The Japanese are famous for being polite. As a foreigner, you’ll get some leeway in terms of cultural norms, but the more respectful you can be of their culture, the better. The younger generations also place less importance on this and will sometimes be very familiar right away, but until you know, it’s always better to be too polite than accidentally rude. The Japanese language itself has an entire system of forms to deal with levels of politeness — in-group vs. out-group, age and seniority, humble, honorific, and on and on — but as someone who doesn’t speak much or any Japanese, it’s fine to just keep the non-linguistic stuff in mind.
Here’s an overview of a few major aspects of politeness in Japan.
