Japanese people attach great importance to exchanging business cards when they meet for the first time. Not only is it impolite to meet for the first time without a business card, but the other party will think you are unsociable. When handing business cards to each other, you should bow first and hand them in both hands. After receiving the other party's business card, read it carefully to see the identity, position and company of the other party, and nod your head to show that you know the other party's identity. Japanese people think that business cards represent a person, and treat them as if they were themselves. If you take a business card and put it in your pocket without reading it, it is considered rude. If you want to participate in business negotiations, you must send business cards to everyone in the room and accept their business cards. You can't leave out anyone. Although it takes a lot of time, it is a way to express mutual friendship and respect. The Tangdao Shrine in Tokyo is full of students' wish cards for further studies. Tangdao Shrine is similar to the Confucius Temple in China, offering sacrifices to the Japanese "learning god" Sugawara no michizane.
When visiting a Japanese home, you should make an appointment with the host in advance and ring the doorbell to announce your name before entering the door. If there is no doorbell in this house, don't knock, but open the sliding door on the door and ask, "Excuse me, is there anyone inside?" After entering the door, you should take the initiative to take off your clothes and hat, take off your scarf (but be careful not to wear vest or barefoot even in hot weather, otherwise it will be impolite), put on spare slippers and give your own gifts to your host. When you sit in a room, it is polite to sit with your back to the door. Only under the persuasion of the owner can we move to a distinguished position (referring to the seat with various works of art and decorations in front of the niche, which is specially prepared for VIPs). Japanese people are not used to letting guests visit their houses, so don't ask to look around. Japan is particularly taboo for men to break into the kitchen. You have to ask the owner's permission to go to the toilet. When eating, if you don't know how to eat a certain meal, you should ask the owner's advice and turn your chopsticks around when you are holding vegetables. When saying goodbye, let the guests ask first and thank the host. When you return to your residence, you should call the other party and tell them that you have returned safely. Thank you again. Don't forget to express your gratitude when you see your host again after a while. When the Japanese hold a banquet, the traditional way of toasting is to put a bowl full of clear water in the middle of the table and put a clean white gauze in front of everyone. Before pouring wine, the host will wash his glass with clear water, press the cup mouth down on the gauze, let the water droplets be sucked up by the gauze, and then hand it to the guests with both hands. After drinking, guests do the same to show the friendship and intimacy between the host and the guests.
Whether visiting relatives and friends or attending banquets, Japanese people always bring gifts, and a family spends 7.5% of its income on gifts every month. When visiting Japanese families, you must bring gifts. Japanese people think that giving gifts is much more meaningful than saying "thank you", because it is to express gratitude with practical actions. When giving gifts to Japanese people, we should master the "sense of value", and the gifts should not be too heavy or too light. If it is too heavy, he will think what you want from him, and thus infer that your goods or services are not good; If it is too light, it will be considered that you look down on him. Generally, it is more appropriate to take some packaged food when visiting Japanese families, but don't send flowers, because some flowers are used for courtship or funeral. Japanese people pay attention to the packaging of gifts. Gifts should be wrapped in several layers and tied with beautiful ribbons or paper ropes. The Japanese believe that there is a soul in the knot, indicating the sincerity of the giver. People who receive gifts usually give them back. Japanese people don't open gifts in front of guests, mainly to avoid embarrassment because of the discomfort of gifts. Japanese people don't mind giving gifts they don't need to others. Japanese people generally don't use even numbers to give gifts. This is because "four" in even numbers is the same as "death" in Japanese. In order to avoid bad luck, "four" is not used in many occasions. Over time, even the second, fourth and sixth figures are simply not given. They like to pronounce singular numbers, especially the three singular numbers of three, five and seven. But "nine" should also be avoided, because "nine" and "bitter" have the same pronunciation in Japanese.
Japanese manners in treating guests.
Japanese people generally don't entertain guests at home. If you are invited to a Japanese home, you should take off your hat, gloves and shoes in the hall. Men who enter the door sit casually, but it is best to sit on their knees and keep their upper body straight; Women should sit on their knees or side, and cross-legged sitting is forbidden. When you say goodbye, don't wear a coat until you leave the room.
When visiting a Japanese family, it is usually necessary to bring a bunch of flowers and a box of snacks or sweets for the hostess, preferably wrapped in light paper and tied with colored ribbons.
