How much adaption to the cultural habits (e.g. bowing deeply) would you recommend for foreigners in Japan?
While the cultural differences in day-to-day life do exist and might feel exotic for a foreigner, we should not be concerned about them. The Japanese culture, built on harmony, is very forgiving towards foreigners regarding their customs and traditions. More importantly, the foreigner should show interest in the Japanese culture and a willingness to learn and to adapt to the local customs (e.g. to bow). Should the bow be not quite alright, the foreigner is graciously forgiven. There are lots of customs which differ from the Western culture, such as entering a bath tub (clean body, no soap), cleaning your nose (not in public), entering somebody’s home (shoes off), the use of “Yes” and “No” (“Yes” does not confirm agreement but rather means “Yes, I understand”) and so on. A first time visitor should not get too nervous about these differences in customs. Japanese people are generally rather interested in learning from different cultures and will be very helpful in showing you how things
