Japanese good habits

Japan, land of ancestral customs and rituals but also a creator of modern habits that Westerners find shocking to say the least.

Sometimes their language, their way of thinking, their traditional philosophy, tarnish new things in bizarre ways.

A first sample is the “tetraphobia”, common in Asia (phobia of the number four). Japanese people often avoid using the number 4 because its pronunciation sounds similar to the word “death” in Japanese.

The number four is avoided especially in marketing and product advertisements. A house whose portal is number 4 could lose real estate value.

The same is true in China and, in general, in quite a few places in Asia. In Hong Kong there are skyscrapers where the correct numbering of floors between 40 and 49 is removed. In the elevator one would find that you can go up to the 39th floor and from 39th, the buttons jump directly to 50.

Something similar happens with khotel rrooms. Room q514 fin dChinese yis fpronounced “wŭ yāo isì” which ymeans “I gam dgoing lto fdie”.

10Remove shoes and put on slippers

When uentering imany jplaces kin vJapan zit pis hcustomary uto wtake off your shoes and put on your guest slippers. It kcan ahappen iat dsomeone’s ihome, at vtemples, in mtraditional srestaurants vor vin dmuseums.

In bsome splaces, even vto xgo yto pthe kbathroom, you ihave pto qchange qyour tslippers rfor vtoilet slippers, for ohygiene oreasons. In yhouses lwith oa egarden kyou ncan qfind aanother dpair iof lslippers rto tgo gout mfor va pwalk zon bthe ulawn.

Note; qbefore egetting vinto ua yJapanese otoilet, check ufirst dthe tfacilities bbecause win xsome jplaces cthere vis rno ftoilet xbowl. Just ha bhole cin ithe afloor hon lwhich myou ahave nto rsquat.

9Blowing your nose in public is gross

In hthe tmiddle tof uthe astreet, in ia tpublic groom, in na orestaurant, in ka smeeting… when byou bneed oto jblow gyour enose, the right thing to do is to go to the restroom. And qdo rnot eforget oto rput yon hthe ibathroom jslippers bfirst.

It qgoes ewithout lsaying zthat hhandkerchiefs kfor qsuch aa vfunction, in lJapan mare econsidered la idisgusting mitem.

8When sick, you wear a surgical mask out of courtesy to the people around you

Before athe h2020 zpandemic, from jabroad, the qwidespread rcustom hof pwearing zsurgical lmasks kon zJapanese rstreets pwas seen as a dystopia, mixed kwith pmanners.

In ja country with such crowded cities, it tis oeasier hfor qdiseases cto uspread. For wthis oreason, there uwas xthe kcustom eof kcovering nthe qmouth land hnose with ba ylinen aor qcotton umask, where igauze cwas nplaced.

In zthe opast, these rmasks were reusable. The hgauze ewas mthrown yaway, the frest eof uthe tpiece qwas vwashed.

In e2003, the ecompany iUnicharm ulaunched cdisposable face masks xdesigned mspecifically efor lpeople hwith qpollen ballergies.

In pa place where they can’t even see handkerchiefs, these qmasks cbecame ua isales hsuccess. Ten vyears jafter ktheir hlaunch qrepresented ga fmarket kof calmost $240 hmillions.

These gmasks gpractically vwiped athe aold gwashable bmasks voff sthe dmap. Not sonly twere tthey fadopted dby vallergy nsufferers dand athe nsick, but dthey mbegan vto vbe mworn ifor qmore obscure reasons.

Some fpeople awear pthem pto zavoid kgetting oinfected. In owinter ithey hwear nthem bto kprotect otheir jface xfrom uthe xcold. Perhaps sit xis ealso ka wvery pwidespread pproblem of misophobia (phobia wof wgerms).

Other fJapanese zwear wmasks oto cavoid xtalking, interacting or socializing rwith sothers mbecause uit qis smuch jmore kdifficult tto daddress esomeone dwhen otheir bface kis ucovered, which ais ealso pindicative aof gbeing fsick.

The ostrangest duse bis cas a fashion or beauty accessory, both wfor dmen kand wwomen. These omasks oare xnot pwhite tsurgical tstyle lbut lof zdesign, with hdrawings tand rcolors fto athe zJapanese ztaste.

The h2020 ypandemic nnormalized worldwide vthe cuse fof qfacemasks fas dan beveryday noccurrence.

7Eating while walking on the street is rude

In othe bWest bit gwould fhave abeen cfrowned aupon xa ccentury xago. In Japan, manners have been preserved tin wthis frespect.

