Like I’ve read a little bit about work culture in Japan. I have read that it’s custom in Japan to buy and bring back souvenirs for all your coworkers and Bosses when you were on vacation and I have questions about this.
Why do that? It’s takes extra money out of your travel budget and you have much more to transport back. I can understand if you do that for coworkers you regard as friends but all of them? Why is it even their business were you go on vacation and they aren’t really entitled to it? I really want to know more about this custom because it’s really surprising.
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I think it’s normal to just buy some sweets or similar which other colleagues can freely take as they please, rather than giving each colleague something individually.
It’s something to “apologize” for the meiwaku you caused by being away and not being able to perform your regular tasks.
Don’t overthink it, just buy some sweets / snacks that are famous from wherever you went and hand it out at work.
It’s usually a box of sweets/small cookies (not each).
It won’t take up much space (it’s literally a small box), and it won’t break your budget.
If you don’t want to, you don’t have to, but it’s seen as a nice thing to do. If you don’t want to share about your vacation, don’t.
I don’t partake in any of that, and I get by just doing my work.
It’s okay to be a foreigner in Japan.
If you don’t want to do it, it’s just fine. This culture exists but it’s not law.
Not souviners for all your coworkers. A souvinere box of snacks for your break room or whatever you have for all your coworkers to share. If you travel around Japan you’ll see lots of shops that have boxes of 12 or 18 sweets in a nice box with the place printed on them. You would buy one of those and put it out in the break room with a little note on it. 京都からです。よかったら、取ってください。and your name.
People get a chance to talk to you about your vacation and thank you for thinking of them. You’ll see others do the same thing, afterwards go up to them and thank them and ask them how their trip was.
Not for everyone just a small box of snacks for people to share. Also its not only a custom in japan, its common in some other countries as well
It’s not necessary. It’s more that it’s seen as the classy thing to do, particularly if you are having a good time on the trip. Some people on this thread have said that bringing some small snacks is a sort of apology for leaving work to others. I think it’s more like sharing a little bit of your good fortune.
I’m traveling for a family memorial right now. Before I left, I was gently reminded that nobody expects me to bring chocolates for the laboratory.
Oh goodness, get over it and just participate. Every station anywhere vaguely near a tourist destination will have shops selling these omiyage (souvenir) snack boxes. There’s almost always some option that works out to ¥100/unit or so if you’re budget-conscious. Buy something between a 6 pack and a 24 pack depending on the number of people you work with.
You get positive karma, you get to enjoy when coworkers bring something good (Hiroshima momiji manju 🤤), and it’s an easy ice breaker to reconnect with coworkers you might not otherwise deal with closely.
Yeah, I get the r/antiwork -esque instinct to see everything related to a job as an exploitative system of oppression, but little morale-boosting and community-building stuff like doing omiyage are a nice simple way to make your relationship with work and your coworkers a little better