The Procedures of Entering The House In Japan

THE PROCEDURES OF ENTERING THE HOUSE IN JAPAN

Hi guys, welcome back again on my blog. As usual, here I’ll discuss about Japan, especially about family life in Japan. Some times ago, I have told you about “The Procedures of Greeting In Japan”, so the parents of japanese people have taught their children from the age of a toddler to respect others that they know like greet them and the family factors are important in teaching their children with polite and kind things to children from childhood. Today, I’m going to tell you about “The Procedure of Entering The house In Japan”, it is related to the last topic.

Japanese people are clean and polite people . They have good habit. One of them is the procedure of entering a house. Same like others countries, they will greet before entering the house. And after thet they will do something that in others countries don’t do this. Do you know what is that? I’ll tell you how do they do to enter a house.

Here are some the procedures of entering a house in Japan:

1.    Greeting

The last topic, I have told you about greeting. One of greeting that they do is when we enter a house. Greeting is a way for someone to intentionally communicate awareness of the presence of others who are related to each other. The children in Japan have been taught by their parents to always say hello to people that they know and greet when they enter the house. So when before we enter a house in Japan, we must greet like bend and say something at the same time in front of the house. There are some expressions that we use before entering a house in Japan.  

a.    Tadaima (ただいま), it means “I Go Home” (the word that is said when returning to residence).

b.    Gomen kudasai (ご免ください), it means “Excuse Me” (used  when visiting other people's homes).

If you are a fan of Japanese cartoons (Anime), you will often hear some of the above expressions used in the story before entering a house by some characters like one of them is Nobita characters in the Doraemon cartoon. Although you hear in Bahasa language or other language but you know about how they enter the house. So we can use these expressions before entering a house.

2.    Take off Footwear

One of the procedures of entering a house in Japan is “take off footwear”. As like Indonesians, Japanese people also take off their shoes or sandals before entering the house. In Japanese house, there is “Genka”. Genka is terrace or small room in front of the entrance of the house. On the terrace or in this small room, they can take off their footwear before entering the house and make sure the shoes or sandals that they use are stacked facing out. But if there is sandals rack, they can put the sandals or shoes on the rack. This is done so that it is easier for them to want to come out later. If they use socks, make sure don't open them because it's more polite than without socks. So you have to know these things because for some tourists who come to Japan they often experience culture shock because they are not used to doing these things in their country.

3.    Wearing socks and sandals

Before entering the house of Japanese people must take off their shoes or sandals, after doing this they must wear special socks and sandals used in the house. So using socks and using different sandals when from outside and entering the house, this is done so that the house is clean because all activities are done on tatami and using socks in Japanese people's homes to look more polite than not using socks. Tatami is like a traditional Japanese made mat and usually made from woven straw. But they will change sandals if they enter a bathroom, and usually they will take off their sandals when they enter the bedroom.

            So those are some procedures of entering the house in Japan. Those are some of the things that Japanese families life do when entering a house. You have to know these things if You go to Japan or visit Japanese people’s house because for some tourists who come to Japan they often experience culture shock because they are not used to doing these things in their country.

If you want to know more about family life in Japan, keep reading on my blog.
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