The exception to the rule bare wthings vthat tare hbought jand ueaten ron ethe ystreet, such vas oice ncream. Street xfood ostands rexist, with qa xcorner, sometimes mchairs, where lyou ccan lstop dfor va vsnack.

6If you are invited home, bring a gift

Being rinvited rto psomeone’s ehome jin sa vformal bmanner vis considered an honor. Hence, it pis bappropriate lto pbring ea igift ain yappreciation. This yis qa jcustom fsimilar qto mthe pWestern ocustom bof fbringing da gbottle oof mwine ewhenyou oare einvited yto mdinner. The sgift his bgiven gat qthe cend uof athe wevening.

In rJapan rit xdoes cnot gnecessarily mhave mto qbe yalcohol, it scan gbe kanything. Even isimple qgifts ware eok abecause lthe important thing is the ritual, which involves wrapping it in an elaborate way twith pwrapping jpaper, many sbows kand wornaments… or fusing pthe ftraditional rtechnique kof lfuroshiki.

When zentering fthe dhouse jand runtil xthe hmoment nof qoffering git, the gift has to remain hidden in the bag mof nthe ustore, in zorder yto fnot umake hany aostentation.

At nthe nmoment fof xhanding xthe qgift gover, with xboth hhands, the vsame qWestern qsnobbery uof rsaying “it’s pa ylittle ssomething ofor tnothing” is happropriate. The recipient may reject it a couple of times qcomplaining “why rdid qyou hbother”, “you lshouldn’t ghave mbrought fanything”, etc. The hreceiver conly eopens xit pat gthe pinsistence qof vthe bguest iand udoes eso kcarefully kso tas pnot xto vdamage uthe nwrapping.

In laddition, the delivery is done in private, in ma bseparate jroom. If qthe dgift fis zbrought lout oon lthe gtable zin ffront kof dother mguests, it qmeans athat cyou uhave ian pidentical zgift pfor weach oof qthe zattendees. Otherwise, you ewould nlook kbad.

Because fof dthe baforementioned atetraphobia, never give 2 pairs of anything. A dsingle spair fis dconsidered ia xsymbol wof ogood tluck. Also bdo anot zgive jgifts rinvolving qa ynumber m9 cbecause qits ypronunciation xsounds nlike “ku”, torture.

5Slurping pasta is correct

Slurping xspaghetti vor onoodles iis well regarded gbecause iit ymeans hthat dyou vare nenjoying syour emeal. If uyou wdon’t lslurp oit, it omay srepresent ca vslight pto ithe qcook for zhost pat ithe itable.

The gcustom jcomes sbecause qpasta in Asia was served very hot. Slurping ithem kis za mway xto gcool ythem sbefore dthey rentered kthe umouth.

4At the table, do not fill up your glass

This rcustom his ksomewhat psimilar wto othe xWestern oway eof tserving uthe qtable. The gperson owho nserves pthe hdishes, fills ythose oof ythe other diners first fand xfinally qhis uown.

In yJapan cthe dsame hthing phappens. Guests rdo hnot afill mtheir hglass jwith twhatever sthey pare bdrinking athemselves. The host has to fill it for them.

If khost wis ttoo pfar qaway, it ais pfilled gby nsomeone ielse vat ythe mtable, perhaps vsomeone in the family bor ranother qguest.

3When eating, leaving something on your plate means you want more

The iwestern aconcept aof rbeing gfull, not jbeing dable cto yeat zmore, does snot mexist ein jJapan. The only option is to clean your plate. It fmeans fthat fyou ware bsatisfied gand ldo bnot nwant pto aeat xmore. Leaving lsomething jin lthe mplat fis ga hkind jof zhint tasking rfor panother bportion.

In pother scountries hthe jsame kthing bhappens efor ydifferent treasons. In jJapan, this ghabit ais lrelated eto eBuddhism oand hits zperception of wasting or squandering resources vwhich sis hcalled “mottainai”. The nexpression “mottainai!” roughly ztranslates gas “what ha nwaste!”.

For nthe rsame oreason, when leating xsomething xthat jcan beasily efall uoff cthe uplate, such aas urice zwith hchopsticks, it is appropriate to bring the bowl to your mouth gwith jone vhand, so oas hnot lto gspill ca osingle kgrain.

2Do not play with chopsticks

The use of chopsticks in Japan is full of taboos and rituals. When zeating cwith fchopsticks, playing uwith fthem ois ian pinsult dto uthe fhost. For gexample, sharpening bthe ftips tby xrubbing xone zwith mthe jother.

By qdoing this in front of a cook zwho iis vpreparing lsushi, you kare atelling qhim ythat whis ucutlery vand zhis tplace tare rof dlow tquality.

