Weird Japanese Customs Part 4

Part 4 of the "Weird Japanese Customs" 

Again, please check the original article, 

http://www.businessinsider.com/japanese-customs-that-are-shocking-to-foreign-travelers-2015-2

 

8. Bringing a host a gift. 

The suggestion to the gift is food. Like a little snack or Japanese sweet called the 和菓子(わがし-wagasi). The gift shouldn't be too expensive, but maybe ¥2500~5000 is recommended. When you receive any gifts from anyone, you should "hesitate" to receive the gift by saying, ”恐縮です”(きょうしゅくです-kyosyuku desu). This also shows the appreciation to the gift-giver. But you should take the gift anyways. It is rude to not accept the gift from somebody. When you receive it, you should say thank you. 

 

9. Pouring you glass is considered rude. 

I do not know if this is considered rude. But it is something that you shouldn't do in Japan. When you are at these drinking meetings, you should always keep watching people around you and their glass if they are ever empty. It's like you should never have anybody's glass at any moment. If it's empty, then you should not hesitate to pour the glass. When your glass is empty, you should not ask somebody to pour it into yours. They will find your glass and wait for someone to fill your glass for you. It is sometimes considered rude when you leave the contents of the glass when somebody poured it for you. 

 

10. Slurping noodles

I don't think Japanese slurp the noodles for just the sake of this ↑

It's just a culture and they are used to doing this, so it is rather harder to not to slurp the noodles. But for Japanese, the slurping sound sometimes makes them hungry because it reminds of the noodles. This is something not mentioned in the article, but I will say it. When you eat a regular food(something that you don't have to slurp), you shouldn't make the chewing sounds. It is considered disgusting and rude in Japan. 

 

11. Sleeping in capsule hotels

I have never been in there but seen what's like inside. There is a building for these capsule hotels. Inside that building, there are like "hallways" and on the side, they build up the capsule rooms about three "stories". People use this when they can't find anywhere to sleep after the final train or the bus has left. It's just way cheaper than the hotel, and since they calculate the cost hourly, it is often easier for the businessmen after the overworking and the drinking meetings. 

 

 

Finally finished the article!

I'm so happy that I did. It took a long time for me to write all of these... 

I hope you enjoyed this series. In the next blog, I will be doing the review of an iPhone app! Stay tuned! 

Thanks for reading!

 

This is something personal, but my summer break has started! I wrote this blog in advance since I might get busier when I go to Japan. Sorry, but I will not be posting pictures that I took in Japan. I just want to keep them private... I might find something interesting for the blog ideas while I stay there. 

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Don't forget to follow my Instagram account @learnjapanese.1 and I am giving updates to my blog in my Instagram. You can ask topic requests for the blog, or just ask any questions related to Japan!

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Hey guys!

I'm sorry to announce this, but I will be inactive for about three weeks. I am going to Japan, and I am going to just enjoy the times in Japan(in other words, I will not worry about anything else going on with my life)

I finished writing about the Japanese customs in advance. The series finale part 4, will update in the beginning of next week. After that, I will not be posting any blogs until the 2nd week of July. The things that I want you to start on doing while I'm gone is to be able to read, write, and identify the Hiragana and Katakana. When I come back, I want to start on the Kanjis & grammar parts of Japanese (The most two difficult part of learning Japanese.) To be able to do that, you must first learn and get comfortable using the Japanese alphabets. So, PLEASE learn and memorize these two components. I might have a couple of blogs on the tips to Hiragana & Katakana before I actually start on Kanjis. (But that will update after the visit) 
 
*Here is the picture of the Katakana if you need*
 
The chart for Hiragana is on my previous blog, "HIRAGANA Vowels"
(All images credits to the owner. I do not own any of these images) 
 
I will be checking my Instagram account @learnjapanese.1 often during the visit, so feel free to DM me if you have any questions! 
 

Weird Japanese Customs Part 3

Continuing with the Weird Japanese customs blogs!

Check out the original article:

http://www.businessinsider.com/japanese-customs-that-are-shocking-to-foreign-travelers-2015-2

 

 

6. People will sleep on the trains with their heads on your shoulders. 

  • "If someone in Japan falls asleep with his or her head on your shoulder, it is common practice to just tolerate it." 

This is so true. Do not wake them up because you feel uncomfortable. You should just ignore it and bare with it. I have never had anyone have their heads on my shoulder, but I have seen it a lot on the trains. 

And when they wake up, you should not tell them anything about their head leaning on your shoulder. 

 

7. There are toilet slippers for the bathrooms

  • "It is customary to change into slippers"

It might be commonly known that when you enter a Japanese house, you must take off your shoes. When you are a guest, they will have the slippers already put in front of you when you enter the room. The place where you take off your shoes is typically lower than the actual floor of the house. You will know right away where to take off your shoes. They would have slippers out for you, so you must wear that. This is called the 玄関(げんかん→genkan), it just means the entrance. After you took out your shoes, you must put it so that the tip of the shoes is facing toward the entrance door of the house. (When you enter the house, your tip of the shoes will be facing toward inside the building, so you flip it the other way.) It is a manner in Japan. When you walk away from the house and take off your house slippers, you must put the tip of the slippers facing toward the inside of the house. 

  • "There are even special toilet slippers kept inside the bathroom"

It is pretty common. When they have the separate slippers put inside the restroom, you should change into that. If they don't, then just don't change to different slippers. That slippers are meant to use only inside the restroom, so do not walk away from the restroom with the separate slippers. 

 

 

This it for today's blog! Thanks for reading!

 

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Don't forget to follow my Instagram account @learnjapanese.1 and I am giving updates to my blog in my Instagram. You can ask topic requests for the blog, or just ask any questions in general! You can DM me if you want.