Our Objective today is to teach you about Japanese culture. During this presentation we will be talking about Japanese Commuication, food/etiquette and settling in Japan.



Communication-Non verbal communication is much more of a necessity to the Japanese than to our western culture. They often use non-verbal communication. For example, tone of voice, facial expression and posture to get their message across. A good example of this is laughing when they're embarrassed opposed to just when they think something is funny like we do here. Another example is they don't use as much eye contact because it's a sign of honesty, openness and confidence where as here it's the other way around.

Food/Etiquette-Japanese people usually wait until everybody is seated and ready for their meal before they begin as is the case in many cultures or so you'd think. The Japanese traditional sushi is a rice ball wrapped in sweetened tofu skin. The other kind is vinegar rice, fried eggs, pickles, toasted seaweed and other toppings. Sashimi is raw fish slices or basically sushi without rice. Miso soup is red or white soybean paste soup.

Settling-When buying food in Japan you will find a lot of western foods you can find here like meat, potatoes, bread, milk, vegetables, eggs, fruit, butter, cheese, coffee, tea and cereal. Food in Japan is actually expensive and the prices can be shocking. Some super markets stock more western foods than the typical Japanese supermarket. This is mainly for the international community. When buying clothing in Japan you should actually buy your clothes at home before arriving because size is an issue. You'll find that even if a size does fit you, the sleeves will be shorter and the hips narrower than Caucasian sizes. This is also applies to underwear, shoes and socks. In Japan dressing is very formal. Even in times when you'd expect more casual opposed to formal clothes.

It's usually better to overdress than underdress in a country like Japan. They use European or American style in cities. The only thing they use at a special or traditional function is what is called a Kimono since it's no longer used in everyday living. In Japanese cities the most affordable and quickest form of transportation are subways and trains. Having private cars are expensive to have in the country and taxis are not faster than the trains. Believe it or not Japan is actually one of the few safest nations on earth. Japan's crime rate is not very high and walking alone at night anywhere is not very risky. A lot of short-term visitors to the country won't have to put up with what are called Kafkaesque officials. People can stay for up to 90 days in this part of the world.

You'll have to apply for a visa if you are planning to work in the island nation.

conclusion- that's our presentation on Japanese culture. One that is very different from ours.  We hope this information will help you to understand a little bit more about Japan. Thank you very much!

You should post those articles somewhere else. This bbs is for japanese people living in Canada and they don't have to be taught about Japanese culture.