Do you have a habit for buying souvenir to people not having so close relationship when you go to travel?
If your answer is ‘Yes’, you might have Japanese mindset.
Most Japanese people like to buy souvenirs for their community: company, school, neighborhoods.
After the trip, they give out a little chocolate or candy to the people in their community.
They hand over chocolate, talk a little about what happened at the destination, and the recipient listens while eating it.
The person who receives the chocolate is not always the best friend.
In the Japanese style, chocolates are distributed to both close and unfamiliar people.
Souvenir chocolates indicate that you are a member of the community. Travelers show loyalty to the community by distributing souvenirs throughout the community, and those who receive the same souvenirs confirm that they are part of the community.
Souvenirs that play such a social role are indispensable for Japanese people.
Therefore, the mainstream of souvenir chocolate for Japanese people is a box in which about 15 to 20 pieces packed one by one.
When handing them out at the office after the holidays, you don't know exactly how many people there, so the trick is to buy a little more. It's a good idea to give it at the end of lunch time.
And it is even better to be able to attract people's attention if the name of the tourist spot is written on the package.
Japanese major travel spots have famous souvenir: ‘Shiroi Koibito’(White chocolate with cookie) in Hokkaido, ‘Toraya Yokan’ in Tokyo and …. Finding nice souvenir is one of the pleasures in Japanese traveling.
What do you think about Japanese-style travel souvenir customs?
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