In no particular order, here are a few of Japan’s most interesting Customs!
12 - Bonenkai December is undoubtedly the busiest month
in many countries.
While families in the U.S. may be busy doing last-minute Christmas shopping, people in
Japan are kicking their socks off partying!
These parties are called Bonenkai parties and are held at the end of the year.
The word, Bonenkai, literally translates to “forget the year.”
As the name implies, the purpose of Bonenkai parties is to forget the troubles and hardships
of the past year.
You’re supposed to start the new year with hopes of new successes, so you have to clean
your bill.
Bonenkai parties are gatherings where you’re expected to bond and forgive any mistakes
other people have made, so these parties are a tradition at almost every company in Japan.
A large company may have several of these parties, such as such as the full company
party, the department parties, and the team parties.
Besides the work Bonenkai, people often celebrate this tradition with friends and family as.
Bonenkai parties are the most important parties of the year, so if you’ve been invited to
one in Japan, it’s considered disrespectful to skip one you’ve been invited to!
11 - Obey everything You would think that a city that’s always
crowded and always busy, such as Tokyo, would be chaotic at best.
Yet, Japan is recognized worldwide for their way of following rules and creating order.
This is achieved because Japanese people have been taught ever since they’re a little
kid to follow the norms no matter what.
Even when everyone seems to be running late in Tokyo, everyone ALWAYS respects traffic
signs!
People will wait on their side of the road until the light turns green, even when there
are no cars coming.
Why?
If a person is busy, they could cross the road and that’s it.
But the Japanese know that in order to get what you want, every person must help.
Japanese children are heavily policed when crossing roads.
Teachers, parents, older siblings and of course, actual traffic officers, encourage children
to wait for the proper signals.
So streets in Japan work like a well-oiled machine.
Everyone is busy, everyone is rushed, but everyone gets to the places they’re going
in an orderly fashion.
10 - Here’s a comfy spot What would your boss say if you were caught
napping on the job?
You’ll probably at the very least get a stern talking to, and your coworkers are definitely
gonna gossip about you.
But, in Japan napping over your desk or in public places is common and culturally accepted.
It’s a common opinion that anyone who involuntarily sleeps on the job is more diligent, and they
must be working themselves to exhaustion!
The Japanese word for this practice is “Inemuri”, and it refers to doing something job related
while daydreaming.
Still, young people and junior employees don’t usually practice Inemuri, because they want
to be seen as energetic.
But, senior employees, especially white-collared professionals, practice Inemuri shamelessly.
Both men and women practice Inemuri, and it isn’t always on the job.
Japanese people will nap on the subway, in cafes, in restaurants, on trains…...you
get the picture.
Pretty much everywhere!
If you’re in Japan and someone naps on your shoulder on the subway, you’re supposed
to let them.
After all, they must be very tired.
Just suffer through it!
9 - Business card etiquette There are some things you’ll never know
about Japan if you just went there for a vacation.
How the Japanese feel about business cards is definitely something you don’t learn
on a vacation.
First of all, millennials in western countries aren’t really used to having business cards.
When meeting a potential business partner, it seems that most millennials redirect everyone
to their Facebook or LinkedIn pages.
But in Japan, if you don’t have a business card to give at a meeting, you’re committing
a serious faux-pas.
You see, Japan is all about rituals and etiquette.
A business card is seen like an extension of a person, so it’s almost as if you’re
literally handling that person.
Meeting people for the first time is a bit of a sacred occasion because it’s the beginning
of a relationship.
Even more so if the relationship is a business relationship.
So who gives out the first card?
The senior person will hand out their card first, and after the junior person takes it
and examines it, they will offer one of their own.
When you hand or receive a card, you’re supposed to use both hands!
Never casually give or receive a card with only one hand!
And don’t just put the card away immediately.
You’re supposed to keep cards on display during the meeting.
8 - Tipping In the US, tipping is a sign of gratitude,
and of course, expected.
People most often leave tips because they’re expected to, and sometimes it’s a show of
appreciation.
But in Japan, not only is tipping not expected, it’s seen as insulting.
Japanese people believe that excellent service should be standard.
There’s just no need for a tip.
When a person decides to leave a tip, there can be some misunderstanding and staff will
probably try to give it back to the person tipping.
If you feel like you absolutely need to leave a tip, just don’t.
Tipping at restaurants and cafes is just a no-go.
Waiters will feel insulted and embarrassed, not grateful.
The same goes for taxi drives.
Just wait until you get back to the hotel, or go to a spa.
You can tip people in hotels and spas and tour guides.
Everyone else will just feel really awkward.
7 - Slippers, slippers everywhere There are some things that have survived through
the years unchanged in Japanese culture.
The first of them is certainly politeness.
The second one is bowing.
The third one is wearing slippers.
From clinics to schools to spas, there will be a genkan at the entrance.
Genkan are small compartments for a person’s shoes.
When you come to a place with these shoe compartments, you have to remove your shoes and wear provided
slippers or else you’re not getting in.
Putting on slippers is a sign of trust because you’re leaving your shoes at the entrance.
But, changing into slippers is also a matter of health.
Shoes are just dirty.
When you’re going inside a home, you don’t want to dirty everything up, so the Japanese
practice taking off shoes at the door.