On that day, when I received friends and relatives, they used the traditional toast method. The host put a bowl full of clear water in the center of the table, washed it in everyone's water, and then pressed the mouth of the cup on the gauze to let the water drops in the cup be sucked up by the gauze. At this time, the host filled the wine, handed it to the guests and watched them drink it off. After drinking the wine, the guests will also rinse the cup with clear water, suck up the water drops on the gauze, and fill a glass of wine for the host in return. This toast shows the close friendship between the host and the guests.
Japanese people are also very particular about pouring wine. You should not hold the cup in your hand, but put it on the table. Hold the pot in your right hand and put your left hand against the bottom of the pot. Never touch the glass.
The first glass of wine poured by the host must be accepted, otherwise it is impolite. The second glass of wine can be refused, and the Japanese generally don't force people to drink it.
Attention;
Take off your shoes before entering the Japanese home, and you can't wear any shoes (including slippers) when entering the "Harmony" room. But if it's a western-style house, you don't have to take off your shoes.
symbol
Gestures have different meanings because of different cultural backgrounds and living habits in different countries. China people show their thumbs up in praise, which means "excellent". For the Japanese, this gesture means calling him "you old man" without appreciation. In China, giving a thumb means "poverty and backwardness", while in Japan, it means "girlfriend". Also, use your thumb and forefinger to form a circle to represent money and put it in your mouth.
tatami
Most Japanese family rooms are divided into "foreign rooms" and "harmonious rooms". The "foreign room" is also called a western-style room, which is similar to our room today, with chairs, sofas, beds and so on. The "Harmony Room" is also called Japanese-style room. There are no chairs, sofas and beds, but there are mats called tatami on the floor, which is equivalent to our carpets today.
Tatami is a kind of furniture woven from rushes, which is placed on the ground all year round for people to sit or lie down. Different countries have the same name-tatami, which is the result of mutual introduction. Pieces of tatami are connected with strips of cloth and then fixed on the floor. People walk barefoot on it, flat but not slippery. It is neither cold in winter nor hot in summer, clean and comfortable. The tatami laid in the living room is the "Kang mat". After turning off the lights, people fell asleep. The tatami laid in the living room is a "carpet", which is very elegant and simple.
Main taboo
Japanese people don't like purple and think it is a sad tone; The most taboo is green, which is considered unlucky. They avoid using numbers like 9 and 4; They also taboo three people taking pictures together, thinking that the middle person is sandwiched between the left and right people, which is an unlucky omen. The Japanese hate gold and silver cats and think that people who see such cats will be unlucky; They don't like foxes either.
Wedding and funeral etiquette
In Japan, people still attach importance to the birth of new life. The traditional Japanese wedding ceremony is: three days before the wedding, the bride's family moves all the bride's things to the new house; On the wedding day, the barber will dress up the bride. There are many kinds of weddings in Japan now, some in shrines and some in Christian churches. Usually you wear kimono when you get married. When the funeral is held, an examiner will make up the deceased, which is a kind of respect for the deceased.
eating habits
Japanese drinks have Japan's inherent "Japanese cuisine"; "China cuisine" from China; "Western food" from Europe and so on.
Japan's special geographical environment determines their unique eating habits. The biggest feature of "Japanese cuisine" is that seafood such as fish, shrimp and shellfish are used as cooking ingredients, whether hot, cold, raw or cooked. Their staple food is rice, and other major cereals are wheat, barley, millet, corn, buckwheat, glutinous rice, soybeans, adzuki beans and sweet potatoes. Some of these staple foods are made into steamed rice and some are made into cooked rice; Porridge, chowder porridge, fried rice, bean paste rice balls, brown seeds, etc. ; Others are made into rice flour dumplings, rice cakes, bread, scones, noodles, steamed bread and so on. They always like to eat red bean rice on their birthdays to show good luck. They like sauce and miso soup very much, because it contains a lot of protein and iron, and it is easy to digest, suitable for the old, the weak and the sick, and it is also one of the indispensable recipes for Japanese families.
