5 JAPANESE CULTURE THAT CAN IMPROVE YOUR LIFE

The Japanese have always been known for their culture. From their food, lifestyle, and even their etiquette towards others. Japanese people take their culture seriously and respect it very much. It is very important for them to display modesty and humility in their social activity.

Without us knowing, we can find similarities between Indonesian and Japanese culture. One of them is taking off shoes when entering our or someone’s house. But, there are other aspects of Japanese culture that we might find decent if we apply it in our country.
Those cultures are as follows:

Give and Take Gifts with Both Hands

Even though some of us might already have done this, there are still some people who don’t take this seriously. Giving and taking gifts with both of our hands can be interpreted as a respect towards the people who give us the gift and it can be an impression about others towards the manners that we have.

Bow to Show Respect

Bowing in Japanese culture means that you are showing respect to the people that you’ve met, similar to shaking hands that is commonly done in our country. Sometimes, we might find it a little bit awkward to shake a person’s hand on the first meeting. Greet others by bowing 45 degrees to them might be an alternative to greet one’s that you’ve just met.

Be Punctual When You Meet People

It’s not a secret that Indonesians are commonly late when they have a meeting with others, especially friends. By being punctual, you can learn to appreciate time a lot more and respect others that try to be on time while having meetings. So, punctuality matters a lot in Japanese culture and we should make this culture a habit in our activity.

Be Quite on Public Transportation

Public transportations, such as commuter lines, MRT, and Trans Jakarta already have stickers that tell the passengers to not make loud noises or even have conversation inside the transportation both directly or via cellphone. Having conversation can make other passengers feel uncomfortable and we have to respect others’ existence because we use public transportation. So, we cannot behave only based on our own will and we should consider the effect of our behavior towards other passengers.

Emergency Kit in Every Household In Case of Any Disaster Happened

This culture may not be familiar for most of us. But, an emergency kit is one of the most important things that we can have in our house. This usually consists of a first aid kit, instant food, powerbank, charger, other electronic equipment, toiletries, and other things that you might find useful in urgent situations. It is also recommended to have a bag that is filled with important documents, such as family card, graduate diploma, birth certificate, and maybe other papers that are important. By doing so, you can easily grab your bag when disasters happen.

Those are good cultures from Japan that we can apply in our life. Hope you find it helpful and can help us to make our country a better place to live!

References:

(2022, May 5). Japanese Culture and Traditions. Tea Ceremony Japan Experiences MAIKOYA. Retrieved May 7, 2022, from https://mai-ko.com/travel/culture-in-japan/japanese-culture-1/

Sacasas, C. (2020, February 28). Japanese Culture: 33 Things Everyone Should Know About Japan. Fluent in 3 Months. Retrieved May 7, 2022, from https://www.fluentin3months.com/japanese-culture/