Tips for traveling to Japan?
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Joined: Mar 2001
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From: Phoenix
I have been over half a dozen times on business, for a total of about 2 months. My tips:
1) You hold your business card with BOTH hands when you give it to the other person. When you receive theirs, spend 10-15 seconds reading, reading, and re-reading it. It is a respect thing. Make sure that you understand the pecking order of the people you meet, and explain the pecking order of your group ("I am Greg Stevens. I am the president of S2KCA. This is XXXX, he is my assistant. This is YYYYY, who is the janitor of our basement office and reports to XXXX.")
2) Smile at everyone. Never get ticked off about anything because it just makes you look like an a**hole when everyone else is polite and smiling. I LOVE the elevator girls, the airport bus guide-girls, the welcome-girls at corporate offices, etc., so smile at all of them, too.
3) You won't sleep much the two nights. Watch the weird cartoons on TV and enjoy the culture shock. Don't be too judgemental about what you might see on TV.
4) If any Japanese take you out to dinner, expect to drink beer, and possibly sake. Fill up your hosts glass for him (he will do the same for you)...no one fills their own glass. Eat everything, whether you know what it is or not, whether you consider it edible or not. Every Japanese that I have met has used dinner as an initiation ceremony ("You eat pickled squid? No other Americans have eaten pickled squid!")
5) Go eat at a ramen shop. Incredibly good food, very cheap. Plus, it let's you hang out with locals, who are pretty cool. They scope you out, you scope them out.
6) As a corrallary to #5, go out and explore, away from tourists. Ride the trains, wander the streets, go shop in local malls. You won't have been to Japan if you just hang out with guides.
7) Drink tons of the cans of coffee from the vending machines! I would kill for a case of that coffee! Hot or cold, it is good stuff. If anyone is really dead from jet lag, buy a couple of packs of Black-Black gum at a magazine stand...it will definitely put some spring in your step (200mg of caffeine, as much nicotine as a cigarette).
8) Be careful buying electronics. Everyone that I know paid more in Japan than they would have in the US, but everyone thought that they were getting a smokin' deal.
9) Don't open or shut the doors of the taxis. The driver will do it and will get ticked if you slam his doors.
That's all I can think of...remember: SMILE! And remember: they are an old culture with huge differences from ours, covered by a thin facade of similarity.
1) You hold your business card with BOTH hands when you give it to the other person. When you receive theirs, spend 10-15 seconds reading, reading, and re-reading it. It is a respect thing. Make sure that you understand the pecking order of the people you meet, and explain the pecking order of your group ("I am Greg Stevens. I am the president of S2KCA. This is XXXX, he is my assistant. This is YYYYY, who is the janitor of our basement office and reports to XXXX.")
2) Smile at everyone. Never get ticked off about anything because it just makes you look like an a**hole when everyone else is polite and smiling. I LOVE the elevator girls, the airport bus guide-girls, the welcome-girls at corporate offices, etc., so smile at all of them, too.
3) You won't sleep much the two nights. Watch the weird cartoons on TV and enjoy the culture shock. Don't be too judgemental about what you might see on TV.
4) If any Japanese take you out to dinner, expect to drink beer, and possibly sake. Fill up your hosts glass for him (he will do the same for you)...no one fills their own glass. Eat everything, whether you know what it is or not, whether you consider it edible or not. Every Japanese that I have met has used dinner as an initiation ceremony ("You eat pickled squid? No other Americans have eaten pickled squid!")
5) Go eat at a ramen shop. Incredibly good food, very cheap. Plus, it let's you hang out with locals, who are pretty cool. They scope you out, you scope them out.
6) As a corrallary to #5, go out and explore, away from tourists. Ride the trains, wander the streets, go shop in local malls. You won't have been to Japan if you just hang out with guides.
7) Drink tons of the cans of coffee from the vending machines! I would kill for a case of that coffee! Hot or cold, it is good stuff. If anyone is really dead from jet lag, buy a couple of packs of Black-Black gum at a magazine stand...it will definitely put some spring in your step (200mg of caffeine, as much nicotine as a cigarette).
8) Be careful buying electronics. Everyone that I know paid more in Japan than they would have in the US, but everyone thought that they were getting a smokin' deal.
9) Don't open or shut the doors of the taxis. The driver will do it and will get ticked if you slam his doors.
That's all I can think of...remember: SMILE! And remember: they are an old culture with huge differences from ours, covered by a thin facade of similarity.
