The umbrella stand at a Japanese doorway, and what rain asks of you

On a wet day in Japan, the first thing a building asks is what you plan to do with your umbrella. The answer is nearly always waiting at the door, and it takes about four seconds.

The stand by the door

Small shops and restaurants keep a kasa-tate (傘立て), an umbrella stand, just outside or just inside the entrance. Shake the water off under the eaves, fasten the strap, and leave the umbrella there. Carrying it dripping to the table is the one thing the room will notice.

傘は傘立てにお入れください。

The sign reads kasa wa kasa-tate ni o-ire kudasai, please place umbrellas in the stand. It is a request rather than a warning, and regulars follow it without looking.

The plastic sleeve

Department stores, station buildings and large bookshops set out a dispenser of long thin bags called kasa-bukuro (傘袋). Slide the folded umbrella in, pull down, and the bag tears free; the sleeve goes in the bin by the exit when you leave. Some entrances have a carpeted slot that wipes the canopy dry instead, with no plastic involved.

Locks and the clear umbrella

Museums, public baths and some temples use racks with a numbered key for each slot. Lock the umbrella in, pocket the key, and leave it in the lock on your way out.

The locks make sense once you notice the clear vinyl umbrella sold at convenience stores for a few hundred yen. In an open stand, twenty of them look identical, and they do wander. A strip of tape or a hair tie on the handle is enough to mark yours.

Tsuyu (梅雨), the rainy season, runs from roughly early June to mid-July in Tokyo and Kyoto. Travel then and you will do this several times a day, until it stops feeling like a rule.