[MoCHE] Culture Of Japan: Bowing, Removing Your Shoes, And What’s With These Masks
Dr.Jekica
Greetings ladies and gentlemen, proud citizen of eJapan. As I mentioned in introduction article, I will try to find all interesting things about Japan and share them with you. In this article I will start with some facts I find fun and I hope that you will like it too. This will also be very helpfull if anyone decide to visit Japan in rl
🙂
Culture Of Japan: Bowing, Removing Your Shoes, And What’s With These Masks
Bowing is for expressing respect, thank you, apologizing, greeting someone and more.
Don’t assume you can learn how to do it right. A simple inclination of the head or a slight bow at the waist is enough for foreigners.
The reason is that Bowing is nothing less than an art. The etiquette is very complex. The depth and length of a bow depends on the social status or age of the person you bow to.
Turning your back on someone in higher status than you is a huge insult. This leads to very amusing situations where people part going backwards, and even enter the Taxi with their backside first.
Staring is a big no-no in the culture of Japan.
In crowded situations the Japanese avoid eye contact to give others privacy. Come to think of it – in a crowded city like Tokyo, this makes life more pleasant (especially on the subway).
Shoes Must be Removed when entering Japanese houses and some restaurants. You will be provided with slippers. These slippers are removed before walking on Tatami mats.
If you are not given slippers, you can wear your socks, so make sure you have nice socks on.
There are special slippers for the toilet area. You must change back to regular slippers.
The Emergency room masks people wear in the streets are NOT due to some terrible disease. They protect other people from your virus or slight cold.
Sit with your legs folded on the Tatami mats on the floor in the traditional Japanese way.
Don’t panic- as a Gaijin (foreigner) you are not expected to be able to hold this pose. Men can sit cross legged, and women can sit on their knees putting both legs to one side.
Showing extreme emotions is very out of place. Saying ‘no’ is very uncomfortable for them because they try to please as part of the codes of culture of Japan.
Tokyo Nightlife has a very different set of rules.
It is an opportunity to meet a different side of the usually reserved nature of the Japanese people.
Don’t show affection in public – kissing, hugging and holding hands are very rare scenes in the Japanese public sphere. Even patting on the back is not acceptable.
‘San’ is what you call everyone after their last name. Not necessary with kids.
Hope that you liked it
🙂
Your Ministry of Culture, History and Education team:
Minister - Dr.Jekica
Vice Minister - Nanashi Senshi
Comments
excellent article, congrats 🙂
🙂 thanks, hope others will find it educational and fun too
v
educational in deed..;p
Thanks for the info!
Koja procedura za CS? Hteo bi ja dodjem Kva.
Znas da za tebe nema procedure 😉
Red je da pitam 🙂 a i nije za mene
o7
v16, c7, UZVIK!
a urlik ? 😃
podvriskujem 🙂
🙂
good article 🙂 V+S
Dobar!
Podrška!
True story; I was riding the train between a decently-sized city and a university town in Fukushima, and seeing as many people probably hadn't seen a black person in their entire lives, they either stared constantly or were too afraid to look at me at all. Even though the train was full, and there were a high school girl who didn't have a seat, she'd looked terrified of the though of even getting close to me, the gaijin bubble is real.
Also, sitting in seiza, the traditional way of sitting, hurts like holy hell. I can do maybe 15 minutes before I have to shift?? Impossible lol.
I don't know why I haven't done it already, but v+e+s :3
Emergency room masks: the majority of people who are wearing these are protecting themselves from the hay fever, or rather reducing their allergy by filtering the air they breath. The medications are not perfect and they make you sleepy so not everyone can take it.
It's an urban legend in Japan that they were planting a plan species all over Japan in the 50ies for it's good wood quality but the pollen these trees are producing are pretty allergenic to the locals. While I was there during spring I was not affected by this, however almost 50% of the ppl I saw on the streets were wearing masks.
Never heard of the staring thing even though I live in Japan, but I'm am sure no matter what culture, it would be uncomfortable if someone was staring at you for a long time.
Well tbh I've nevere been in Japan, these are just some things I found on the internet and just wanted to share them with you, if you find something wrong feel free to tell me and I will make changes 🙂
And also I would be glad, since you live there, if you can share some rl experience that could be interesting with us 🙂 I'm always open for new ideas and more than all as MoCHE I would like to itroduce all Japan lovers with more facts about Japan 🙂