Japanese eating habits have the following characteristics:
① Pay attention to the quality and accuracy of dishes and the nutritional value of dishes. The taste is average, but I don't like it too salty, too sweet, too sour and slightly spicy. 3 staple food is used to rice as the staple food. I am interested in fried rice, red bean rice, assorted fried rice, eight-treasure rice, steamed stuffed bun, jiaozi, noodle soup and fried noodles. ④ Non-staple food loves to eat fish, especially sashimi; They like to eat beef, wild birds, eggs, shrimp, crabs, kelp and lean pork. I also like to eat seaweed, green vegetables, eggplant, cabbage, cucumber, radish, bamboo shoots, celery, tomatoes, spinach, bean sprouts, green peppers, cauliflower, cabbage, fresh mushrooms, fungus and tofu. Seasonings like seaweed, ginger, sugar, sesame, soy sauce and so on. ⑤ Cooking methods prefer cold dishes, fried dishes, fried dishes, steamed dishes, fried dishes and skewers. Chinese food likes Beijing food, Shanghai food, Cantonese food and Sichuan food which is not too spicy in China. 7 recipes
Avoid "eight chopsticks"
There are many taboos for Japanese to use chopsticks: avoid inserting chopsticks into rice, thinking it means offering sacrifices to the dead; Avoid licking chopsticks with your tongue, which is considered extremely unsightly; Avoid using chopsticks and eating with food in between, thinking that this should not be an appropriate move at the table; Don't use chopsticks to pick up food, which is considered a bad habit, and people think it is a lack of morality; Don't use chopsticks to move one dish without eating, and then move another dish, thinking that this picky behavior will make people laugh; Avoid putting chopsticks horizontally on the plate, thinking that it will remind people of unfortunate things; Avoid using chopsticks instead of toothpicks to pick teeth, thinking that it is unsanitary and will make people sick; Avoid twisting chopsticks and licking the rice grains stuck to them with your mouth, which is considered a bad habit and worthless; Avoid using chopsticks to find food upstream of the table, which is considered to be a sign of lack of education; Don't use the same pair of chopsticks to let everyone take turns to pick up food, because it will remind people of the scene of passing on the bone colonization of the deceased in the Buddhist cremation ceremony.
There are also many etiquette taboos in Japanese diet; When entertaining guests, it is forbidden to fill the rice too full, nor to fill it with a spoon and a bowl; It is enough to forbid guests to eat one bowl, and symbolically add a second bowl, because eating only one bowl is considered as a symbol of no chance; It is forbidden to tidy clothes or touch your hair during meals, because it is unsanitary and impolite.
Japanese people generally don't eat fat and pig offal; Some people don't eat mutton and duck.
Spoon taboo
There are many taboos about spoons in Japan, which shows that spoons are closely related to Japanese life. For example, when you are eating, you can't greet guests while holding a spoon, but you should put the spoon away first and then get up to greet the guests. Even if the guest has come to your side, you must put the spoon on the table before talking to the guest. Otherwise, for a well-educated family, this is a very impolite behavior. You will not be accepted by others.
In ancient Japan, prostitutes walked to the crossroads with spoons at night and waved them in four directions, hoping that more guests would patronize. It is precisely because they use spoons in their careers that some people call prostitutes "spoons". Now you should know how embarrassed it is to swing around with a spoon in your hand, especially female friends. In Japan, we must pay attention to this etiquette so as not to cause unnecessary trouble.
In daily life, there are many taboos about spoons. For example, it is forbidden to lick spoons with your mouth and tongue, which is similar to the etiquette of western food. Even if there is food on the spoon, you must not remove it directly with your mouth or tongue. Find other ways. Because spoons are generally used to scoop soup or hold liquid food, they are public utensils. If you touch it with your mouth, it will affect the reuse of others. This is extremely impolite behavior, and even within the family, this etiquette needs to be observed.
According to Japanese legend, if someone touches a spoon with their mouth while eating, it will rain, and when they get married, they will encounter dogs barking, which is unlucky, and they will get sick, or their children will have flat faces and spoons. There is also a taboo to carry rice on your back with a spoon, so that women can become stepmother in the future, and so on. It can also be seen from these taboos that the older generation of Japanese regard spoons as sacred, powerful and supernatural things.
Japanese tea ceremony
Japanese tea ceremony has the spirit of "tea banquet" and "tea fight", forming a national culture with rich national characteristics and styles, and at the same time showing the great influence of tea culture with the profound connotation of Japanese traditional virtues. According to the tradition of tea ceremony, when inviting guests into the teahouse, the host should kneel in front of the door to welcome them, and there are rules from pushing the door, bowing down, bowing and even greeting.
