Neither of us want to be viewed as boorish tacky American tourists. We want to be gracious guests during our stay in Japan. That being said, I've tried to read as much as possible on proper etiquette in Japan to prepare. Here are some interesting faux pas I came across during my research:
-Never blow your nose in public in Japan. It's considered incredibly rude. (Yet Japanese men still urinate in the streets!)
-Tipping is not common in Japan and if you try to tip someone they will get confused.
-Japanese people bow upon meeting each other. Some of them even bow when they answer the telephone. When greeting or thanking another person, not bowing lower than an elder or a person of higher social status is considered impolite.
-Eating and drinking while walking is considered rude.
-Passing food from one pair of chopsticks to another is considered bad manners.
-Take your shoes off upon entering an inn, temple, shrine, home, and most museums and restaurants. Sometimes slippers will be available for you to use. If you're using the restroom, there is another set of slippers to use. Don't forget to change back into your hallway slippers after you're done using the facilities!
-Don't give a Japanese person a gift in a set of 4. This number symbolizes death.
-When eating rice with chopsticks, don't leave the sticks in the rice as this is only done at funerals.
All of these rules seem relatively easy to follow. I have read that Japanese people are fairly forgiving of Western tourists if a social blunder is committed.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Etiquette
Flight Path
With a little help from Google Earth, Google Maps, and Photoshop, I approximated our flight path using the old "shortest distance between two points" logic (I'm assuming that's the logic our American Airlines pilot will be using too), and here's what I came up with:
Looks weird at first because it seems like we'll be traveling in a big arc (the red line), but that's only what the pesky flat map projection wants us to believe. In reality, when we take a look at the same flight path on a spherical globe (or, in this case, in Google Earth), we can see that the path is actually a nice straight line:
So, there you have it. Basically, we'll be heading northwest out of O'Hare, bisecting Canada, continuing over Alaska, maybe even going over a bit of Russia, and finally landing in Japan, barely having gone over the Pacific Ocean at all. Pretty interesting, huh?
Friday, February 22, 2008
Size of Japan
Itinerary
We will be in Japan from March 1st through 14th. That's two whole weeks to absorb as much Japanese culture as possible! There's so much to see and do that I'm sure every minute of every day will be jam-packed with fascinating adventure.
We are departing from Chicago on February 29th. Our plane ride is 13 hours. Tokyo time is 15 hours ahead of Milwaukee time so we will be traveling ahead in time! It's very odd for me to think about.
I am not sure how we are going to pass the 13 hours stuck on a plane. Right now I'm trying not to think too hard about it. I bought some books written by Japanese authors and plan on packing my iPod and Nintendo DS also. I know Michael will be bringing along our laptop so perhaps we could watch some DVDs. I am sure we will try and sleep but I am sure sleeping while sitting up won't be easy.
We arrive at an airport outside Tokyo called Narita. It's situated in a nondescript suburb about 60 minutes outside the metropolis. We will take a train from the airport into Tokyo.
Saturday 1st: Tokyo (arrive at NRT (Narita) 3:15 pm)
Sunday 2nd: Toyko
Monday 3rd: Tokyo
Tuesday 4th: Tokyo
Wednesday 5th: Tokyo -> Nikko
Thursday 6th: Nikko -> Kyoto (my 31st birthday!)
Friday 7th: Kyoto
Saturday 8th: Kyoto
Sunday 9th: Kyoto
Monday 10th: Kyoto
Tuesday 11th: Kyoto
(day trips from Kyoto to Osaka and Himeji)
Wednesday 12th: Kyoto -> Nara
Thursday 13th: Nara -> Tokyo
Friday 14th: Tokyo (leave 6pm NRT)
Hello Japan 2008!
In about a week Mike and I depart for Japan. I've created this blog to document the journey. Stay tuned for updates!
