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Travel Tips & HonneYouTubecomments on a 2022 video

Is It Rude to Blow Your Nose in Japan? Japanese Commenters Say the Sniffling Is Worse

Short answer

Blowing your nose at the table is rude, but Japanese commenters say constant sniffling is worse (353 likes). Also: where to blow it and why people sniffle.

2,687 likes on the most-liked comment406-comment thread · 2022 video

日本で人前で鼻をかむのは失礼か？　日本人のコメント欄は「すする方が不快」

By Rakutaro · Tokyo, Japan

Japan Etiquette (What Japanese People Actually Do)Nationwide

Japanese commenters agree that blowing your nose at the table is bad manners, but in a 2022 clip about how Japan and the United States handle a runny nose, the loudest complaint in the top 200 of 406 comments runs the other way: 353 likes for "people who never blow their nose and just sniffle forever are seriously unpleasant," and 184 for "I always wish it would become a no-no in Japan too." The most-liked comment of all (2,687 likes) is a viewer working out that the tissues handed to them on an international flight were not kindness. The defense of sniffling is medical rather than cultural (383 likes), one reply names the real reason nobody blows, and a few say plainly what they would rather you did.

These comments are from a video published in 2022. Prices, rules and crowds may have moved since; anything we checked ourselves is marked with a source.

“So the tissues I was handed on an international flight weren't kindness after all.”

国際線の飛行機でティッシュ渡されたのは優しさじゃなかったのか

— @dayto215
This placeWhat Japanese people say about Japan Etiquette (What Japanese People Actually Do)Read all 18 roundups on the place page
（YouTube · Tyler&Yuta🔴笑って学べる英会話Aitem）

What Japanese people said — picked from the top 200 of 406 comments

  • This reminded me of the time I was freezing on a plane and sniffling, and the American next to me said "It makes me disgusted" and handed me a tissue lol. My tissues were in my checked bag and I was really struggling, so it did help lol. They must have hated it that much lol.

    飛行機ですごく寒くて鼻水すすってたら、隣のアメリカ人にIt makes me disgusted.って言われてティッシュ渡されたの思い出した笑笑 ティッシュ、預けた荷物の中でマジつらかったから助かったけど笑笑 相当いやだったんやな笑笑

    — @greenpeace-e9e336 likes

  • People who never blow their nose and just sniffle forever are seriously unpleasant. When someone did it in the study room it really got to me.

    鼻かまずに永遠とすすってるやつマジで不快 自習室とかでやられた時は本当に嫌だったな

    — @yy6112353 likes

  • Maybe it's that blowing your nose in front of people is more embarrassing than sniffling.

    鼻をすするより、人前で鼻をかむ方が恥ずかしいからかな

    — @ふあ-d7s64 likes

  • In my case the symptoms are so bad that even if I blow my nose, two seconds later it's running again. Game over.

    俺の場合は症状が酷すぎて鼻をかんだところで2秒後には鼻水が垂れてくる。 詰みです。

    — @YUKIMAAAAAARU383 likes

  • When someone sniffles nonstop I honestly think, just blow your nose. Sometimes you get the wet slurpy one too.

    ずっと鼻すすっているやつは、鼻かめよって本当に思う。 たまに、じゅるってやつもいる。

    — @久我_透182 likes

  • I always wish it would become a no-no in Japan too.

    日本でもNGにならんかなといつも思う

    — @lenkgm184 likes

  • Manners-wise, sniffling isn't considered good in Japan either, apparently, but hardly anyone knows that, so by now it's just everyone's habit.

    マナー的には日本でも鼻すするのは良くないみたいだけどあんまり知られてないからもうみんな癖だよね

    — @jat.591729 likes

  • I saw a comment saying it only takes a second to blow your nose, but if it were over in a second we wouldn't be struggling...

    鼻かめば一瞬みたいなコメ見たけど一瞬で終わったら苦労しないのよな……

    — @とげとげ-u5d55 likes

  • Once you're at the sniffling stage, blowing your nose doesn't fix it.

    すするときは鼻かんでも治らんのよ

    — @Ado-motoki66 likes

  • I know there are people who find the sniffling noisy, but nothing comes out when I blow, and when it does it's back right away, so I figure it's better than blowing my nose forever, and that's why I leave it...