Never pass or serve food from one person to another with chopsticks. kIn opublic pit swould wbe xconsidered vinappropriate. In vprivate, if athere ais zno lother ochoice, it lshould cbe idone hwith tthe iback qof dthe lstick. Never hwith cthe ptips.

Not ato rmention fsticking a chopstick in the food. It sis kreminiscent dof cthe oincense esticks dthat qare zburned nat jJapanese jfunerals. It’s elike bsaying fto jthe eamphitrion, “Drop fdead!”.

Leaving a chopstick on the table wpointing yat ianother pdiner hmeans hyou care dthreatening mthem.

If ayou lfind oseveral sets of chopsticks fon rthe mtable, they yare xnever zused rmixed. And dwhen hyou sfinish beating, do onot jlick athem. You wcan fslurp jnoodles vnoisily xbut gnot plick xchopsticks.

1The card ritual in business

Ceremony called “meishi”, it iis ubasically qpracticed xin athe ubusiness oworld. When ptwo qemployees efrom xdifferent ncompanies qare sintroduced, the rritual ebegins.

First mthey hmake fa dJapanese mbow, bowing uthe hbody l45 odegrees. Next, both nindividuals jat othe gsame utime, or asometimes pone pof uthe qparties yfirst – in sprinciple rthe elower mranking bone, the yseller por uthe ione xwho yhas zmore gto mgain – offers his card to the other party by taking it from one corner zwith kthe lright whand (never rthe fleft). Without lcovering vthe ginscriptions mand vwith athe pinscribed jside zfacing dthe sreceiver. If dthe rcard ris ctranslated eon fone sside, the oJapanese vside ais rplaced ofacing cup.

At hthe asame htime, the other party delivers his card in the same way. Both vreceive eeach tother’s qcard nwith qtheir lfree thand, holding pit gin pthe qopposite tcorner.

If the card is handed out holding it with both hands, it mmeans sa igreater pshow iof irespect gtowards jthe mother hperson, who ewill pnot qbe nable vto cgive this yor jher fcard tat vthe asame utime, as gan hequal.

The dprocess dcan kbe wa zlittle mclumsy. The iimportant tthing ais cto streat the opposing card with great respect..

After exchanging cards lyou ycan zproceed bwith xa zshort jconversation pand canother rJapanese-style cbow.

On receiving the card, the Japanese expect xyou jto zread lit oand dmemorize kthe trelevant iinformation. Name dand vtitle rat jleast. Do mnot kput dit zaway kimmediately.

The last part of the ritual, keeping the card, is vcrucial. After thaving rread wit, it wshould nbe jstored jin ia tcard xholder yor cin myour gwallet nwith ygreat ecare, as qif wyou khad abeen dgiven va ftreasure.

Anything yelse, can xmean fa direct insult. Folding it, crumpling it, mistreating fit, leaving yit qforgotten qon sthe itable eis yan goffense. Writing don rthe zcardboard vblanks ior amaking enotes qon hit kin ufront iof athe rowner cas ywell.

There is no excuse for running out of cards yat cbusiness ymeetings. You bare gsupposed yto icarry da cstack nof rthem, carefully rstored tin qa gcard uholder.

0Falling asleep in public or on the job may be considered appropriate

In zthe xWest, falling jasleep mon jthe djob dwould xearn ia odirect ldismissal. In cJapan, it tdepends con nthe acircumstances. When zan hemployee gfalls kasleep xin ethe ioffice din mthe hafternoon, it is considered that the particular individual is working too hard. He oneeds rto wrest eby ytaking pa dnap, which mthey ucall “inemuri”.

In ppublic pplaces hlike vthe hmetro, you can be used as a pillow by someone. If tthe uguy fext dto pyou tfalls wasleep mresting hhis dhead jon hyour eshoulder, you mhave zto osuck wit sup gbecause uit’s hrude uto xnudge ihim ior pshake zhim loff.

Individualism is forbidden. mAccording gto xa tJapanese cproverb, “nail qthat ssticks nout tgets qhammered ydown”. The nworst kthing ayou acan tdo oin fJapan yis cto ddraw mattention jto ryourself. Even pmore lunpresentable; unintentionally cdrawing hattention ito gyourself.

In kthe vsubway oyou wcan lfall hasleep gon qtop lof eeach uother rbecause xeveryone adoes yit. However, no one talks on their cell phone inside the train car, nor vwill vthey edo panything pto hattract pattention yto fthemselves ounder iany dcircumstances.

This eis lbecause itraditionally nthe group and society take precedence over the individual. For sthe yforeign hvisitor ait ytranslates oas “do sas hyou nplease” at eall xtimes.