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5 inconceivable etiquettes in Japan

Posted on November 24th, 2017 by Art Vandelay

The etiquettes in countries around the world are quite different. There are a variety of etiquettes in Japan, however, some of them provoke foreigners to think “why is it the case”. Hence, I will introduce 5 typical inconceivable etiquettes summarized from the internet.

1. Eat when walking
Many foreigners who have been living in Japan for years claimed that it would attract astonished eyes if you eat food when you walk on the street. Some even claimed that such behavior is banned. In some other countries, though, this behavior is not appropriate either, it is not as strict as in Japan. However, it doesn’t include the occasions such as food festival, food area in the tourist attractions.

2. Blow nose in public
Blowing nose in public with a big noise is not appropriate behavior in Japan, which is unbelievable for some foreigners. In contrast, sniffing is a disgusting behavior in foreign countries. Some would say it’s more appropriate to cleaning the nose if you suffer from sniffing.

3. Season sense of attire
For some foreigners, the dress code in Japan is a little complicated because it requires people to follow the season. My American friend told me a story before. Once he had been told that he needs to wear something with the long sleeve in his workplace in November, though he still thought the weather was quite hot. He said it is strange for everyone to remain the same dress code for a particular period of time.

4. Kiss in public
Kissing in public is kind of a taboo in Japan, while it’s normal in foreign countries. So try not to do so no matter how much you love each other. 🙂

5. No rice + soy sauce
It’s not good for your health.

Inappropriate ways for answering a phone

Posted on November 17th, 2017 by Art Vandelay

Keigo (敬語けいご) is difficult even for those who have been working in companies for a long time, in particular when answering a phone because it is not able to communicate by seeing each others’ face and body language. Undoubtedly, how people answer phone calls is very critical for the corporate image. Today, I will introduce some typical examples of the wrong ways for answering a phone.

1. Don’t use “そうなんですね” to chime in, especially for the first time to have a conversation with a customer, because it is a quite casual form of the phrase. Instead, you could use “さようでございますか”.

2. Using too much “～させていただきます” is also inappropriate. For example, you might think it is correct to say “確認させていただきます” “折り返しご連絡させていただきます”. Although it is one of the standard forms of Keigo in the textbook, it doesn’t mean that it is applicable to all scenarios. Sometimes you should use “～いたします” when necessary. Hence, “確認いたします” “折り返しご連絡いたします” is more appropriate.

3. It is not necessary to use “休暇を頂戴しております” when telling your customer that your colleague is on vacation. Although 頂戴する is the Keigo form of もらう, it can only be used when you are receiving something from the customer. However, as your colleague is taking a vacation from your own company, you don’t use Keigo.

I hope it could be helpful for you sometime. See you next week!

Since when did Japanese start emphasizing the punctuality?

Posted on November 10th, 2017 by Art Vandelay

Japanese is famous for their extremely strict punctuality because punctuality is regarded as a virtue in Japan. The most well-known example is the train (電車でんしゃ). The standard error of the train schedule is 1 minute. More amazingly, Shinkansen (新幹線しんかんせん), known as the bullet train, has the standard error of only 15 seconds. Japanese usually get confused and plagued with the “tolerance” and “slowness” of foreign countries’ life pace. For example, my friend told me a story that he contacted the air conditioner company to fix the broken air conditioner in his house, but was told that the technical support would go to his house “between Monday and Wednesday”. That kind of response is absolutely unbelievable and unacceptable in Japan. In contrast, the Japanese punctuality is kind of crazy to foreigners as well.

The question is since when did Japanese start emphasizing the punctuality? Some say Japanese was not punctual in the past. In 明治時代 (めいじじだい, Meiji period), it was normal that the train is late for 30 minutes. Factory workers were usually late as well. From the 1980s, the so-called 科学的管理法(かがくてきかんりほう, Scientific management) was adopted to improve the efficiency of the workplace. One of the main purposes of Scientific management is to quantify the workload by time. It said that since the introduction of the management method in the early part of the 昭和時代(しょうわじだい, Showa era), the delay in public institutions and enterprises and the late arrival of workers have been reduced. In addition, there is also arguments saying that the 武士(ぶし, warriors) would be considered stupid if they are late or absent in the 江戸時代(えどじだい, Edo period). From this residual notion, people are beginning to realize punctuality. I do not know whether it is with the Japanese strict time habits, there will always be a clock in the Japanese parks, shops, buildings and wherever possible.

Punctuality plays a very important role in having a good life in Japan. So please be punctual when you go to Japan.

See you next week.

Etiquette for using umbrellas in Japan

Posted on November 3rd, 2017 by Art Vandelay

Don’t be surprised. Yes, I’ll introduce the etiquette for using the umbrella today. Unlike Australia, Japan doesn’t have wide roads or spacious sidewalks but with a relatively large population. It is quite annoying walking on the congested streets particularly in rainy days where everyone uses an umbrella. Hence, people are usually careful about not bothering others by their umbrellas. By learning the tips below, I believe you won’t have any trouble when you walk on the street on a rainy day if you go to Japan sometime in the future.

1. Before you enter into a building, put your umbrella in the umbrella stand if there is one. In the case for no umbrella stand, you may need to prepare a plastic bag in advance.

2. Before you open your umbrella, make sure no one closely standing around you. Open an umbrella right in front of someone is very rude. In contrast, please be careful when you close your umbrella as well.

3. When you come across someone while both of you are using an umbrella, please move your umbrella to the opposite side of that person otherwise your umbrella will have a “road accident”.

4. Bringing a wet umbrella into a train will be very annoying. So make sure to get rid of the water as possible as you can (by shaking, wiping or other ways) before taking the train.

I hope these tips could be helpful sometime. Have a nice weekend.

The difference among “気持ち”, ”機嫌” and ”気分”.

Posted on October 27th, 2017 by Art Vandelay

Have you ever thought about the difference among “気持ち”, ”機嫌” and ”気分”? Do you fully understand which word is the appropriate one under what situation when you want to express “feeling”? Today, I’ll show you how to distinguish these 3 words.

With 3 words, “気持ち” is the word with the broadest meaning. In general, it describes a mental state such as happy or sad. Therefore, you can express people’s feeling using a phrase like “嬉しい気持ち” or ”悲しい気持ち”. Meanwhile, it also means mental preparation.

Comparing with”気持ち”, “機嫌” represents a temporary mood. Except “嬉しい” and ”悲しい”, “機嫌” covers a wide range of types of feelings. However, you can only use good or bad to describe “機嫌”. In contrast, “気分” is also the word to describe a temporary feeling as “機嫌”. However, comparing with “機嫌” which represents the mental feeling, “気分” is usually used to express the physical feeling.

Let’s go through a small practice. Please try to consider the difference among “気持ちが悪い”, ”機嫌が悪い” and ”気分が悪い”. It is not simply just adding 悪い on those words. 機嫌が悪い means that a person is temporarily in a bad mood such as anxiety. 気分が悪い need to be considered in two different situations. If the reason for 悪い is because of an external issue, then it means the bad feeling about that issue. If the reason for 悪いis because of an internal issue, then it means the bad physical condition such as feeling like vomiting. 気持ちが悪い can be used to describe the bad physical condition as well, though, it can also mean the disgust about something.