Travel Tips ② Good manners

 

◆ Good manners ◆

LEARN HOW TO SAY 'THANK YOU'

 If you’ve seen any popular Japanese movie or TV show, you must have heard the word ‘Arigatou’. ‘Arigatou’ is a fast and easy way to say 'Thank you' in Japanese. Yet, there are even more ways to say Thank you and it depends a lot on who you say it to!

You may already know the expression ありがとう Arigatou or its full form ありがとうございます Arigatou gozaimasu. 

'Arigatou' ありがとう > listen

'Arigatougozaimasu' ありがとうございます > listen

This is a past tense version of ありがとうございます 'Arigatou gozaimasu'. This expression is used when you thank for something that has been done to you, for example, you can say 'Arigatougozaimashita' to your teacher at the end of a lesson and so on. Also the past tense version is the one to use when you write a Thank you letter.

'Arigatougozaimashita' ありがとうございました > listen

 

LEARN HOW TO SAY 'EXCUSE ME'

You might be thinking that 'Sumimasen'すみません means 'Excuse me' or 'I’m sorry'. It can also be used to mean Thank you. Do you think it’s strange that a single expression can mean both I’m sorry and Thank you? You can use すみません 'Sumimasen' to thank someone when you want to acknowledge the trouble that someone has taken for you. What you’re doing is “apologizing” for having made someone go to the trouble for your benefit. (It doesn’t matter whether you asked/wished for it or not.) This is a form of politeness.

'Sumimasen' すみません > listen

   

LEARN HOW TO SAY 'LET'S EAT' & 'THAT WAS DELICIOUS'

In Japan, it is good manners to say 'Itadakimasu' いただきます for giving thanks for the food before meals and 'Gochisousamadeshita' ごちそうさまでした after meals.

'Itadakimasu' いただきます > listen

'Gochisousamadeshita' ごちそうさまでした > listen

 

DON'T EAT AND WALK

If you buy food, it is better to eat it in the purchased place as possible as you can or take it back to your hotel or apartment.

Eating and walking at the same time are considered bad manners.

DON’T TOUCH THE CHERRY BLOSSOMS 

I often see tourists pulling on the branches of cherry blossoms and posing for selfies, and tourists behaving badly around blossoms are often shown on local news. Enjoy taking photos but please don’t touch the cherry blossom tree because it is quite delicate and hurts by little thing easily.

DON’T HOG THE KARAOKE MICROPHONE

If you are invited for karaoke by Japanese people, hogging the mic and singing multiple consecutive songs is considered poor karaoke etiquette and may lose your future invitations for social events.

Thank you for reading my article! 
Feel free to leave a comment!  

I hope you’ll have a great time in Japan！  

Happy traveling !!