Holding hands in Japan

I'm wondering if it's still ''strange'' or a ''no go'' to be close with someone of the opposite sex in public. (both friends or date)
I'm not talking about kissing, but simply holding someones arm/hand etc.

It's normal in my country, but I'll be in Japan soon and don't wanna do things in public that will make people look at me/us or so.

By the way, I'm not talking about a western partner, but a Japanese.

It has never been a "no-go", that's a complete myth. You see people doing it all the time and they don't get killed. As long as your partner is comfortable doing it, have fun (and if he isn't, he'll let you know).

It's typical aspect you will see in urban area, but less to be seen in rural area.

Two people of the opposite sex who are just friends involving no romantic feelings whatsoever normally don't hold hands/arms in Japan.

The other posters are probably talking about how normal it is to see couples holding hands/arms. But if you're in Japan and you're a female and you're just friends with a Japanese male, and the Japanese male holds your hand/arm for no special reason, and then a mutual Japanese friend sees this, that mutual friend will think that your male friend is in love with you.

I don't normally see much hand-holding. I do see arm-holding like this:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y104/ushikawa/omotesando_zps392659d0....

My japanese husband said he s はつがしい to hold hand in public..very shy.. he prefers his hand tuck inside his trouser s pocket while I encircle his arm... ( same like the picture above).. we hold hands when surrounding w few people or not in our neighbourhood area.

actually, holding hands it's normal in japan, I've seen many people holding hands in japan, even me and my japanese girlfriend we do that !!
so it's normal don't be so afraid from doing that.

Ok, thank you everyone!