Manner of Giving up your Seat in Trains or Buses

When riding a train or other public transportation vehicles, there is always a designated area called the “yuusenseki” or the priority seat. Inside the train, there is a picture of an elderly, pregnant, and injured person along with the phrase “Oyuzurikudasai” or “Please give up your seat” written on it. The seat color is also different from the other common seats, which makes it very recognizable from the rest.

 When inside a train, it is a good manner to give up your seat if an elderly person is present.

In the event that you are sitting at a reserved seat, please let the handicapped, injured, disabled, pregnant women, and parents with children take your seat.

If you see any of the following people standing up inside the train, please hand over your seat to them. Also, if you do see these people ride the train and they are standing, you can politely say,  “Douzo, suwatte kudasai.” or “Suwararemasu ka?”.