Personal Space in Japan: A Different Distance for Insiders and Outsiders

It's a well-known fact that Japanese people maintain a certain physical distance, opting for business card exchanges over handshakes and refraining from hugs.

Even so, many foreigners visiting Japan are likely confused by the Japanese concept of personal space. For example, have you noticed these contradictory behaviors?

• Colleagues at the same company might speak to each other at a close distance, but the moment they speak to a client, they suddenly bow, use formal language (keigo), and widen their personal space.
• Employees who joined the company in the same year are friendly and maintain a close personal space, but the instant a manager joins their circle, that space expands.

While it's generally said that Japanese people prefer a wider personal and psychological space, this distance changes dramatically depending on the social context. And sometimes, Japanese people will adopt a personal space so close it might even surprise foreigners.

Let's delve into this uniquely Japanese way of thinking about personal space, which is quite different from what you might find overseas.

Why Does Japanese Personal Space Change with the Environment?

The reason Japanese personal space shifts depending on the environment is deeply connected to the Japanese view of groups.

Japan is often described as a "collectivist society," but Japanese collectivism isn't simply about preferring to be in groups. It's characterized by drawing a clear line between "insiders" and "outsiders" of a group. (For more details, please see "The Real Reason Collectivism Still Lives On in Japan").

Once a Japanese person identifies someone as an "insider," their personal space shrinks dramatically.

So, what makes someone an "insider" in the eyes of a Japanese person? Let's take a look.

1. The Length of Time You've Known Someone

First, the length of time you've known someone is a crucial factor in being considered part of the in-group.

For example, family members are seen as insiders because they've lived together for a long time. Similarly, friendships formed in elementary or middle school tend to be very close.

This applies in business settings as well. People who work for the same company or are on the same team spend a lot of time together, which naturally leads to a closer personal space.

2. Closeness in Age

The second factor is age. In the Japanese school system, even a one-year age difference requires visible changes in behavior, such as using honorifics (keigo) for older students (senpai) and bowing when greeting them.

For example, in Japan, people who join a company at the same time after graduating from university are called doki (contemporaries), and they often form closer relationships than with other colleagues. This is an example of personal space being defined by a similar age group right after graduation.

Particularly in large Japanese companies, organizations are often vertically structured by department. In such cases, the relationships between doki can help create connections that cross departmental lines.

3. Similar Position or Status

The third factor is position or status. For instance, people in the same role at a company, or those who share similar responsibilities in a community group (like being in charge of cleaning a local shrine), will have a closer personal space.

Conversely, when interacting with a boss or the company president, people will naturally take steps to maintain a certain distance, such as using honorifics, giving formal greetings, and choosing their seating position in a meeting room accordingly.

4. Enclosed Spaces

Finally, the insider/outsider distinction that affects personal space also applies to physical spaces.

For example, Japanese people generally have little physical contact and don't hug in daily life. But, of course, a couple will be physically affectionate when they are alone, and family members will have physical contact within the home.

In other words, in a private environment where there are no third parties watching, Japanese personal space becomes much closer. Conversely, outside the physically defined boundary of the home, where an "out-group" is present, personal space widens.

How Japanese Behavior Changes with Personal Space

The way Japanese behavior changes based on personal space is quite different from what is seen overseas. Specifically, when personal space widens, three main changes occur in Japanese behavior.

1. Changes in Conversation

The farther the personal space, the more likely Japanese people are to use polite language (keigo) to emphasize politeness. They also tend to avoid direct expressions and use more indirect language to avoid disagreeing with the other person.

Additionally, as personal space increases, people tend to talk less. This is because Japanese people want to avoid interrupting the other person by talking too much about themselves.

2. Changes in Demeanor

Actual behavior also changes. For example, when greeting someone, as personal space widens, Japanese people will bow more deeply. They will also avoid slouching while standing or crossing their legs while sitting.

Especially in business settings or at formal ceremonies like weddings and funerals, seating arrangements are often predetermined by job title, status, and age, which is another example of maintaining physical personal space.

