Japanese Cultural Characteristics

Japan

Cultural characteristics and unusual specifics
The official language of Japan is Japanese, they belong to the Japonic language family. The Japanese language is not tonal which makes it compared to other East Asian countries easier to pronounce. It consists four methods of writing: Kanji, which are Chinese characters. There is Hiragana and the Katakana method (together called Kana), these are syllabic alphabets of 48 characters. Also the writing method Romaji is frequently used, this is the Latin script to write in Japanese.
The Japanese grammar is rather simple. There are no gender of nouns, the distinctions between plural and singular are barely being used, and there is no verb conjugation.

The two major religions in Japan are Shinto

As you can see on the picture there are 4 different ranges of bowing. The first one, 5 degrees is the most casual bow. It is just a small nod with the head for good friends. But the nod-bow is also used when a high ranked person meets someone that is lower ranked. The second one, 15 degrees is for people that you already know, but they are not as close to you as the people that you nod-bow to. The third one, 30 degrees is the respect bow. This is for people that are higher ranked, like a boss. Not for friends or relatives. The fourth bow, 45 degrees is used when meeting someone that is extremely high ranked like the emperor. However, it is more commonly used when apologizing because it shows the maximum respect and

Also the way of exchanging business cards is important. They are exchanged before the meeting, not after and is hand with both hands. It is also important to stand up when giving a business card to someone that is higher ranked. When receiving a business card it is important that you will not put it in you back trouser pocket, place the card in a shirt pocket or wallet, or on the table during the meeting. Never express negative emotions during the meeting, it is better to ignore your emotion and put on a poker face because Japanese people will see negative emotions as a lack of self-control.

Bringing gifts to a meeting is not mandatory but it always makes a good gesture. The gift has to be wrapped and will only be opened when the person that gave the gift has left the room, it is considered to be rude to open a gift in front of the person that gave the gift. Appreciated gifts are: foreign brand items, alcohol, pen and pencil sets. The gifts to avoid are: flowers, especially white flowers because these are associated with funerals, also red (holiday, Christmas) cards are associated with funerals. 4 and 9 is a unlucky number in Japan so make sure that the present is not in connection with a 4 or a