JAPAN Land of the rising sun.

About Japan.. Japan is an island country in East Asia. It lies on the Pacific Ocean. Neighbouring countries are North Korea, South Korea, Russia, and China. It is made up of 6,852 smaller islands with four major islands that make up 97% of the country called Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku. Japan has the world’s tenth largest population with 128 million people living in this mountainous landscape. Japan has the world’s second largest economy. Over 127, 078,670 (July 09) people living in Japan. 98.5% Japanese, 1.5% are mostly Korean (about 1 million). Chinese, Brazilians and Filipinos live in Japan. A ethnic minority of indigenous people called Ainu live in northern Hokkaido.

Shintoism Buddhism The Japanese have two main religions within their society although both main religions get mixed up with one another as the actual religion isn’t held as important as the values that they represent. Shintoism (54%) - is classified as an animist religion which basically means they believe in the spirits of nature (Kami). They are not traditionally bound by a specific set of rules to follow. Buddhism (40%) – is the belief that the way to end suffering is through enlightenment through a series of meditation, which allows the individual to control birth and death.

Japanese Etiquette. Bathing is an important pastime in the daily routine of the Japanese. This is usually done in a small square tub that is much deeper than a western bath tub. Japanese don’t walk around when they eat; they usually are seated in private. Eating in public places, such as trains or on the street is considered rude. Greetings are of the upmost importance when it comes to the Japanese. If one simply walks straight by without saying anything or a lazy half hearted greeting is considered very rude. Customer service- if employees are heard to be having a private conversation, this is considered quite inappropriate when a customer is near. Employees are usually neat and formal. In Japan employees usually speak in a humble and deferential manner, they usually address the customer as sir or madam and use respectful forms of language.

Japanese Cuisine. Japanese food is proven to be one of the healthiest cuisines in the world. Tofu, miso, soba, sushi and tempura are all famous Japanese dishes. It involves influences from China and Korea, but the Japanese devolved their cuisine with new flavours and it became its own delicacy. There are 5 main flavours in the Japanese cuisine, sweet, sour, hot, bitter and salty Japanese are renowned for seasonal food as well as the presentation of the food. It involves lots of shellfish, sea mammals, crab, seaweed as well as other sea food. Also involves rice, beans, meats, noodles, and vegetables.

Festivals of the Japanese. Japanese festivals are usually based on the streets, with lots of food stalls, entertainment, and carnival games. They usually have loud music and lots of vibrant colour, which relates to their culture or specific event they are celebrating.

Japanese Tourism. In 2006, Australia had 651,070 visitors from Japan, making it Australia’s third largest inbound market for arrivals. It was predicted that a decrease of 7% in 2007, the forecast that over the next ten years arrivals from Japan are going to grow slowly. Travellers from Japan spent $2.2billion on trips to Australia in 2006, an average of $3713 per trip. 41% of tourists stayed in areas outside the main cities.

This is the forecast for visitors from Japan between 1997 and This source directly from ( r_profile_07.pdf) r_profile_07.pdf

If you need to point in a direction or at someone, refrain from using your finger to point; instead use a palm facing down. Agree with what is said as much as possible, Japanese do not like conflict or hostile situations. When expressing you opinions avoid making it too direct. Don’t interrupt a Japanese person when they are talking, or even thinking about an answer to a previous question. They don’t mind the silence between questions in the middle of a conversation. How to act.

Possibly one of the biggest problems relating to the Japanese visiting Australia, is that the huge difference in culture. Hosting a Japanese festival would raise awareness of the Japanese culture to Australians, and also attract more Japanese tourists in the area. Promoting this would attract people from all over, as well as show Australians a little bit more about the Japanese way of life. This Festival would be fun, educational and culturally diverse. To raise Cultural awareness.

Where to hold the event? The (06 approx) Japanese tourists in Australia a year as well as the Japanese Australians that are permanently migrated here, account for a large majority of Australia’s population. Raising cultural awareness would improve our country’s multiculturalism or relationships and improve our knowledge of treating and servicing this group of tourists. Such an event could be held, anywhere but the best possible choice in Albury would be the Botanic Gardens as it has room for a lot of people and is a safe and controlled environment.

Possibilities? Public groups can get involved e.g. Wodonga primary school learn Japanese as a second language as well as have there own Japanese traditional drumming group that could get involved and help entertain the guests. Japanese food stalls and music would be played to create a sense of Japanese culture. Dance groups could perform traditional Japanese dances, or participate in a Japanese parade. Involving our culture would be nice for the Japanese guests as well as the locals too with the possibility of an Aboriginal Australia culture display. This then involves both cultures. Craft groups could produce a series of art works, to relate to Japan. They could get involved in producing origami and then hanging them from the trees (a Japanese Cultural symbol).

Products and Services, they require. When running an event to attract the Japanese we should look at their culture and incorporate it into what we can do for them. E.g. the Japanese would expect good accommodation, with friendly and polite service. Not pointing or being rude to the customers as well as showing an understanding of their culture would help in this aspect. Looking at the culture we can see that the Japanese households require them to be wearing slippers whilst indoors at all times, hotels in Albury should consider this with the possibility of giving each room a set of slippers for them to wear.

Outcome? This Festival, now includes Japanese Food, Japanese artwork, and Japanese traditional music and dance. But attracting the people could be another issue. This festival needs to be funded and promoted properly. With your help this event could be pulled off and become one of Albury’s annual events. Creating more tourism to the area, and improving the economy, creating a wider spread knowledge of this different culture as well as creating a more multicultural Albury could be there possible outcomes. I encourage you to get involved!!

Bibliography cc588/11a a961e4ca2568a !OpenDocument htmhttp:// htm people.htmlhttp:// people.html