3. Changes in Emotional Expression

Personal space also affects how Japanese people express their emotions. They tend to restrain their emotional expressions with people who are at a greater personal distance.

This includes suppressing negative emotions like anger and sadness, as well as being more reserved with positive emotions like joy, happiness, and even smiling.

How Do Japanese People Interact with "Outsiders"?

As we've seen, Japanese people draw a clear line between "insiders" and "outsiders," and as a result, they tend to maintain a wider personal space with outsiders, becoming more reserved and polite in their conversation, behavior, and emotional expression.

So why do Japanese people act in this restrained and polite manner toward those outside their personal space?

The background to this lies in the idea of strengthening cooperation within the in-group by excluding the out-group, thereby monopolizing benefits within the in-group.

As an island nation that has historically avoided foreign invasion, Japan has a long history of people spending extended periods within limited local or company communities.

In order to protect the interests of the in-group, I believe they have maintained a wide personal space with outsiders, in a way excluding them, to solidify unity within the in-group and distribute the benefits among themselves.

Why Japanese Can Tolerate Packed Trains with No Personal Space

By now, you've probably understood that Japanese people, with some exceptions, tend to prefer a relatively large amount of personal space.

So why can these same people tolerate the complete lack of personal space on jam-packed commuter trains in the morning? (Though, in reality, most Japanese people despise the morning rush hour.)

There are two reasons for this.

The first is the Japanese tendency to follow pre-established customs. Due to being a closed-off island nation with social relationships that were often fixed and slow to change, Japanese people have a tendency to uphold long-standing customs and rules as tradition.

As a result, they tend to accept packed trains as a long-standing custom.

For example, the daily ridership of the Tokyo Municipal Tramway surpassed one million in 1919, and it is said that packed trains already existed at that time. Having grown accustomed to such crowded train environments from a young age, Japanese people tend to accept them as a given and a part of daily routine, without major protest.

The second reason is the reality of population concentration in large cities like Tokyo. Compared to countries with vast amounts of land, Japan, although its population is declining, still has over 120 million people as of 2025. Of those, about 14 million, or roughly 12% of the total population, live in the small area of Tokyo.

With such a dense concentration of people in a small area, many Japanese people probably think that packed trains are simply unavoidable.

For these reasons, it's not that Japanese people are actively embracing the crowding and lack of personal space on packed trains; rather, the reality is that they are reluctantly compromising and accepting the current situation.

Should the Japanese Maintain Their Current Approach to Personal Space?

Finally, let me share my personal thoughts on the Japanese tendency to have a very small personal space for "insiders" and a very large one for "outsiders."

I feel that this Japanese concept of personal space has become too extreme on both ends, and that a change is needed.

For example, a tendency to have too little personal space with insiders can sometimes lead to rudeness toward those close to you, and it carries the risk of developing an excessive dependence on the in-group.

As an extreme example, in recent years in Japan, there has been a phenomenon called hikikomori, where people do not leave their homes at all and cut off all relationships except with their families. It's possible that these situations are partly caused by an overly strong sense of trust in and excessively close personal space with insiders, leading to a situation where they do not hesitate to burden them.

Conversely, maintaining too much personal space with outsiders strengthens the tendency to keep an excessive distance from new acquaintances and people you don't know well, making it difficult to make new friends outside of pre-arranged environments like school.

Furthermore, this overly distant personal space has significant downsides in the business world. In business, new opportunities and the new relationships that come with them are formed every day. At such times, if you maintain too much psychological and physical distance by treating the other party as an "outsider," you risk being unable to respond quickly to new business opportunities and losing them.

I've heard that foreigners often have a good impression of Japanese people, seeing them as polite and modest. However, this may just be a superficial image of the Japanese that arises because they are still interacting with foreigners as "outsiders."

I sincerely hope that in the future, environments will be created throughout Japan where Japanese people and foreigners can stand on equal footing and work together with an appropriate sense of personal space.

And if, at that time, the Japanese can still maintain their polite image, I can't think of anything more wonderful.

Thank you for reading.