Do you greet to new neighbors when moving home now?

My last move was almost 3yrs ago and due to COVID I don’t really need to think about this.

So now I am going to move next month, will be living in house, I heard that people in general don’t do “moving greet” when they are in apartment/mansion, for those who moved to a house did you greet (gifting something?) to new neighbors?

16 comments
  1. Welcome to the neighborhood! In my experience, it’s always a nice gesture to greet your new neighbors when moving into a house. It doesn’t have to be anything big, even just bringing over some cookies or a small gift can go a long way in building a friendly relationship with your new community. Of course, the decision ultimately depends on your own priorities and personal preferences. Best of luck with your move!

  2. Never done it. But it depends if your personality is that of an introvert like me then dont bother. Otherwise if your friendly and want to be greeted/or greet people then go for it. For japanese people though that is the norm, you almost always need to greet the neighbors so really up to you

  3. 100%, everyone we share a wall/floor/ceiling with. Towel set, etc.

    Box of cookies and senbei for the maintenance center staff as well. First impressions matter.

  4. Yes, we greeted our neighbors on the left, right, and behind us when we moved into our house (no one in front of us on the other side of the street). Brought them a small gift, like a towel set.

  5. You can do a passive-aggressive meet and greet.

    Gather these items:
    Small but unique omiyage
    A picture of your family
    Handwritten note in Japanese and English

    Wrap everything in a nice box. Leave at their doostep. Ring doorbell or knock. Run away.

  6. People don’t do it as often as they once did, but it’ll be considered a nice gesture by most of your neighbors and it’ll be the rare person who is bothered by it.

    We when we moved in to an apartment, we left boxes of soba and a note for the other four occupants of our section of the building. We moved to a house at the end of a short dead-end street and left the same sort of thing on the doorsteps of all 7 of the other houses on the street but skipped the small apartment building on the corner farthest from us.

  7. We gave a 2KG bag of high quality rice to the neighbors on both sides of us when we moved in (mansion). Basically rang their doorbell, introduced ourselves as their new neighbors and presented them with the gift. My wife said giving rice was a common tradition.

  8. I usually just buy omiyage and give to the neighbors on my floor. Nothing fancy. Like pineapple cake or something.

  9. If you are or live with a woman I wouldn’t do it for safety reasons, and because your neighbors may be a bit more pushy. First impressions matter but so does your safety.

  10. When we moved to our house last year, apparently our housing office was supposed to give us a letter to hand to our neighbors, but due to covid they stopped it and just adviced us to say greet them whenever we see them.

  11. never done it and I don’t want to know how my neighbors looks. I saw maybe half of them once or twice…

  12. My wife wants us to…..when we were renting I was less enthusiastic, if they didn’t answer then that was the last of it…since buying tho, we persevered until we had met the immediate ones…guess it’s good neighbourlyness ![gif](emote|free_emotes_pack|shrug)

  13. As you mentioned, we wouldn’t do this when moving into an apartment usually.

    When moving into a house in a residential area, it’d be good to say hello, greet, and introduce yourself(just say, “I moved here recently. よろしくお願いします”) to neighbours. I don’t think it’s necessary to give small gifts. It depends on generations, in my opinion.
    In case your neighbours are old, give some towels to them.
    I guess something that aren’t eaten would be better(I mean, avoid foods as a gift).

  14. you dont have to do it if you rent the property especially in apartment buildings, but highly recommended if you bought the property and plan to live like 20-30 years there.

    for houses, the usual way is to greet the closest ones to you (recommended before you do the moving instead after), your left-right, the three in front of you and at least one whose house is right behind you, we usually say sth standard like “we are XX family and gonna move in from XX, we’re sorry on the day we move in we may be batabata/urusai, korekara yoroshiku etc” or add anything you like depend on the atmosphere of your neighbors, then in the end give the gifts.

    the gifts dont have to be fancy, better to be something they can use in the household and you can limit budget like 500 yen per house. some examples are like [this towel](https://item.rakuten.co.jp/tuhanpark/1001943/?variantId=2143&scid=af_pc_etc&sc2id=af_113_0_10001868&icm_agid=&icm_acid=255-776-8501&icm_cid=18637836868&gclid=CjwKCAjwl6OiBhA2EiwAuUwWZVzmdV3o9pyWUCR3RYttOblWlj_cnfSs6tIOZsiMGaq2U4Wu7-AtFRoCwGwQAvD_BwE&iasid=wem_icbs_) or this [wrap](https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%80%90%E5%8D%98%E5%93%81%E3%80%91-%E5%8C%85%E8%A3%85%E3%81%AA%E3%81%97-%E3%81%AE%E3%81%97%E4%BB%98%E3%81%8D-%E5%BC%95%E8%B6%8A%E3%81%97-%E3%82%B5%E3%83%A9%E3%83%B3%E3%83%A9%E3%83%83%E3%83%97%E3%83%90%E3%83%A9%E3%82%A8%E3%83%86%E3%82%A3%E3%82%AE%E3%83%95%E3%83%88/dp/B07S32JN2M/ref=asc_df_B07S32JN2M/?tag=jpgo-22&linkCode=df0&hvadid=529899557960&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17233717834339517714&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1009540&hvtargid=pla-1432955154473&psc=1). online ,there is even service where you can order the gifts along with the wrapping/seal name and paperbag so you dont have to do anything but to distribute them.

  15. If it’s “house” like you bought a house and going to be there for years you should do it, for positive image, especially if not city center

  16. When renting I’ve never given anything and have never received anything. I guess because it’s considered temporary.

    When I bought a house, I bought some standard omiyage-esque gift boxes for my immediate neighbors that I share a property line with. Some fancy jelly cup box set for the family with kids, and some otsumame set for the couple without.

Leave a Reply
You May Also Like