Things are absolutely crazy here right now. In addition to the PhD, move, and wedding, things at school have been very stressful. There are some "financial irregularities" which have everyone worried. I'll write more about later as I know more. In the meantime, I'll try to reduce my backlog of topics which have been accumulating..
I'm no expert in Japanese culture, but I have noticed that gift-giving (おみやげ = omiyage = oh.mee.yah.gay) is particularly important here. One such situation is when you move into a new place. So Yumi and I went to a local drugstore and schlepped home eight 5-packs of kleenex (picture 40 boxes of tissues!) to give to the people who live in each apartment which share our stairway (we are on the 5th floor which is the top - there are 10 total apartments on the stairway, of which one is ours and one is vacant). Then we knocked on each door, introduced ourselves, and gave the tissues. I have to say it is a nice tradition and certainly pushes me outside of my natural hermit tendencies. Interestingly, several people we met said that giving omiyage to new neighbors is becoming less and less common with younger generations.
It sounds like giving omiyage is a great idea and a good excuse to meet the neighbors. I take it no elevator? 5th floor! Wow.
ReplyDeleteWhere did you get the idea of tissues? I hope they are not sick.
How big is your apt. and what is the rent in USD?
Aunt Peg & I gave a gift to each of our tennants for happy holidays.
By the way, the weather sucks here.
I agree about omiyage (and it's extends to many other occasions in addition to new neighbors). No - no elevator. Most days I reassure myself knowing that it's part of my daily exercise. Some days it's just a drag. Yumi thought of the tissues. There are many small gift ideas. They should be small and useful. We nixed ones which might conflict with peoples' tastes (hand towels, soaps, food, etc.)
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