What are the folk customs in Japan? What should China people pay attention to when they go to Japan?

Japan is almost entirely a Yamato nation. Residents mainly believe in Shinto and Buddhism, and a few believe in Christianity and Catholicism. Japanese still retain the strong etiquette and customs of the Tang Dynasty in China.

Japan is a country that pays attention to etiquette. In daily life, people greet each other, take off their hats and bow to show sincerity and friendship. When you meet for the first time, you bow 90 degrees to each other, and you don't have to shake hands. If you are an old friend or a familiar person, take the initiative to shake hands or even hug. When meeting a female guest, the woman can only reach out and shake hands. If you need to talk, you should talk in the lounge or room. Japanese people generally don't entertain guests with cigarettes. If a guest wants to smoke, he must ask the host's permission first.

Japanese people pay attention to dressing up and usually dress generously and neatly. On formal occasions, people usually wear formal dresses. Most men wear dark suits and women wear kimonos. Don't take off your clothes casually when the weather is hot. If you need to undress, you must first ask the owner's permission. Generally speaking, it is considered impolite to wear only a vest or barefoot.

In Japan, "Mr" is only used to address teachers, doctors, elders, superiors or people who have made special contributions. If people are called "sir", they will feel embarrassed.

It is very popular to talk about tea ceremony with Japanese. Tea ceremony is a noble skill of making and tasting tea, which is used by the Japanese to cultivate the mind and communicate. It is a folk custom that pays attention to etiquette and cultivates sentiment.

When they drink tea, they don't put the tea directly into the teacup, but into the small teapot. Use a small strainer when pouring to prevent tea leaves from entering the cup. And always take half a cup as a tribute, generally do not renew tea. This often makes it difficult for China people who are used to drinking large cups of tea to quench their thirst.

No matter at home or in a restaurant, the seats are graded, so it is generally enough to follow the arrangement of the host. Japanese businessmen pay more attention to establishing long-term cooperative partnership. They pay great attention to maintaining each other's face in business negotiations and hope that the other party will do the same.

Pay great attention to class or rank when giving gifts. Don't give too expensive gifts, lest they think you are above them.

Tips are not very popular in Japan. If you are not sure, don't give it. Tipping money in envelopes or wrapped in paper towels, the Japanese think it's embarrassing to accept cash.

Japanese people don't like purple. They think this is a sad tone. They are most afraid of green and think it is an ominous sign. Avoid lotus patterns, which are considered as demon flowers; Avoid using numbers such as "9" and "4". When giving gifts, don't give gifts with the number "9", because "9" is pronounced the same as "bitter" in Japanese. The pronunciation of "4" is the same as "death", so when arranging accommodation, avoid the dining table in Room 4 on the fourth floor. Japanese businessmen also taboo "February" and "August" because they are off-season. In addition, cats who hate gold and silver eyes think that people who see such cats will have bad luck.

The Japanese are very interested in Shaoxing wine and Maotai wine in China. Don't eat preserved eggs You are very particular about using chopsticks. They are all on the chopsticks rack. There is also the custom of "avoiding eight chopsticks", that is, you can't lick chopsticks, mess with chopsticks, move chopsticks, twist chopsticks, pick chopsticks, insert chopsticks, cross chopsticks and dig chopsticks. At the same time, it is also forbidden to use the same pair of chopsticks to let everyone take turns to pick up vegetables, nor can they be inserted vertically in rice.

Welcome to present calligraphy works or exquisite seals to the Japanese. We in China like to carve the edges of seals into broken shapes to show the vitality of ancient times. If you give it to a Japanese friend like this, the other party will be unhappy. They think this incompleteness is unlucky.

Precautions:

Japan has the habit of giving gifts. When giving gifts, we often take this approach: give gifts that are useless to the host, because the recipient can give them to others, and that person can also give them to a third party. Japanese people are very disgusted with things decorated with fox patterns. A cunning fox is a symbol of greed. When visiting Japanese families, you can only bring 15 chrysanthemums, because only the royal hat badge has 16 chrysanthemums.

The Japanese are afraid of lotus flowers.

Japanese taboo "four". Because "four" is the same as death in Japanese. Therefore, Japanese hospitals do not have "four" wards and beds. Japan is called Greening Week from April/KLOC-0 to 7, including street greening day, residential greening day, school greening day, barren mountain greening day, traffic greening day and greening tree protection day. The Japanese smoke themselves, and seldom give you a toast, because the Japanese think cigarettes are harmful to health. Japanese people have a cold and cough and wear white masks when they go out. The Japanese use the thumb to mean "old man" and the little finger to mean "lover".

Lobster Japanese believe that lobsters have long beards and bend over like old people, so they like to use lobsters as decorations on New Year's Day, symbolizing longevity and longevity.

Cultural customs related to business

bowknot

Among the Japanese, bowing is still a necessary ceremony when meeting and breaking up; In contact with foreigners, the Japanese have gradually become accustomed to shaking hands instead of bowing. However, you may still get a 90-degree bend. What should I do in this situation? Generally speaking, just nod your head or bend a little, and at the same time extend your hand to each other. The Japanese trading community doesn't seem to care whether foreigners can bow in a standardized way.

send one's regards to

Japanese people also say compliments in different ways from westerners. Westerners will directly express their appreciation for your personal achievements in trade or your company's achievements, while Japanese often beat around the bush. For example, if the Japanese want to praise your accomplishment, he won't say it directly, but make some comments on the decoration of your office. This is called "using the topic".

social activity

Even in business activities, Europeans and Americans often invite their negotiating opponents to their homes or attend cocktail parties. But in Japan, such social activities are not common. Japanese people like to invite guests to restaurants or restaurants for dinner, and then go to bars for drinks. Japanese businessmen regard entertaining customers as a means to influence them. The Japanese-English compound "nominalization" appears in Japanese. "NOMI—-" means drinking in Japanese, while "-NIC" comes from "communication" in English. It can be seen that the Japanese attach importance to eating and drinking.