The guests attending the tea party sit in different positions according to their status. The host and guest must sit on the host's hand (that is, on the left). At this time, the host will go to the "water house" to get the wind stove, teapot, water injection, white charcoal and other utensils, while the guests can enjoy the furnishings, calligraphy and painting, flowers and other decorations in the tea room. After returning to the teahouse with utensils, the shopkeeper knelt on the tatami to make a fire and boil water, and took out a little incense from the incense box to light it. During the period of boiling water on the wind stove, the host will go to the water house again to be busy, and then the guests will walk freely in the garden in front of the teahouse. When the host prepared all the tea ceremony utensils, the water boiled and the guests re-entered the teahouse, and the tea ceremony officially began.
When making tea, the host should first clean all kinds of tea sets with tea towels (the folding method of tea towels is also specially stipulated), then take two or three teaspoons of tea powder from the teapot with a tea spoon, put it in a tea bowl, then pour boiling water into it, and then make tea with the teapot in a stirring bowl until the tea soup bubbles.
When guests drink tea, they should give a "tut-tut" compliment to the host's "good tea". After the host and guest finish drinking tea, the remaining guests can pass the tea one by one, and then return the tea bowl to the host after drinking. Guests drinking tea can also be divided into "round drinking" or "single drinking". That is, guests take turns tasting a bowl of tea or drinking a bowl of tea alone. Tea ceremony etiquette is not only about drinking tea, but also including the appreciation of tea ceremony instruments mainly in tea bowls, the decoration of tea rooms, the tea garden environment in front of tea rooms and the spiritual communication between host and guest.
In the whole tea party, the host and guest have specific etiquette in walking, standing, sitting, sending and receiving tea bowls, drinking tea, watching tea sets, and even cleaning bowls, placing objects and talking. The tea ceremony usually lasts about two hours. After the end, the host must kneel outside the lattice door of the teahouse again to accept the parting praise of the guests.
Japanese tea ceremony emphasizes cultivating sentiment and perfecting personality through tea tasting, emphasizing a noble spirit, elegant ceremony and harmony between subject and object. There are three rituals in Japanese tea ceremony: charcoal fire ceremony, strong tea ceremony and light tea ceremony.
Charcoal ceremony: Charcoal ceremony is the process of preparing charcoal for the ground stove or tea stove that burns tea. The front seat and the rear seat are respectively provided with a first charcoal ceremony and a rear charcoal ceremony. Including preparing charcoal burning tools, cleaning the ground furnace, adjusting the temperature, removing charcoal ash, adding charcoal, occupying incense and so on.
Strong tea ceremony and weak tea ceremony: strong tea ceremony and weak tea ceremony are a set of procedures for the host to make tea and the guests to taste tea. Under normal circumstances, the host first puts a little powdered tea powder into a porcelain bowl, then adds water, uses a special bamboo pole to stir the tea powder into a paste, and then adds water to three quarters of the bowl. When drinking, pick up the tea bowl in your right hand and put it on your left hand, then turn the tea bowl from the opposite side to the front, carefully taste it, sip it slowly and return it to the owner.
Every time a tea ceremony is held, the host will kneel outside the movable lattice door of the teahouse to welcome guests. The first person to enter the teahouse must be the chief guest (called the guest of honor), followed by other guests.
After the guest enters the room, both the host and the guest should bow. There are two kinds of standing and kneeling postures, which can be divided into true, walking and grass according to the degree of bending. Use "real ceremony" between host and guest, "salute" between guests, and "grass ceremony" before and after speaking.
Japanese pasta
Osoba is one of the popular pasta dishes that Japanese people like.
Buckwheat is the main raw material of buckwheat noodles, and the main producing area of Japanese buckwheat is Xinzhou, Nagano Prefecture. The three famous buckwheat noodles in Japan are Shinyin (Nagano Prefecture), Izumo (Shimane Prefecture) and Wankou (Iwate Prefecture).
Making soba noodles is difficult and time-consuming. First of all, the noodles should be mixed well, the moisture should be appropriate, and the mixed noodles should be awake for a long time. Really good buckwheat can't be made by machine, it can only be made by hand.
There are usually two ways to eat buckwheat noodles, one is hot noodles and the other is cold noodles. Japanese hot soup soba noodles are usually served with tempura fried shrimp or fried tofu and eaten in hot soup. Cold buckwheat noodles are generally cooked buckwheat noodles cooled with cold water, then placed on a bamboo drawer, sprinkled with some seaweed, and served with a special soy sauce seasoning sprinkled with chopped green onion, which is refreshing and appetizing. Delicious buckwheat noodles are shiny first and should not be broken. They are chewy.
