The Japanese exchange business cards energetically. I think I gave away more business cards this past week than in all my years at Dartmouth combined. I came away with close to thirty. I realized that it's not just to exchange contact info; it's also part of the face-to-face introduction ritual. You accept someone's card with both hands and study it a bit; when presenting, you turn the card so it's upside down to you and likewise present with both hands.
After an hour in Narita airport on my own on Saturday, I realized that when you pay for something, in most cases you don't hand the person your money directly, like we do here. Instead, there is a tray next to the cash register; that's where you put your money. I noticed this when paying for some coffee: I handed the cashier my money, and she first moved it to the tray and then took it and put it in the register.
It's hard at times to receive a service, especially when in one's culture you're not used to it. At the breaks at the Tokyo conference, when you went to the refreshment table to get coffee, you are supposed to let the staff standing behind the table brew your coffee, pour your juice, etc. It's a rudeness and a presumption not to let the staff perform their function and role.
What's a bit more challenging still is following a custom that would have a negative feel to it if it were done here. For example, at those refreshment breaks, the staff who dispensed the refreshments were all women. At the traditional Japanese restaurant in Kyoto on Friday, one of the waitresses, clad in traditional kimono, took our jackets and carefully placed them in a box near the dining table. We were a group of four men; the waitresses were all women, so it felt a bit odd at first. But to disrupt things or to not to go along with the tradition would have been itself rude and an imposition.
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