Japan Gifting Culture

Japan is known for its famous traditional culture that has recently been imbibed by people all over the world and they are going crazy over the food and many other things.

Japan is home to ancient traditions and beliefs. It always fascinates the travelers from around the world with its all possibilities. In Japan, gifts are almost given to every occasion from graduation to wedding to finalizing business deals. Children’s achievements are also celebrated with gifts. They emphasize more on gift giving tradition than the gift which they are giving. Traditionally Japanese don’t give gifts on Birthdays and Christmas but it is being added to the modern Gifting Culture.

Gifting Seasons:

There are two main gifting seasons: Ochugen and Oseibo.

Ochugen is celebrated during Summer which is in the middle of the year and gifts are given as a sign of gratitude to others. Oseibo is celebrated in December and here the gifts are given as a sign of indebtedness.

Traditions Followed in Japan:

Don’t give gifts associated with Numbers 4 and 9 as they symbolize death. Always choose pairs which is considered Lucky.
Ladies offer chocolates to the person she admires on the valentine’s day or to her partner.
Place the gift in a bag as it keeps the present out of sight. But be sure to wrap it well.
Japanese usually reject the Gift up to three times out of modesty before accepting it.
There’s a tradition of giving and receiving the gifts with both hands to show respect.
It is considered rude to gift only one person when there are many persons there.
It is common to gift money on weddings and should be offered in odd number, Other wise the even number is easily divided which is a superstition that the pair might split.

There are some things which add more meaning to your gift by using some animal pictures on the wrapping paper.

Turtles – Turtles mean longevity which is good for baby showers.
Butterflies- These can mean Joy.
Cranes – These represent good fortune and will be best to gift for weddings.
Carp – These mean good fortune and faithfulness and can be gifted to business deals.

Gift Wrapping Tips:

Colors have a lot of meaning and we should be cautious with it while wrapping gifts. They even go so far to imply your feelings to the recipient.

Red is used on tombstones so don’t use red Christmas cards.

Black can mean death or bad luck. So never gift your wrap your gift in black.

Green can mean eternity and Good luck. It is almost perfect for any occasion gifting.

White means Holiness. Baby Showers could be one occasion where you can wrap it in White Color.

Since you now knew many tips and traditions about how we gift in Japan. You can send gifts to japan with Giftsnideas.com which has wide variety of gifts. By reading the above guide you will never make any mistakes while gifting in Japan. However, there are many other traditions followed in Business Gifting and Personal Gifting, these are the common guidelines used.

From Gift Guide