Generally speaking, we Aussies are polite. We know how to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. I can vouch for that; I spent some of my last holiday working in a very expensive London hotel. The guests were mostly American and always wealthy - some of them extremely so. And you know the thing most I remember about them? Unless they were famous, they seldom said ‘please’ or ‘thank you’. They demanded, rather than asked. Oddly, the famous ones were usually polite. Maybe their PR people had schooled them.
Anyway, we were a multi-national lot on the staff – Aussies, Kiwis, German, Irish, French – and it got on our nerves big-time. We longed to make snide comments, but had to restrain ourselves. One day, a distinguished-looking man bowled up to the desk. He addressed me in a polite voice, said ‘please’ and thanked me. And guess where he came from? Melbourne. I wanted to hug him – not because he was a fellow-Aussie, but because he was courteous. It made such a nice change. To most of us Aussies, manners come naturally - so, please remember them when you're travelling. And especially when you encounter poor, beleaguered hotel staff.
Photo by tkcrash123
But… there’s a sequel to this little story. London hotels are one thing; American hotels another. On my first stay at a Los Angeles hotel, I braced myself for the kind of rudeness I’d faced daily in London. Whoops! Everyone was polite, everyone smiled, everyone said even said ‘please’ and ‘thank you’! Which just goes to show you can’t generalise about nationalities and their manners.
But – yes, there’s another “but” – there are some countries in which certain manners really do matter. Things that are commonplace and inoffensive to us can be extremely offensive to their citizens.
Here are just a few of the many ways you might unwittingly offend on a visit to Japan:
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publicly blowing your nose into a hanky
standing your chopsticks upright in a bowl of rice
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pointing a foot at someone while you’re sitting on the floor
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wearing shorts on a visit to a temple
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giving anyone four of anything. Just DON’T, okay?
Fortunately for the rest of the world, most Japanese have such exquisite manners that they pretend not to notice the boorish behaviour of tourists. It’d be nice, though, to be able to visit their country without causing embarrassment or offence. So, if you’re about to book a
Japan flight
or hotel - be it in Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Osaka, or Yokohama or beyond - remember these words of wisdom!
Oh, you think I’m just a pedant, do you? In that case, you’d better begin doing a bit of research. Here’s somewhere to start: Rolf Potts Vagabonding.
Good luck. And thank you for reading this. Please come again.