Hi guys, I’ve worked in Japan for 4 years in various places, but this school year I moved to a smaller town up in northern Japan. Not quite rural, but it’s a decent sized town near a major city. I guess since I’m only one of two foreigners in the area, my name got around and today the town mayor’s staff reached out to to ask if I would meet with him next week.
It’s my first time meeting one-on-one with someone in such a position, and I wanted to ask for advice. I’m really interested in making a good impression – do ya’ll think it would be seen as brown-nosing to bring a gift? Would it be rude to not bring a gift? I don’t have any business cards, but should I get some?
Any advice would be appreciated, and thanks for reading!
Update: I had my meeting with him today, it went well! I ended up not bringing him a gift, as I didn’t want to deal with any bribery accusations, but that was not a problem at all. He warmly welcomed me to the town, and gave me a massive bag of bread from a local bakery as a welcome gift. He wanted to meet me, as he is relatively well-travelled and is interested in learning about other cultures – we had a nice chat and said he would try to greet me again in the future at future school events (apparently I teach one of his grandchildren). Overall, a new but exciting experience! 🙂
by GanbaAnbaa