Gifts are given for almost every occasion: to say thank you, to say thank you for a thank you gift, to say congrats, at weddings, Christmas and other holidays and sometimes just to give a gift. As a basketball player I am very thankful as fans will sometimes give me gifts after the game and many of them spoil our daughters. (The people are extremely nice here in Toyama and we are very appreciative).
I have included a link if you want to read more about Japan's gifting culture.
http://www.giftypedia.com/Japan_Gift_Giving_Customs
If someone goes on a trip they are expected to bring back a gift from where it is they went. For example, if someone were to travel to another part of Japan or to another country they would be expected to bring back gifts from that place. Many times those gifts are some sort of sweet treat or food. The airports and road stops/highway rest areas all have sections of these packaged goodies/sweets. Some are cookies, some are cakes, and others are completely different all together. I have included some pictures of different gifts from one of the rest area we stopped at to give you an idea of what these might be. Many times, different areas of Japan are known for certain things. Kyoto (one of the prefectures/states of Japan) is known for green tea and Aomori (one of the prefectures/states of Japan) is know for apples, so the gifts/sweets/goodies will many times feature those things. Aomori had Apple cakes, little apple pies and other yummy things made frim apples while Kyoto's gifts were green tea or sweets with green tea cream filling or things flavored by green tea. (It wouldn't make a very good gift as it would melt but we did have green tea ice cream last year when we were in Kyoto).
No comments:
Post a Comment