For reasons unfathomable to most foreigners, in Japan a common way to show you’re having fun in a photo is to flash the peace, or bui (V), sign. If you think this gesture ruins your images, you’re going to be extremely disappointed because this little hand gesture is ubiquitous. Our advice is to just accept it and move on as it is a part of “posing,” which is central to Japanese photo-taking. Posing is so ingrained in the Japanese psyche that you’ll notice children as young as three years old will automatically pose for snapshots: they’ll cock their head to one side, freeze a smile, and whip out a peace sign!

More than likely, you’ll eventually join in on the banality of it all and start proudly displaying the peace sign in your own photos taken with Japanese people, just to show how Japanese you’ve become! Who knows, maybe you'll even throw in a little Chiizu right before the picture to make you smile.

Another element of posing is to make sure people are placed properly in the frame according to specific precepts, which may or may not include family and social status. In the U.S., the tendency is to arrange people according to height. And while that's also taken into consideration in Japan, people here are very careful to make sure the guest is standing (or sitting) in the center, the most prominent spot in the image. Most often in Japan, you will be the guest in someone’s photo.

As this picture suggests, one occasion when this conduct may be ignored is when you are with elders, especially people like grandparents. Elderly people get the utmost respect and should be placed in the center of any photo. Since this may cause conflict with the guest placement, in some cases the guest and the grandparent(s) share the middle position.

Privacy regarding the inclusion of people in photos is stricter in Japan than you may be used to. If you want to use a photo of someone on your blog but don’t have their permission to use it, protocol dictates that you should blur the person’s face so they are not immediately recognizable. We admit that it looks odd, but you’ll see it often on Japanese blogs. This is good policy and avoids confusion or hard feelings down the road. We've also seen Japanese people mosaic (or use a black rectangular box over the eyes) their own children’s faces on Facebook posts in order to protect their child’s privacy.

Be aware that selfie sticks are not allowed in some locations in Japan including JR West train stations. As we all know, selfie sticks obstruct other people’s vision and can cause accidents when people aren’t paying attention to what’s going on around them. As tourism increases in Japan, expect this ban to be adopted in more and more places in the future.

Japanese people, especially school kids, may ask you to join them in a photo. This typically happens in public places like the Hiroshima Peace Park where kids go on school trips. Don’t worry! Unlike some countries where you may be hit up for a tip afterwards, these kids are quite innocent. Many of them will be from more rural areas and they just think it’s cool to be seen with foreigners! You can decline if you want, but if you do decide to join in on the fun, you’ll be getting a true Japanese experience! Besides, you can have them take a photo with your camera too, so you can show your friends back home how well you mixed with the locals!

At first it may seem odd that Japanese people would want their photo taken with a complete stranger. But then again, you may find yourself doing exactly the same thing.

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