1. Japan Trip 2007 By Kelly Huang

2. Houses In Japan, most people sleep on futons instead of beds. Also, the Japanese style beds are lower than the beds we have. The children usually sleep with their parents until they get to a certain age. The toilets in Japan are different from New Zealand. The sink to wash your hands are part of the toilet. Most houses have at least one Tatami room. You’re not allowed to wear slippers inside a Tatami room. Japanese people always take their shoes off at the entrance.

3. The mother usually don’t have the meal with the kids, unless they are going out for dinner. Japanese people uses chopsticks instead of forks and knives like we do. You can sniff while at the dinner table, but never blow your nose. Before eating a meal, you say ‘ いただきます ’ and when you finished eating, you say ‘ ごちそうさまでした ’. When having a bath, Japanese people always washes themselves in the shower before going into the bath. You’re not allowed to let the water out after using the bath, because everyone else in the family needs to use it after you. Also, the guest has the honour of taking a bath first.

4. Greetings Surnames are used when greeting people, except if you are close friends with them, then you call them by the first name followed by ちゃん if they are a girl and くん if they’re a boy. But if that person is a baby, then you can also use ちゃん after their name. Boys usually said ぼく instead of わたし when talking about themselves.

5. In the street There are many public transports in Japan, for example, bullet train, train, bus and taxi. It’s considered bad manner if you eat or drink as you walk on the street. You can buy a lot of different variety of things in the vending machines, such as, cup noodles, many different types of drinks, cigarettes and etc…

6. Shopping When you enter a shop, the shopkeeper and staff greet you with, ‘ いらっしゃいませ ’. The most widely used method of payment is cash, not many people uses credit cards. When you’re paying at the counter, you put the money on a plate and when they give the change back, they also put it on the plate. Department stores usually open from 10am to 6pm. Most shops are closed for one day during the week.

7. Restaurants There are standing sushi bars in Japan, so instead of sitting on a chair while eating, you stand. You’re usually first served with a towel and a glass of water, as soon as you sit down in a restaurant. In some restaurants, you buy your food in a vending machine, it then print out a ticket for you, you then give your ticket to the staff and they’ll bring you your food.

8. Sports Baseball and soccer are the most popular sports in Japan. Some traditional Japanese sports are sumo, judo and kendo. The children are usually in a sports team and they practice their sport everyday after school.

9. School In Japan, they have 3 terms a year instead of 4. The Japanese school year start in April. The school buildings are a lot bigger and taller than our school buildings. In the class rooms, the tables are usually lined up in rows. But at lunch eating time, the students quickly move the tables into little group to have their lunch. The students bring their own lunch ( おべんとう ) to school just like we do.