Welcome back!!! Theres still more stuff YOU should know about Japan and our trip. Brought to you by APetGuppy, NOT Mr Leo hahahah. Victorians should visit blogs more....Anyway theres gonna be lotsa bus rides so PLEASE BRING ENTERTAINMENT.

CHOPSTICKS!!!!

It's not like in Singapore where you can use anything anyway you want lol.

Some of the most important chopstick rules are:

  • Hold your chopsticks towards their end, and not in the middle or the front third.
  • When you are not using your chopsticks and when you are finished eating, lay them down in front of you with the tip to left.
  • Do not stick chopsticks into your food, especially not into rice. Only at funerals are chopsticks stuck into the rice that is put onto the altar.
  • Do not pass food with your chopsticks directly to somebody else's chopsticks. Only at funerals are the bones of the cremated body given in that way from person to person.
  • Do not spear food with your chopsticks.
  • Do not point with your chopsticks to something or somebody.
  • Do not move your chopsticks around in the air too much, nor play with them.
  • Do not move around plates or bowls with chopsticks.
  • To separate a piece of food into two pieces, exert controlled pressure on the chopsticks while moving them apart from each other. This needs much exercise.
  • If you have already used your chopsticks, use the opposite end of your chopsticks in order to move food from a shared plate to your own plate.

Some Table Rules

  • Blowing your nose in public, and especially at the table, is considered bad manner.
  • It is considered good manner to empty your dishes to the last grain of rice.
  • Talking about toilet related and similarly disappetizing topics during or before a meal is not appreciated by most people.
  • Unlike in some other parts of East Asia, it is considered bad manner to burp.
  • After finishing eating, try to place all your dishes in the same way as they were at the start of the meal. This includes replacing the lid of dishes which came with a lid and replacing your chopsticks on the chopstick holder or into their paper slip, if applicable.
    *Above information on chop sticks and table manners are taken from http://www.japan-guide.com/
    !!!!!!PUBLIC TOILETS!!!!

    Toilets are usually the same. But, sometimes you won't find toilet tissues.Therefore it is advised you bring a pack of tissues wherever you go. Hand dryers are not always provided too, so yea, bring tissues!! It shouldn't be too much of an issue though. This information is for "just-in-case".

    !!!!!!!GIVING GIFTS!!!!!!

    We're gonna be giving prezzies to our friends over there. So we need some info in the art of gift giving =P
    Avoid giving gifts with relation to the number four.
    The number four is considered inauspicious because it is pronounced the same as the word for death (shi). Therefore, one should not make presents that consist of four pieces, etc. In some hotels and hospitals the room number four is skipped.

    !!!!!!!!!GREETINGS!!!!!!!!!!


    Its not too difficult.If you are greeting someone superior to youm you gotta bow lower then he does. Usually they don't expect us to know this so like a nod of the head is enough. Hand shakes are uncommon unless they know your western tourists or so.

    OK LETS MOVE ON TO THE ITINERARY

    16TH NOV

    • WE VISIT KOBE EARTHQUAKE MUSEUM.

    This place is pretty coool. Theres a nice big theater which should show us really cool stuff about earthquakes, haha sounds so fun! Its really an education place ya? They'll educate us on like earthquakes and safety and related stuff..

    NARA PARK IS WHERE WE WILL GO.

    I'm not sure what we'll be doing there but I know what we can look forward to, DEER!!! LOTSA DEER!!! Hahaha


    SO CUTE



    DOTONBORI STREET

    Its pretty much a night place. Alot of neon lights. As in alot...Just lots of cool signs...
    Its a very tourist place. Shopping, entertainment, food, yaa...

    OUR NIGHT WILL BE SPENT AT BEST WESTERN JOYTEL

    This hotel has LAN access...Yippee for our laptop users. Also, extra beds are not available...

    17TH NOV

    ARASHIYAMA



    Its a fantastic place... Really great for photography. Scenery is spectacular especially this time of the year. The only shame is that we won't see cherry blossoms...I'm not sure if we'll see the bamboo groves, but they are certainly very pretty! Haha ok lah I don't spoil the excitement...May be quite packed around this time...This place is really old, and is almost totally made of wood! But you can see traces of concrete here and there these days.


    GION CORNER

    Thats were we will be in the night. Eh, hopefully we won't be doing the tea ceremony.. Coz that would take like a billion hours to complete... The itinerary says its "the" entertainment district, but Gion Corner is actually a preforming arts theater lol, song, dance, tea, yea...

    Sleeping will be done at Best Western...

    ok thats all for today!!!! MORE TOMORROW