the rule should be "don't be loud", not "don't call" (223), and that quiet face-to-face chat is held to the same bar. And when the phone rings anyway, there is one specific move most of them approve of.
These comments are from a video published in 2024. Prices, rules and crowds may have moved since; anything we checked ourselves is marked with a source.
“If you're fine with some random middle-aged guy next to you cackling into his phone, then sure, go ahead. I'm not, so keep the ban.”
近くで知らんおじさんがガハガハ笑いながら通話してても良いならいいんじゃない？ 私は嫌だから禁止で良い。
What Japanese people do instead
I like the people who pick up for a second, quietly say "I'm on the train right now..." and hang up quickly. You can see the good character in it: they can't ignore the caller, but they still want to keep to the manners.
一旦出て小声で「今電車なので…」って言って早めに切る人好き 相手を無視もできないしマナーも守りたいっていい人柄が出てるから
— @tamta-p2d253 likesPlease keep it banned. Otherwise I lose my trick for instantly ending an unwanted surprise call: "Sorry, I'm on the train right now, can we do this later?"
禁止にしててください。面倒くさい相手の突然の電話を即刻で切る技「すいません。今、電車の中なので後にしてください」が使えなくなる。
— @のりまき-d9v71 likesEven without calling on the train, you can handle it by text or LINE.
電車で通話しなくてもメールやLINEで済まそう。
— @ミルクティー-v8s70 likes
FAQ
- Can you talk on the phone on trains in Japan?
- You can, legally, but you're asked not to. Railway companies phrase it as a request, not a rule: JR East's official wording (unchanged since October 2015) is to set your phone to silent and refrain from calls, and to switch it off near priority seats when the car is crowded; on the Shinkansen and limited expresses, announcements ask you to take calls in the vestibule (deck) between cars. Japanese riders overwhelmingly want it kept that way (1,260 and 979 likes), and one commenter says the deck was always the place calls were allowed (10 likes).
Sources: jreastfaq.jreast.co.jp · jr-shinkansen.net — checked 2026-08-17
- Why is talking on the phone on a train considered rude in Japan?
- Volume, mostly. Japanese riders say people on a call get louder without noticing (979 likes) and that some people simply can't judge when enough is enough (1,009 and 729 likes), so a blanket ask is easier than policing volume (309). Several also point to why a call grates more than a conversation: you hear only one side (96 and 41 likes), which matches research showing overheard "halfalogues" are more distracting than full conversations. One rider adds that the person on the other end doesn't know you're on a train and may raise things that shouldn't be said in public (26).
Sources: journals.sagepub.com — checked 2026-08-17
- What should I do if my phone rings on a Japanese train?
- Pick up briefly, say quietly that you're on the train, and hang up: that is the move Japanese riders explicitly approve of (253 likes), and "sorry, I'm on the train, can we do this later" is a stock line people use to end calls (71 likes). Otherwise reply by text or LINE (70 likes). On the Shinkansen or a limited express, walk to the vestibule by the doors and take the call there.
- Is quiet conversation okay on trains in Japan?
- Yes, talking with the person next to you isn't banned, but keep it low: several riders say face-to-face conversation is held to the same standard (95 and 230 likes) and that a loud group is just as unwelcome as a loud call (151 likes). The line most of them draw is simply "don't be loud" (223 likes), whether or not a phone is involved.
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“It's fine as entertainment, but honestly — I don't think either side cares that much. What I hate about the times we live in is surveys like this, half-baked and with the answer decided in advance, manufacturing a split and leaving everyone that bit less comfortable.”
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What Japanese people said — picked from the top 200 of 1,961 comments
Phone calls tend to get loud, and the person talking can't tell. So I think the rule of holding off on calls is fine as it is.
電話の方が大声になりがちだしそれに本人は気付けないから 電話は控えるってルールのままでいいと思うな
I can't help suspecting that the person saying "I don't get why calls are banned" is exactly the type who doesn't know when enough is enough... Just a guess.
｢何で通話禁止なのか分からん｣って言ってる本人が、まさに“加減の分からん奴”なのではないかと疑ってしまう… 邪推だけど
That's exactly it: "some people don't know when enough is enough" is the big reason. Without a ban, there will always be idiots who keep talking at full volume with no limit.
