Japanese business etiquette and taboos

Japanese people usually bow when meeting each other. When people who are familiar with each other meet, it is appropriate to bow to each other for two to three seconds; if you meet a close friend, you should bow for a little longer; when you meet someone with a higher social status or an elder, you should wait for the other person to raise his head before raising his head. Sometimes you even have to bow several times. They also give handshakes in social situations. There are also many etiquettes in rural Japan. When women bid farewell to relatives and friends, they usually kneel down (i.e. kneel down); men's farewell ceremony is the clog ceremony (i.e. shake their clogs in the air). The etiquette for meeting among the Ezo (Ainu) people of Japan is to first put their hands together, then slowly raise them to the forehead, palms outward, men pat their beards, women pat their upper lips, and then shake hands.

General etiquette

You should take off your shoes before entering a Japanese home, but if it is a Western-style house, you do not need to take off your shoes.

Titles and Greetings

The usual meeting etiquette is to bow deeply without shaking hands. Be prepared to exchange business cards.

Never call Japanese people by their names. Only family members and very close friends are called by first names.

When calling the other person "Mr. So-and-so", add the word "San" after his last name.

Appointments and punctuality

Whether it is a business or social appointment, you should arrive on time.

Hospitality and Gifts

Japanese businessmen often invite their business partners to banquets. The banquets are almost always held in Japanese restaurants or nightclubs, are very sumptuous, and often last for several hours.

It is rare to entertain guests in a private home. If you really go to a Japanese home as a guest, take off your hat, gloves, and shoes as soon as you step in the door. It is customary to bring a box of pastries or candies to the hostess instead of flowers.

If a Japanese person gives you a gift, express your gratitude to him, but wait until he insists on giving it again and again before accepting it. When receiving a gift, accept it with both hands.

Japanese people like others to give them gifts. Gifts should be wrapped in pastel-colored paper without decorative loops. They especially liked brandy and frozen steak. Paired gifts are considered a sign of good luck, so gifts such as shirt cuff links and matching pens and pencils are particularly popular. Don't send four pieces of anything, because the pronunciation of the word "四" in Japanese is the same as the word "death".

Conversation

The taboo topic is World War II.

Religious Taboos

Most Japanese people believe in Shinto (Japan’s inherent religion, that is, worshiping the emperor Amaterasu) and Mahayana Buddhism; there is a canon of not eating after noon. They don't like purple, thinking it is a sad color; they are most taboo with green, thinking it is an ominous color. Japanese people taboo ?4?, mainly because the pronunciation of ?4? It is also taboo for three people to take a photo together. They believe that being sandwiched between two people is a bad omen.

The Japanese have many taboos about giving flowers: they are taboo on giving or displaying lotus flowers; they are taboo on using camellias, cyclamen, and light yellow and white flowers when visiting patients. Because when the camellia withers, the whole flower head falls to the ground, it is unlucky; the cyclamen flower is pronounced as "Kiku Ramen" in Japanese, and "Kiku" is pronounced the same as " Death " in Japanese; light yellow and white flowers, this is Japan People don’t like flowers according to traditional concepts. They are wary of chrysanthemums or things decorated with flower patterns, because it is a symbol of the royal family, and they generally dare not and cannot accept such gifts or courtesy.

The Japanese are disgusted with things decorated with fox and badger patterns, believing that foxes are greedy and cunning, and badgers are cunning. They also hate cats with gold and silver eyes. I think seeing a cat like this will make you feel depressed. They are taboo about touching other people's bodies because they think it is disrespectful. They are taboo on reusing containers that have been used to hold things; they are taboo on adding hot water to face wash water; they are taboo on cutting nails at night; they are taboo on drying washed things at night; head facing north). Japanese people generally don't want to ask the price of something their friends buy, because it is impolite. It is also impolite if you comment that the thing the other person bought is cheap. Because the Japanese don't want others to think that they have low economic power and only buy bargains.

