Okay. Heads up people. Here are some things to remember whilst in Japan:

 

No 1: Don't forget to take off your shoes at the 'genkan' or entrance of someone's house. Also make sure that you put on a nice pair of clean socks before you go out of your house in the morning. Otherwise, get ready to be embarrased about the holes in your socks.

 

No 2: They use different shoes when you go in the toilet. Yep, so you take off the slippers you should have on in the house and you put on a different pair of shoes to go to the toilet. And yes, you will walk around the house for a while with the toilet slippers on until you realise that you forgot to change them. Don't feel bad. It happens to everyone.

 

No3: You shower before you get in the bath. If you are a guest, you will probably get to use the bath water first. Then all the other family members will use the same bath water. Now, before you say, "Ewwwww, gross" - you can't even imagine how good it is to get into a very deep Japanese bath in Winter. Magic.

 

No 4: If a Japanese person owns a house there should be their name written in Japanese out the front of the house in kanji. Pity that you probably can't read kanji - but the name plate still looks cool.

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No 5: If you do go to Japan in Winter, the toilet is usually heated. Ah, the joy of it all.
 

No 6: Like camping? No? Well, too bad. A lot of Japanese people still sleep on the floor on what are called 'futons'. There are cheap ones (which are highly uncomfortable) but the better ones (which most people own) actually aren't that bad. You will also see them hung outside to air during the day. Have some fun whacking them with the futon airer-thingey - go wild.

 

No 7: Get ready to take your shoes off to go on the tatami straw matting that is in some rooms in a Japanese house. Tatami mats smell nice when they are new but can be damaged by shoes.

 

No 8: Like lounging around on the floor? Japanese people do too. Which is why they made something called a 'kotatsu' (well that's what I'm guessing anyway). They've made a heated table which you can switch on in Winter and warm your toes. Sweet.