Omiyage and Gift Giving

Omiyage is a souvenir or gift (usually food) that is given to your colleagues when you go on a vacation or come to work in a new office to let people know that you were thinking of them. It is a concept that baffled me a bit when I first got here, so let me tell you about what I've learned.

Since the omiyage gifts you bring when you first arrive will be slightly different from the gifts you give when you go on a holiday from work and return, I'll divide this post into two sections: the omiyage you bring when you first arrive, and the omiyage you give when you go on vacation later. If anything I write here doesn't make sense, please comment below or send an email to ycityjets@gmail.com.

The Omiyage you bring from your home country

It is a great idea to bring something from your home country for when you first arrive. Common ideas for omiyage when you first arrive include:

-Candies or other treats from your home country (preferably those that are individually wrapped)
-Instant coffee or tea that may be popular from your country or hometown. (English tea or Starbucks comes to mind).
-Any other local snacks or treats that are individually wrapped and can be handed out to a large number of people.

You will be able to give a small present to all the teachers at your school if you buy things like this.

You can also consider bringing larger souvenirs from your hometown, which you will be able to give as a special present to people you meet who you believe will be important for your new life in Japan. This may be a member of the Board of Education, like Inaba-sensei or the English teachers you'll be working with. These types of gifts can range anywhere from a box of candy, to magnets, postcards, calendars, to anything you might normally buy as a souvenir for someone.

The Omiyage you give when you go on vacation around Japan

This omiyage will be slightly different than that described above. Usually this omiyage is a sample of a local candy or snack from the area you visited. In Japan there is a huge industry centered around this, so if you travel anywhere in Japan (or to a country which Japanese people tend to visit, like Korea or Taiwan), there will be tons of shops dedicated to selling many different kinds of this omiyage, which celebrate the local famous snacks and candies (see the picture below).

These omiyage will generally come in boxes of 10-20 individually wrapped candies, cookies or crackers. A box of them will run about 1,000 - 1,500 yen. So if you decide to buy omiyage for your co-workers, it will c
ost about 3,000 yen or more, depending on the size of your school.

The up-side to buying omiyage for the people you work with is that people appreciate the gesture and they will think of you the next time they travel somewhere. It can also be a conversation starter and relationship builder between you and other members of your school. Japanese people realize that it is not part of western culture to do the "omiyage" thing, so they will be genuinely delighted if you decide to do it.

On the other hand, it can become quite expensive, especially if you are doing it every time you travel. So, you can be a little bit more discrete about the traveling you do, so you don't feel the pressure to buy omiyage. You can decide for yourself each time if the benefits outweigh the cost. But I like to remember that people are really delighted to be remembered and there are tons of benefits that come with giving omiyage. If you don't do it for all the members of your school, you can always just buy it for just the section you sit in, or the English teachers, or your friends who you don't work with.

Famous Omiyage to Buy Around Japan

Each area has it's most famous local omiyage, so people are able to tell where you went by the omiyage you bring back. Here is a small sample of these omiyage and the area they are associated with to give you an idea.

Tokyo Banana, TOKYO

This is a banana flavored treat with a soft, cake-like exterior and a sweet, pudding filling.

Tori-mon, FUKUOKA (Kyushu area)

This is like a breaded cookie with a sweet center.

Kamome-no-tamago, IWATE

This is a white chocolate covered soft-cookie with a sweet, candy center. They are very, very delicious. Buy some extra for yourself!

If this tradition is confusing to you at all, don't worry because you're not alone. When I first came to Japan I had no idea about this and I made the mistake of buying Pocky from a super market when I went to Tokyo. Pocky is something you can buy anywhere so it is pretty strange to give as a present to people. It's something that I look back on and laugh really hard about. So if you make some mistakes about this, just realize that it will become a funny story that you can laugh about later on.