My Trip to Japan

Hi, my name’s Mark. Last year, I travelled to Japan, and I fell in love with the people there and their culture. The first thing that I learnt about Japan is that they call their country Nihon or Nippon. It was strange to me because I never thought the names would be so different. 

 

There are lots of things that I learnt about their culture. The most difficult part was handling chopsticks. It wasn’t easy to use them to pick food from bowls. I learnt other things about handling chopsticks as well. For example, you mustn’t leave your chopsticks sticking straight up in your rice bowl, because it’s disrespectful. 

 

As an American, I was surprised to hear that Japanese people don’t leave tips on the table for waiters. In Japanese culture, it is the duty of the waiters to serve the customer the best they can, so a lot of waiters think it is rude to give them extra money for doing their job right. 

 

One very interesting thing that I learnt in Japan was that people always take off their shoes when they walk into another person’s home. No matter if the home is a traditional Japanese home or a modern one, you must take off your shoes. I think it’s a good thing because it helps keep the home clean.