We will be staying with some Japanese friends during an upcoming trip to Japan. Coincidentally, we are sending an American "care package" to them a few weeks in advance (we'll take an additional host/hostess gift when we actually travel).

We have a care package gift for the gentleman of the home (some American coffee he likes), but don't know what to get his wife who has been very kind to us. Can anyone suggest something that would be traditional and/or likely to be enjoyed?

Also, can anyone suggest gifts to take when we actually do visit their home?

Thank you in advance for any suggestions. We like the family a great deal, but sadly we are completely uninformed about what Japanese families traditionally do in these situations.

dcman2

I hear college and local sports team sweatshirts/t-shirts/hats are popular gifts- I guess being something authentically "American" with English on it. Also gift boxes of American food- chocolate, for example- maybe Ghirardelli?

Anything that's unique to your home city--perhaps some candy that is manufactured there or a coffee table book showing photos of your city or state or even the entire country--is appreciated.

When Japanese people go traveling within their country, they bring back presents of prepared or preserved foods or local traditional handicrafts for their friends and family back home, so the American equivalent is always appreciated.

Last year, a local candy company put out gift packs of its signature products to celebrate its 100th anniversary. They were widely available in upscale supermarkets. I bought two such packs and gave them to my longest-standing customers. They not only enjoyed the candy but also liked the slightly old-fashioned packaging.

For the adults - Some elegantly wrapped, authentically artisanal foods that are produced in your region. Failing that, some generic American delicacies in the sophisticated packaging of an upmarket NYC store.

For the kids - Sports / Pops / Movie stuff. Matsui for a boy. Mylie Cyrus for a girl. Or vice versa. I don't know.

Thank you for your replies - the theme is obviously to go with local products, we have lots of options for t-shirts, some food products, etc. I appreciated everyone's help.

dcman2

Younger boys don't know Matsui. He left Tokyo in 2003.

No T-Shirts. Japanese people are 5% as enthusiastic about them as Americans.
I would prefer something from your local chocolatier. Do you know about Japanese Valentine? We have special feeling about good chocolates.

Ya think? I know a Japanese boya who was thrilled with DiceK sox cap and Matsui Yankee shirt.

How about something from the Little League Hall of Fame? I live close to it, and the Japanese team wins nearly every year.

Sounds pretty cool ... if the family has a boy (or a girl who likes baseball). Are you near Cooperstown? I went there once.

I'm near Williamsport PA- my father would take me to games every year - the Japanese fans and parents of players come in droves every year. I always thought it was wild ESPN internationally broadcasted games from this little playing field (in comparison to major league stadiums) that we drove by nearly daily.

Awesome.

In the UK we are convinced that "the Japanese" are nuts about our popular culture and music, particularly some of our more obscure indie bands.

In Spain we are often assured that "the Japanese" are nuts about flamenco as people in Japan with interest in this dance form and academies where it is taught are reported to be the highest numbers outside of Spain.
http://elpais.com/diario/2011/09/13/...37_850215.html (in Spanish)

People in Switzerland must be convinced that "the Japanese" are nuts about running barefoot in mountain meadows (there are 'desire lines' undulating around mountain paths in the Alps eroded by countless Japanese tour group members living out their Heidi fantasies http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1562770.stm ) and I'd bet good money that the art of yodelling is being pursued by more people in Japan than anywhere else outside of the European Alpine countries or Canada and if that's the case, "the Japanese" are nuts about Yodeling.

"The Japanese" are nuts about ballet - even the Prix de Lausanne is shown on National TV
"The Japanese" are nuts about Ballroom dancing - there are at least 150 competitions a year held in Japan
"The Japanese" are nuts about Hawaiian Hula - http://www.aroundhawaii.com/entertai...taggering.html

I'm well aware that "the Japanese" are nuts about Baseball but so far, the amount of Japanese people I've met and count as acquaintances or friends who actually like and care about baseball is minimal. Golf, yes, F1 yes, soccer yes, baseball not so much. But it's a chance thing, if I'd married a different man and met different people I might have tapped into the Japanese baseball phenomenon. Do you already know that the kids in 'your' Japanese family are actually into baseball or is it an assumption?

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Isn't there a famous PA equivalent of North Carolina's Caroline's seven layer caramel cake?
http://www.carolinescakes.com/ (nice thing with a gift like this is that you can include a link to a video showing why it's a sought after speciality http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50QIcI31ngU )
More of "the Japanese" are nuts about good cakes, quality candy, exceptional cookies and fine patisserie (and any other top of the range foodstuff, doesn't have to be sweet) than anything else I can think of.

LapLap, in contrast to the niche interests that you listed (which may well gather a small but very devoted following in Japan), baseball is thoroughly mainstream. The fact that you don't have any baseball fans among your friends is actually a little surprising to me, but it may that there is some "selection bias" in your sample. Nonetheless, even among a crowd of non-sporty people, figures like Matsui and Ichiro are known cultural icons in a way that the world champion of yodelling or flamenco dancing simply isn't. So even if a kid isn't a passionate baseball fanatic, he's still likely to appreciate a baseball cap from America. I think you underestimate the cultural resonance that baseball has in Japan.

I imagine that it's similar to football/soccer in the UK or Spain... No?

A few years ago a friend of mine, having spoken to a work colleague whose son was genuinely nuts about Formula One racing, arranged for this son and a young companion to visit the HQ and factory and get the sort of access only a high ranking corporate sponsor or someone winning a competition might enjoy.
Instead of making this little boy's dreams come true, as the mother had imagined, the kid was devastated on arrival to find this wasn't his team's factory.
Whether he looks back now at this opportunity and regrets his stupidity or still harbours resentment towards his mother for getting it wrong I will never likely know.

I do know that West Ham football memorabilia has never gone down well (or ever been requested) by my soccer mad family members in Spain. But this just means that I don't understand the mindset of baseball fans in Japan... Which is natural as I don't know any (I do periodically ask as attending a baseball game with someone who actually enjoys it remains high on my own bucket list, the enquiry always provokes an intake of breath and chin scratching and the 'it's difficult' apology, genuine fans keep remaining resolutely outside my social circles. Getting to see the Northern lights - twice now - was easier)

Actually, I would say not at all.
I think people call football "the beautiful game" with some sense of irony - It really ought to be a beautiful game but the fans are partisan and passionate about their teams - and contemptuous of the sport - in a tribal way that can turn non-fans right off. It gets ugly fast.
I'm not saying that baseball fans aren't passionate about their teams. I know well enough how Red Sox fans view the Yankees. But the sport of baseball - both in Japan and America - has somehow taken on a cultural status that transcends team pride. In America, the sport itself is called as "the national pastime" (without irony) and in Japan, events like the high school baseball championship appear to serve as part of the cohesive fabric of society.
Really. Not the same at all.

Oh ... And the kid at the F1 factory sounds like a ****ing ingrate.