This is a tradition that we should be doing in the US as well to be honest!
Who knows where people’s shoes have been!
6 - Pour me another one All around the world, it’s seems like it’s
okay to pour yourself a drink.
But in Japan, you’re never supposed to pour yourself a drink, as it’s considered rude!
So, if you can’t pour yourself a drink, who does?
Well, it’s your drinking partners of course!
The number one rule of etiquette to observe when drinking in Japan is to never take a
drink alone.
Always wait for the whole group to receive their drinks before touching yours.
Then wait for someone to offer a cheers in Japanese before you raise your glass and take
the first drink!
Typically younger people will always serve older people first, but at company events,
junior people, regardless of their age, will pour for senior people first.
This means you’ll always serve your boss, but a business person will always pour for
a customer or a guest.
You’ll want to keep an eye on people’s drinks around you, as you’ll want to make
sure their drinks are filled.
However, if you aren’t paying attention, your drinking partners will just keep insisting
on filling your glass, even if you don’t want to continue drinking.
So be sure to keep your drink full and only drink if you have to or else you won’t be
feeling so well the next morning!
5 - Eating, drinking and walking?
Overall, Japan is considered one of the most polite countries in the world.
This is largely because of how people conduct themselves in public.
For example, when you’re on a subway, you’ll almost never see someone talking on their
cellphone.
It’s disturbing to other people.
There are many things that are culturally prohibited for Japanese people.
Even when these unspoken rules are somewhat being broken by younger generations, generally
you will be frowned upon by older people in the streets if they catch you doing them.
Not bothering other people extends all the way to eating and drinking.
When you’re walking around on the street, it’s considered bad etiquette to be eating
or drinking while walking at the same time.
You’re expected to be eating or drinking either sitting down or just standing in place!
You never know when you’ll drop some food, or maybe spill a drink, either on the ground
or on someone, ruining their day!
To be honest, this actually really isn’t a bad idea!
4 - Ooooh it’s a line!
How much time would you be willing to spend standing in line?
Half-an-hour?
Two hours?
Obviously, it depends on what you are lining up for.
Still, most of us will have certain limits when it comes to how long we are willing to
wait.
Well, Japan isn’t like that.
Waiting in the lines and the etiquette of waiting in a line are so ingrained in Japan,
it’s actually amazing.
Every year, Comic Con is held in Tokyo.
About half a million people show up for the event.
Still, every year it’s nothing but a calm frenzy.
There are tons of people, yet no one is running around or cutting ahead.
This happens because of Japanese culture.
Ever since they’ve been kids, Japanese people learn that cooperation and respect is the
only way everyone will get what they need.
In Tokyo, with so many people around, lines can get very, very long.
Shops will often have lines painted on the floor to direct the flow of the line.
Some places get so popular people will wait hours to buy whatever it is.
And of course, sometimes, BECAUSE there’s a line, people will jump in line just to try
something out because it has to be good!
Because why else is there a line?!
3 - Imperfections Beauty standards in Western countries are
very different those in Japan.
While in many Western countries, beautiful teeth equals straight teeth.
However, that’s not the case in Japan.
In Japan, “yaeba” is considered very attractive.
The word “yaeba” roughly translates to “multilayered” teeth.
Yeahhhh…….lemme see those multilayered teeth girl!
Even though that doesn’t sound very attractive, “yaeba” usually refers to the kind of
smile where the canines are pushed a bit forward by the molars.
“Yaeba” smiles are seen as very cute, and many men claim they consider it extremely
attractive.
This kind of smile became very popular when some actresses began having these type of
teeth.
Tomomi Itano from the pop-idol group AKB48 was one of the most famous girls to have the
yaeba crooked teeth.
Now, it’s become so popular that women will actually go get their straight teeth done
crooked!
Welllllllllllllllps.
2 - What trash cans?!
If you ever go to Japan, you’ll notice that there are very few trash cans.
In public places, such as a subway station or a public park, you would expect plenty
of trash cans around.
It’s a matter of public health, after all, to keep the streets clean.
But in Japan, there are simply not many trash cans around.
This is because back in the 90’s Japan suffered a terrible terrorist attack.
The doomsday cult released sarin gas into subway trains during rush hour by placing
the sarin in trash cans.
The whole country was traumatized, so people demanded the government do something to prevent
any other possible attacks.
The response was to take away the trash cans.
So the next time you’re in Japan and you’re planning on finishing that bottle of water…...you’re
gonna have to hold on to it until you get back to the hotel!
1 - Purchasing Etiquette For many people who go to Japan for the first
time, keeping up with all these rules can be hard to remember, and this is one of them.
Paying for things in Japan isn’t as simple as you may think.
Many cities are overflowing with people, so order must be maintained.
In Japan, you know you’ll have to line up before you pay for anything.
Because everyone’s busy, people prepare their money in advance.
That way, once they get to the cashier, they have their money ready.
But the most important custom surrounding payment is the money tray.
To avoid any unintentional hand-touching, Japanese shops will have a tray for you to
put money or a credit card on instead of handing it directly to the cashier.
Also, it’s very rude to count the change.
The cashier will count it for you, so when they’re counting it back out to you, pay
attention!
Here’s what’s next!