まさにその「加減がわからない奴がいる」が大きいのでしょうね。 禁止しないと際限なくデカい声で喋り続けるバカが必ず出そう。
The loud ones are seriously loud, so I want people to stop making calls.
うるさいやつは本当にうるさいから通話は止めて欲しい
Basically, being talked at is noisy and annoying. A phone call, where the person can't read the room and talks at full volume, is even more annoying. It's a public place, so being quiet is the Japanese way. Anyone who says "what's the harm" can have me make a loud call right next to them.
基本的に話されるとうるさい、迷惑。電話とか周りの状況もわからずにデカイ声で話されるともっと迷惑。公共の場なので静かにするのが日本人としてのマナー。別に良いだろって言う奴の隣でデカイ声で電話したろうか。
Some people just can't control themselves unless it's set down as a rule or as manners. If everyone considered the people around them without being told, the rule or the manners would never have been created in the first place.
ルールやマナーとして決めておかないと自制できない人が一定数存在するからね みんながみんな、言われなくても他者への迷惑を省みれるなら、そもそもそんなルールやマナーは作られなかったのよ
The rule that you can't take calls on the train is so obvious I never even thought to question it.
電車で通話しちゃダメってルールが当たり前すぎて疑問に思った事すらなかったわ、
I was taught that on buses and trains, in public, you don't really hold real conversations either...
バスや電車の公共の場では、リアルの会話もあんましないのがマナーだと習ったんだが…
It's a sealed space, and I wouldn't want to be surrounded by chatter on all sides. I support the rule of no calls except in emergencies.
密閉空間だから、周り中が私語にあふれるのは自分は嫌かなぁ、緊急以外は使用禁止のルールを支持します。
I remember seeing someone like a psychologist explain this: on a call you can only hear one side, so even if you're not trying to listen, you subconsciously wonder what the other person is saying and it stresses you out. If people were just moderately considerate on calls and in conversation, that would be enough, but it's a shame we have to be bound by rules.
前にたしか心理学者のような人が解説してるの見たけど、通話だとこっちの人の発言しか聞こえないから、意識的に聞こうとしてなくても相手の方が何を言ってるのか無意識に気になってストレスを感じるらしい、というのを思い出した。 電話も会話もみんなお互いにほどほどに気を遣ってくれればいいだけなのに、ルールで縛らないといけない状態が残念だなぁ。
I think the reason is that the person on the other end doesn't know you're on a train, so they might bring up a topic that shouldn't be talked about in public. A conversation between two people who are both on the train is a completely different situation, because both of them know they're in a public place.
電話相手が本人が電車に乗っていることを知らないから、公共の場でするべきではないような話題をする可能性があるので禁止なのだと思います。 対して電車内の当人同士での会話はお互いに公共の場であることを認識しているので状況が全く違います。
When mobile phones first came out, there were quite a few people making loud calls to show off, and it wasn't so much a nuisance as deeply unpleasant. Before long the announcement "please refrain from calls inside the train" started... I think that's probably what got it recognized as bad manners.
携帯が世に出始めた頃、これ見よがしに大声で通話する人が結構いて、これが迷惑というより凄く不快だったんですよ。 程なく「車内での通話はお控え下さい」のアナウンスがされるようになって、、、 多分それがマナー違反と認識されるに至ったきっかけだと思います。
Whether it's over the phone or face to face, unless you're some creep straining to catch strangers' private business, it's just background noise. It's not "don't make calls". It's "don't be loud".
電話越しだろうが直接だろうが、知らねえ他人のプライベートをいちいち聞き取ろうとするような不審者でも無ければ雑音でしかない。 「電話するな」じゃ無え。「うるさくするな」なんだよ。
Face-to-face conversation should be kept as quiet as possible too, so I don't think it's just about phone calls.
対面の会話も極力静かにすべきものだから通話に限らずだと思う
I think it should be allowed if you talk in a whisper. In the end the difference is whether or not you make other people uncomfortable. It's just that on the phone your voice naturally gets louder, so they ban it across the board.
ヒソヒソ声で話すなら許されていいと思う 結局は他人に不快感を与えるか与えないかの差よ 電話は自然と声が大きくなりがちだから一律禁止にしてるだけやろ