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Joined: Oct 2000
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From: palo alto
hey greg!!!lets see...
take some yen with you [get it at a currency exchange stateside;you'll need it right away and you don't want to be fooling around trying to exchange it at the airport over there...
plan to spend a lot of your money in cash....charge cards work mostly at large establishments but cash is king...a huge cash purchase over there won't even be noted..everyone uses cash..
always bow ...at macdonalds or when meeting the vp of engineering at honda...[mebbe deeper to the vp...when i get back i bow to people here for a week or so..]
look at everything!! cars,signs in the subway, toilets,how they tie the trees to poles along the street...it's all so cool..take in the details...
i know you'll want to take tons of pictures..but be careful,you might miss some really neat stuff with your nose in the camera all the time...just take it all in...
if you should take a taxi[takshi]remember that the driver controls the curb-side rear door[with a lever in the front seat]..let him open it and most importantly,let him close it!!![this takes some getting used to..]
if someone takes you out to drink..do so!! it's polite and expected...you may be surprised what you will eat when you've had enough sake....
watch out crossing streets..they drive on the wrong side and cars will approach you from the right...actually in tokyo be real alert anywhere near a street..if a cab doesn't get you a scooter [or 10]just might..
don't sleep!!!tokyo goes all night and it's worth a late night stroll to see how things work...[you'll have super weather i suspect....]it's safe and fun..
i'd advise against shorts and a tee shirt....even on vacation in the hottest part of august i usually wear fairly nice stuff..always have a tie handy....this shouldn't be taken the wrong way...when you get there you'll see..you'll stick out less and people will give you more respect..
if you can buddie up do so....it's way less traumatic to be lost in shinjuku station with someone to hang on to...but it's still ok to go off on your own...just remember to have the name of the place you'e staying[written in japanese]to show a cabbie if needed...
again i'll stress the importance of being aware of all that's happening...it might look familiar but it's really not!!!that's what's so neat about japan-seemingly the same as here but you may as well be on pluto!!!
enjoy every second and worry about jet-lag later..[after the last trip,i had dreams in japanese for a week!!!]
a full report is expected!!!!!
dbw
[Edited by dbw on 06-04-2001 at 11:12 PM]
take some yen with you [get it at a currency exchange stateside;you'll need it right away and you don't want to be fooling around trying to exchange it at the airport over there...
plan to spend a lot of your money in cash....charge cards work mostly at large establishments but cash is king...a huge cash purchase over there won't even be noted..everyone uses cash..
always bow ...at macdonalds or when meeting the vp of engineering at honda...[mebbe deeper to the vp...when i get back i bow to people here for a week or so..]
look at everything!! cars,signs in the subway, toilets,how they tie the trees to poles along the street...it's all so cool..take in the details...
i know you'll want to take tons of pictures..but be careful,you might miss some really neat stuff with your nose in the camera all the time...just take it all in...
if you should take a taxi[takshi]remember that the driver controls the curb-side rear door[with a lever in the front seat]..let him open it and most importantly,let him close it!!![this takes some getting used to..]
if someone takes you out to drink..do so!! it's polite and expected...you may be surprised what you will eat when you've had enough sake....
watch out crossing streets..they drive on the wrong side and cars will approach you from the right...actually in tokyo be real alert anywhere near a street..if a cab doesn't get you a scooter [or 10]just might..
don't sleep!!!tokyo goes all night and it's worth a late night stroll to see how things work...[you'll have super weather i suspect....]it's safe and fun..
i'd advise against shorts and a tee shirt....even on vacation in the hottest part of august i usually wear fairly nice stuff..always have a tie handy....this shouldn't be taken the wrong way...when you get there you'll see..you'll stick out less and people will give you more respect..
if you can buddie up do so....it's way less traumatic to be lost in shinjuku station with someone to hang on to...but it's still ok to go off on your own...just remember to have the name of the place you'e staying[written in japanese]to show a cabbie if needed...
again i'll stress the importance of being aware of all that's happening...it might look familiar but it's really not!!!that's what's so neat about japan-seemingly the same as here but you may as well be on pluto!!!
enjoy every second and worry about jet-lag later..[after the last trip,i had dreams in japanese for a week!!!]
a full report is expected!!!!!
dbw
[Edited by dbw on 06-04-2001 at 11:12 PM]
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From: On the lakefront...
Damn, you guys are awesome! THANKS!
Great stuff...! I'm really getting jazzed, not that I wasn't before, but man, this is going to be one helluva time...!
Of course, dbw, a full report will be forthcoming...!
Great stuff...! I'm really getting jazzed, not that I wasn't before, but man, this is going to be one helluva time...!
Of course, dbw, a full report will be forthcoming...!