It is said that buckwheat noodles are rich in nutrition, and regular consumption is conducive to the adjuvant treatment of hypertension. Therefore, buckwheat noodles are still healthy food, which is favored by Japanese people and one of the pasta that Japanese people often eat.
order dishes
Soba noodle shops can be seen everywhere in the streets and alleys of Japan, and there are generally many shops that operate together with Japan's "Eastern Ukraine".
Generally, buckwheat noodle shops will also have samples displayed at the door of the store, and guests can order according to the samples. Generally, there are many printed dishes, and you can also point them with your fingers. Generally, the price of buckwheat noodles is around 600 yen, the more expensive one is around 800 yen, and the cheaper one is around 400 yen, which is similar to Lamian Noodles. The price varies according to the size of noodle soup.
Some famous buckwheat noodle shops in Tokyo are very expensive. A cold noodle shop costs 2000 yen, and a person needs about two to eat, at least 4000 yen. But once you eat it, I'm afraid it's hard to forget its taste. Even if the price is expensive, gourmets often patronize.
have a meal
There are two kinds of buckwheat noodles: hot and cold. It goes without saying that hot noodles should be eaten while hot, and cold noodles should be eaten while cold.
Hot noodles are usually prepared with Chili noodles in the store, which is called "seven flavors" in Japan. It is made of seven seasonings such as Chili powder, which can be sprinkled with some to make it more appetizing.
Generally, cold buckwheat noodles are put on bamboo drawers, with seaweed, a small dish of chopped green onion and a bowl of special soy sauce seasoning. When eating, put the chopped green onion in the seasoning, and then dip the noodles in the seasoning. Finally, there is a pot of hot buckwheat noodle soup, which is "the original soup", from which we can see one of the influences of China tradition in Japan.
Share the expenses equally
AA Japanese is called "cut test". Generally speaking, friends go to restaurants and bars together, and if they don't say who will treat them in advance, they all pay by AA. "Reducing the investigation" means sharing one's own expenses according to the head count. The AA system originated in Europe and America. Its advantages are that it pays for itself, pays for itself, feels at ease, and does not owe others a debt of gratitude for inviting them to dinner, not just restaurants.
There is also a foreign word (ェーェーせぃ) in Japanese, which means "automatic identification system" and belongs to economic and trade terms.
Hot spring bathing
There are many hot spring bathing methods in Japan, among which the following points need attention:
○ Don't drink too much before taking a bath, because taking a bath after drinking too much may cause physical discomfort.
○ Don't talk loudly after entering the bathroom, but keep quiet.
Please take off your shoes at the bathroom door (there are usually steps at the bathroom door) and enter the room barefoot.
○ When taking a bath, you must take a shower outside the bath before soaking in the bath.
○ Don't take a towel into the bath, let alone take a bath with soap.
Etiquette and manners
Japanese people often smile all over their faces, but not only when they are happy, but also when they are embarrassed and angry, so as to hide their true feelings. When a woman sits on the floor, she always sits with her legs curled up. Different gestures have different meanings: the thumb and forefinger form a circle, and the other three fingers extend upward to indicate money; Hold out your little finger to indicate a woman, etc.
Meeting etiquette
Japanese names generally consist of four words. The first two words are surnames, and the last two words are your own names. Generally speaking, Japanese people don't like to introduce themselves. As an introducer, you usually need to tell the relationship between the introduced person and yourself, as well as his title and the name of his unit. How many laps to run!
Be consistent with others
It is said that the Japanese have a habit of echoing and nodding when they speak. "Yes" and "Well, really?" Including this kind of speech, as well as nodding and bending posture and so on. According to investigation and observation, it happens every few seconds in daily conversation. But it is worth noting that all this does not mean the affirmative meaning of "right" and "understanding", but only "Oh, really?" "Is that so?" Wait, think of it as a reaction after listening to each other. Contact with a Japanese who has this habit, if you think that "he really said it at that time", then it is unexpected for the Japanese. On the other hand, the Japanese, who are used to echoing voices, are uneasy about foreigners who don't show any reaction in conversation. They will feel like, "Is this person listening to me?"