Jonathan wrote: Japanese Manners and Etiquette ... not just good manners but deeper parts of the culture and will result in acute embarassment either for you, or for your hosts.
One example of a faux pas happened when we had a team over from America. One of the guys on the team had a birthday and so some of the girls got him a cake and went out to look for some candles to put on it. They came back proudly with a box of short thick white candles which they lighted on top of his cake. All the Americans were blissfully unaware but a ripple of shock went around the Japanese as they brought out the cake singing "Happy Birthday" The candles were votive candles that are customarily lit on altars for the dead! Of course the Japanese (and myself) all looked at each other and decided silently that what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them and we went on with the birthday party.
---posted by Jonathan 6/4/2004
