What can you not give as a gift in Japan?

Angela Neik

Studied body language and non verbal communication. Aug 30

What can you not give as a gift in Japan?

There are a lot of gifts that are considered inappropriate to give.

Here are some:

When someone turns 60, it’s a big deal, because the person is considered to have lived one full lifetime already. So giving them (or anyone older than the giver of the gift for that matter)shoes or socks is impolite because those signify ‘’stepping on them’’. No white roses, either, because they signify death.

Actually stay away from white things, because Japanese being an ambiguous language, has many of the same words but meaning different things, so the word for white is shiroi, shi means death, and it also means the number 4, so don’t give anything that is 4, has 4 parts, or is white.

Similar with the number 9, which is ku, but it also means ‘’suffering’’. Do not give anything with the number 9 on it, and avoid like fire anything with 49, because that’s the word ku-shi, which is like saying suffering until death. While in the US, getting a T-Shirt from California’s ‘’Miner 49er, in Japan, you’ll never be invited again to any birthday in this lifetime, and the next.

For weddings forget gifts that indicate cutting the relationship like: sets of knives or scissors, stay away from breakable things like glass, ceramic items, or mirrors, for (by now you probably guessed it already) it symbolizes breaking up. Let’s add clocks, watches, or any timepieces to the list as well, because they signify the passage/fading of time into nothingness like fading of a relationship.

In the olden days many cities like Kyoto, were built with wood, so when someone celebrates opening of a business, nothing that would remotely signify burning or fire ( ashtrays, heaters, lighters) are not good gifts to bring.

And visiting the ill in the hospital, bring only cut flowers, no potted ones, or tiny bonsai trees, because those have roots, so it’s like telling the ill person: ‘’may you stay here long enough until you sprout some roots’’. Not a nice gift!