Japanese people have many taboos about using chopsticks: avoid inserting chopsticks straight into the rice, as this means worshiping the dead; avoid licking the chopsticks with your tongue, as this is extremely unsightly; avoid using chopsticks to pierce or insert them into the rice. When eating food, I think this is not the proper behavior at the dinner table; avoid using chopsticks to pick and eat from the dishes, thinking it is a bad habit, and people regard it as a lack of etiquette; avoid using chopsticks to move a dish and not eating it, If you eat another dish, you think this picky behavior will make people laugh; avoid putting chopsticks on top of the dishes, thinking it will remind people of unfortunate things; avoid using chopsticks instead of toothpicks to pick teeth, thinking this is not good It is hygienic and can make people sick; avoid twisting chopsticks and licking the rice grains stuck on the chopsticks with your mouth, which is considered a bad habit and worthless; avoid using chopsticks to wander around the table looking for food, which is considered a sign of lack of education. ; Avoid using the same pair of chopsticks for everyone to pick up food in turn, as this will remind people of the scene of passing the bones of the deceased in Buddhist cremation ceremonies.

Japanese people also have many etiquette taboos in eating: it is taboo to overfill the rice bowl when entertaining guests, and it is not allowed to fill a bowl with one spoon; it is taboo for guests to eat only one bowl, and the second bowl is not enough. Symbolism should also be added, because eating only one bowl is considered by them as a symbol of failure; it is taboo to arrange one's clothes or touch or arrange hair with hands during the meal, because this is unhygienic and impolite behavior.

Japanese people generally do not eat fatty meat and pig offal; some people do not eat mutton and duck.

Eating habits

Japanese drinks include "Japanese cuisine" unique to Japan, "Chinese cuisine" passed from China, "Western cuisine" passed from Europe, etc.

Japan’s special geographical environment determines their unique eating habits. The biggest feature of "Japanese cuisine" is that it uses fish, shrimp, shellfish and other seafood as the main ingredients for cooking, and it can be eaten hot or cold. , eaten raw or cooked. Their staple food is rice, and other staple foods include wheat, barley, millet, corn, buckwheat, glutinous rice, soybeans, adzuki beans, sweet potatoes, etc. Some of these main grains are made into steamed rice, boiled rice; porridge, mixed porridge, fried rice, bean paste rice balls, dumplings, etc.; some are made into rice noodles, rice cakes, bread, scones, noodles, steamed buns, etc. as noodles. . They always like to eat red beans and rice on their birthdays to show good luck. They like miso and miso soup very much because it contains a lot of protein and iron and is easy to digest. It is suitable for the elderly, weak, sick and disabled. It is also one of the indispensable recipes in Japanese families.

Japanese people have the following characteristics in their eating habits:

① Pay attention to the quality and quantity of dishes, and pay attention to the nutritional value of dishes.

②Taste: Generally, people don’t like too salty, but prefer sweet, sour and slightly spicy tastes.

③Staple food: Rice is the staple food. I am very interested in fried rice, red bean rice, assorted fried rice, eight-treasure rice, steamed buns, dumplings, soup noodles, fried noodles, etc.

④They like to eat fish as non-staple food, especially sashimi; they like to eat beef, wild birds, eggs, shrimp, crab, kelp, and lean pork; they also like to eat seaweed, green vegetables, eggplant, and 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, etc.

⑤ Preference for dishes prepared by cooking methods such as cold salad, pan-frying, stir-frying, steaming, deep-frying, and grilling.

⑥Chinese food: I like Beijing cuisine, Shanghai cuisine, Cantonese cuisine and less spicy Sichuan cuisine.

⑦The recipes include cold jellyfish, mushroom crispy rice soup, stir-fried grass head, minced fish fillet, winter melon cup, crab meat and fresh mushrooms, fresh bamboo shoots and shredded pork, hibiscus chicken breast, fried pheasant slices, Beef in oyster sauce, green beans and shrimps, braised pomfret, soft fried chicken, Peking duck, sweet and sour pork and other flavorful dishes.

⑧Water and wine: I am very interested in China’s Shaoxing wine and Maotai wine; most people like to drink green tea, black tea and scented tea.

⑨Fruits: Prefer cantaloupes, honeydew melons, watermelons, citrus, apples, pears, grapes, bananas, pineapples, peaches, apricots, strawberries, etc.; dry fruits like walnuts, almonds, cashews, etc. ;