Visiting someone in Japan? Remember the Omiyage

The word お土産 omiyage literally means gift, souvenir or souvenir. These small souvenirs or gifts are very important in Japanese culture and can be seen in thousands of shops in tourist attractions across the country. As in everyone else, these gifts are usually given on special dates or to return a favor, as a symbol of closeness and affection.

Omiyage are gifts that can be given on any occasion you wish, to friends, co-workers, relatives, etc. However, there are occasions when it is really necessary to bring an omiyage, especially if you are visiting someone's home.

Omiyage is not a simple souvenir, when you are visiting a person it is more than an obligation to bring an omiyage. Giving gifts is part of an ancient samurai tradition called Giri (義理), which can be translated as 'social obligation'.

Omiyage

Índice de Conteúdo

Types of Omiyage

There are several different occasions and types of omiyage that we can take. Let's see details of each one below:

Omiyage (お土産) – The main tradition is to bring memories of a trip to our relatives, friends and co-workers. Most of the time, a souvenir of the place we visited.

Souvenir – Whenever we go to visit someone, it is necessary to bring a gift. Most of the time it can be food, candy, fruits and other edibles that you already find on sale as gifts. If you are going to visit a friend who lives far away, you can bring something from the region where you live. There are no specific rules, you can take whatever you think is best as a gift.

Sashi-ire (差し入れ) - Offering or gift You can give an inventive gift to a friend who is going to perform a task or request for you. It can be food, tea, candy, etc. After your friend performs your task or favor, you can say thank you with another gift which is called a Gawari Meishi (替わり名刺).

Get well soon – You can bring gifts to a friend at the hospital. It can be magazines, books and especially flowers, but be careful not to give a flower that represents death like lilies and camellias.

There are other occasions you can gift someone like New Year's, Valentine's Day, birthdays, when the person retires or changes jobs, or when a new neighbor moves into the neighborhood or a friend moves away. Gifts range from food to money in envelopes.

Whiteday2

How to give the best gift?

Of course, you must know the person well and know what they will like, but most people like food. Candy and consumables are the most common and cheapest omiyage. To give the best gift you must remember that the appearance of the gift is just as important as the gift itself. Japan is very fond of personalizing and embellishing things, so the candy box or the packaging it is wrapped in should be considered important.

If you're going to travel to Japan, bring souvenirs from your country instead of buying something local. You can also take branded things. If you live in Japan and are going to visit another region, you can bring something typical of that region. For example, in Kyoto green tea is quite popular, you can bring something that has something to do with green tea. In Okinawa we have sweet potato, Hiroshima lemon and Hokkaido Cheese and milk. It will be easy to find a gift if you are visiting a tourist spot, the hard part will be choosing.

If you can't afford it, you can take a postcard with a stamp from a place you've visited.

Stamp2

It doesn't matter if you are in an airport, in a small town, in a train station, temple, shrine, castle, park, building, garden or anywhere else in Japan. You will always have the opportunity to find omiyage to buy. Whenever you travel, don't forget to buy your souvenir.

Read more articles from our website

Thanks for reading! But we would be happy if you take a look at other articles below:

Read our most popular articles:

Do you know this anime?