rvice personal at restaurants, hotels and stores-shouting and ordering people around. This kind of behavior is considered acceptable.Drinking Customs
Japanese usually do not start drinking until someone offers the toast «kampai» - (dry glass). The Chinese and Koreans use the same word for their toasts. As the evening progresses, Japanese often shout «banzai!» Three times. It means «live ten thousand years» and is the equivalent of saying «hip. hip, hooray! »The custom of raising a glass and saying a loud toast caught on in the latter half of the Meiji Period (1868-1912) and was influenced by the British Royal navy.
When drinking, one should not drink from the bottle or fill his or her own glass. The polite thing to do is fill someone else's glass and they in turn will fill yours. In some situations, it is rude to turn down a drink that is being offered to you. To avoid drinking too much keep you glass full. To avoid being rude accept a drink the first time it is offered to you by a particular individual. The second time he offers it is acceptable to politely say no.
These days Japanese often order beer by the glass rather than the bottle which means they are less likely to pour drinks for each than they did in the past. Often younger people hold the bottle with one hand when pouring for older people when etiquette requires them to hold it with two hands. This trend is attributed to decline if drinking between older and young people.Drinking
Sake is traditionally consumed in a porcelain cup called a sakazuki, or Japanese cedar boxes called masu. These containers are small and hold only a couple of swallows. This means that sake drinkers are usually busy filling one another's cups. Sometimes salt is placed on the rims of masus. Many true sake drinkers don t recommend using masu because they are awkward and add a wood taste to the sake. Wineglasses are better.
Fifteen degrees C is the recommended drinking temperature for most types of sake. Once a bottle has been opened it is good to drink it right away as oxygen will adversely affect the taste. Refrigeration is important. Avoid sake that is displayed on a liquor store shelf or has been transported without refrigeration. Thermoses are used to keep sake at the appropriate temperature at all times.Style Tea Drinking
The first step in drinking tea Japanese-style (not the tea ceremony) is to place all the necessary pots, cups and utensils in neat order on a small table. Fresh spring water is boiled on a special brazier and then poured into the handle-less cups and the pot to warm them-and then the water is thrown out. Water is next poured into a tea bowl so that it will be at the right temperature when the tea is ready.
The lid of the tea container is removed and placed on a special stand and the tea-about two grams per person-is placed in the pot with a special ladle and the slightly cooled water (about 70? C to 80? C) in the tea bowl is slowly and evenly poured into the tea pot and the lid is put back on the teapot. The tea brews for about two minutes before it is served.
The tea is then poured into ceramic cups with no handles a little bit at a time to make sure everyone receives tea of ??the same strength and quality. Tea drinkers are often served three cups: the first of which is fragrant, the second, strong, and the third, delicate. When a man prepares match for a woman it often has romantic implications. [Text Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Daily Yomiuri, Times of London, Japan National Tourist Organization (JNTO), National Geographic, The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, Reuters, AP, Lonely Planet Guides, Compton s Encyclopedia and various books and other publications, 2009, by Jeffrey Hays ]
6. Courtship and marriage
Courtship
Many Japanese women are unlikely to take the lead while on a date because there is still a social taboo on female expressions of desire. Because of this, Japanese women are often more demure, cutesy, a little tempting but not overly forward.
Money can sometimes play a small part in early dates in Japan, where a man might mention his salary, more than once, to emphasize his ability to care for his date. This is almost a subconscious act that many westerners may consider pointless bragging, when it is not. This kind of conversation will often happen at «blind date parties» (goukon) where friends arrange for other friends to meet up to see if they like each other. Japan is much more a culture of introductions, swapping email addresses and business cards, than it is picking up dates in bars.
In a l...
