Posted 3 years ago
kwqd
(1185 items)
Here are some of the small gifts I have received from Japanese sellers on online auction sites which accompanied the item I bought. It is a nice little gesture not uncommonly seen from Japanese sellers. In the early 2000s US sellers sometimes included a piece of candy, peppermint, butterscotch, etc., or some other small gift with their item but it has been quite a few years since I have experienced that.
How nice!! I especially love the origamis!!
For a while I was buying vintage fabric online for a special quilt I was making. One of the sellers would include with the fabric some little token such as a card of vintage buttons or a piece of matching or coordinating fabric. Just a special treat expressing gratitude which always was well received by me. :-)
Thanks jscott0363, Vynil33rpm, dav2no1, Watchsearcher, Kevin and Thomas!
Oseibo tradition
you ought to get a O-kaeshi also
Thanks apostata! I found an interesting blog post by an American living in Japan with some additional links to other blog posts and several interesting/amusing comments.
https://takameter.com/2008/05/18/gift-giving-in-japan-okaeshi-part-1/
Also:
https://japanintercultural.com/free-resources/articles/oseibo-winter-gift-giving-in-japan-a-fading-tradition/
once i was invited to a fancy Japanese dinner . and i was scared s...less , because i had to learn all the rules about dinner habits, and the way you ought to eat, its endless
so in the palms of my hands i wrote , nodding and itadakimasu , but my hands got sweaty . and i lost part of text, and the attache told me itadakimasu dumb,,,, so i murmured something , louder ,,, hole it,s for your host
LOL. I attribute my time in Japan as a big part of how I form and maintain social relationships with people which is often confusing to Americans but makes perfect sense to me.
On the opposite end of the scale, I was seeing a woman in Thailand and she took me to see a witch to "read the bones" to predict how our relationship would progress. She was educated and typically super rational but was originally from a rural area where ghosts, spirits and the supernatural were deeply ingrained.
In Thailand and Vietnam their customs often slap you in the face they are so much a part of daily life, but in Japan they are also often so subtle and detailed that they can't just be experienced/absorbed but have to be studied, which can be really exhausting, I found.
Thanks for checking out my Japanese okaeshi gifts blunderbuss2, Thomas, mikelv85, Jenni and fortapache!
I know what you mean, Eileen! That must have been a nice experience.
Thanks for loving my Japanese gifts vintagelamp, clockerman and Eileen!
Thanks SEAN68 and Alfie21!