An American friend came to visit me over the weekend, and I drove to the train station to pick him up. Like me, he’d lived in Japan for quite a long time, and had unconsciously internalized the various customs all around him. He did what many Japanese do when visiting someone, bringing a gift (senbei crackers from his home prefecture), since going to see someone without a gift in hand is considered rude. When he gave the gift to me, I received it from him with both hands, inadvertently making a little bow of thanks, and this caused a few amused smiles by Japanese walking by, since seeing two gaijin doing a proper gift-handing isn’t something you see everyday. Later, we went up to the mountains for some relaxing onsen bathing and talked. We spoke English, but switched to Japanese when a certain nihongo word or phrase fit the situation better. This proved irresistible to the Japanese bathers around us, who cranked their ears to listen in on our interesting conversation.
When you hand someone a gift (or business card) in Japan, always use both hands.