    鼻啜っててうるさいなって言う人いると思うんですけど、鼻かんでも出ないし出でもまたすぐ出てるから永遠に鼻かんでるよりマシかな、、、とか思ってかまないでいるんですよね、、、

    — @snake_kappa38 likes

  • True, Mayweather blew his nose in the middle of a press conference like it was nothing.

    確かにメイウェザーも会見中に普通に鼻かんでたもんな。

    — @o.h.r.rogers520 likes

  • Is it sounds in that family, like slurping noodles, that they can't take?

    麺を啜る音とかそういう系の音がダメなのかな？

    — @志保-m8p102 likes

  • Sniffling really is disliked, so anyone thinking about studying abroad absolutely has to know this.

    鼻水すするのは本当に嫌がられるから留学とか考えてる人は絶対知ってないとダメ

    — @micky3840282 likes

  • In Japan too, "want a tissue?" isn't kindness, so please just take it quietly.

    日本でもティッシュいる？は優しさじゃないから大人しく受け取ってほしい

    — @べべべべべ-e2u233 likes

  • I get it. In a waiting room the person next to me was sniffling away the whole time. I offered them a pocket tissue and they turned it down with "no, it's hay fever..." I have hay fever too. But blow your nose!! is what I thought.

    分かるわ～。待合室で隣の方がずっとズルズル。 ポケットティッシュ渡したら「いや、花粉症で、、」て断られた。私も花粉症だよ、でも鼻かんで！！って思った。

    — @cocojirow15 likes

  • We had a 50-minute test at cram school and I could hear someone sniffling the whole time. Partway through I lost my place on the question I was solving and thought, I can't take this! So afterward I tried to hand them a tissue, but I'm too socially anxious to talk to people, so I sat through four more of those tests listening in silence.

    塾のテスト50分あったけどずっと鼻すすってる音聞こえて途中問題解いてる場所おかしくなってワイ耐えられないンゴ！って思ったから終わったあとティッシュソイツに渡そうとしたけどコミュ障だから喋れなくて後×4回分黙って聞いてた

    — @必殺ゲーム人22 likes

What Japanese people do instead

  • I can't handle the sound of sniffling either. If there's genuinely no way around it, fine, but I'd like people to at least carry tissues. The idea that blowing your nose is a nuisance while sniffling is fine makes no sense to me.

    鼻すする音俺も無理 防ぎようないならいいけど、できる限りティッシュを用意するなりしてほしい 鼻かんだら迷惑で啜るならOKみたいな風潮は意味わからん

    — @ccvnacn8 likes

  • You do know that in Japan too, if you're sniffling, people find you annoying? Go blow your nose properly somewhere away from everyone, yeah?

    普通に日本でも鼻啜ってるやついたらうざって思われてるからな？？ ちゃんと離れたとこで鼻かんで来いよな？

    — @Nokka2100854 likes

FAQ

Is it rude to blow your nose in Japan?
At the table, yes. japan-guide lists blowing your nose at the table with burping and audible munching as bad manners. Away from the table, this thread is less strict than the guidebooks: 353 likes go to a commenter calling constant sniffling seriously unpleasant. Step away from people and blow it.

Sources: japan-guide.com — checked 2026-09-09

Why do Japanese people sniffle instead of blowing their nose?
Embarrassment more than politeness. "Maybe it's that blowing your nose in front of people is more embarrassing than sniffling" drew 64 likes, and a 29-like reply says sniffling isn't considered good manners in Japan either, just that hardly anyone knows it, so it has become a habit. Hay fever does the rest.
Where should I blow my nose in Japan?
Somewhere away from other people, and carry tissues so you have the option. "Go blow your nose properly somewhere away from everyone" has 54 likes, and an 8-like reply asks people to at least carry tissues, adding that treating blowing as a nuisance while sniffling is fine makes no sense to him.
Is slurping noodles rude in Japan?
No, and that gap is what confuses visitors. japan-guide says slurping noodles is taken as evidence you are enjoying the meal, while nose-blowing at the table is bad manners. One commenter (102 likes) asks whether sniffling belongs in the same family of sounds as slurping; the replies treat the two very differently.

Sources: japan-guide.com — checked 2026-09-09

Japanese people also answered

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