Puresento for you!

As many of you know, or have heard me complain, the Japanese are BIG on gift-giving, particularly when a person has been away from home or work for any length of time. They are expected to bring back a little something to give out as gifts to their co-workers and superiors. (Coincidentally, they are not big on giving actual presents when it comes to things like weddings.... cash is the standard. And we're talking a lot of cash, like $200 to $300 - even for someone you don't know that well.) Anyway, anytime someone goes on vacation, or actually, anytime anyone goes anywhere, even to a business conference in the next city, they are expected to bring back what is known as "omiyage" (Oh-me-ya-gay) in Japanese. This is usually translated into English somewhere along the lines of "souvineer," but sometimes the Japanese also say "puresento" (present) as it's the Japanese pronunciation of the English word (one of many, which I'm sure I'll delve more into later.) Since you're missing work or other obligations, this present is essentially given to make up for any trouble your absence might have caused others.

Those "left behind" know the Omiyage is coming, and they look forward to it. No, they expect it. They anticipate it. Especially with someone like me, who will be bringing omiyage from overseas because it is that much more exotic. (Unfortunately, I travel pretty often, so the omiyage costs add up, especially since I teach at a pretty big high school and there are about 80 teachers... )

The omiyage that is typically given in Japan is food (although it could really be any kind of souvineer like a keychain, pen, t-shirt, etc.) Usually it's a little cake of some sort that comes in a package with the name of the place visited written on it somewhere, and it will always be individually wrapped. Everything in Japan is individually wrapped, which is definitely a bit wasteful.... but perhaps more sanitary. My students were also very surprised to learn that most food in other countries is not invidually wrapped (take a box of cookies.... in Japan, each cookie would be wrapped separately.)

This week at school, I have been giving out my omiyage. I gave the two vice-principals (who sit with us teachers in the teachers room, not in some posh, secluded office like the principal does) a gift bag with Cherry Hut jam and cherry tea. I really do play up the cherry thing because I tell everyone that Michigan is famous for cherries, and, well... just about everyone loves cherries. Plus, it's never a bad idea to kiss up to the vice-principals a little bit.

The gifts for my supervisor were to compensate for the "mess" I left her to deal with. (To make a long story short, I lost my apartment key and so I e-mailed her on the day I was leaving the country and asked if I could get a new copy. She had to call my landlord and have someone go to my apartment to lock it, then she had to have a copy of my key made, and a few hours before I arrived back, she went to my apartment and hid the key outside my door.) I gave her a gift bag full of enough cherry-ness to make up for all her "trouble."

I gave the rest of the teachers a standard gift: Nature Valley Chewy Trail Mix bars. I needed to get something that wasn't chocolate, as it just would have melted in the August heat here... something I already learned from experience two years ago when I first came to Japan. I also wanted something fairly healthy as Japanese people think American treats are too sweet- and maybe they are. Now, I'm going to let you in on a little secret... I kind of cheated with my omiyage this time around. I didn't actually buy it in America. There are a few Costco stores in Japan, and there is a company that "shops" at Costco for you and delivers to your door. So really, my Omiyage did come from America.. just not with me. (Hey, I needed the extra suitcase space!)

I left a trail mix bar on each of the teachers' desks for them to find whenever they returned. (Since there are no classes this week, a lot of teachers don't come to school, or if they do, it's only for a few hours here and there.) They usually know right away that it is from me (the English writing is a dead give-away, since I'm about the only person who leaves Japan on vacation) and so they will come right up to thank me (sometimes they try in English, but usually it's in Japanese). My omiyage is a great conversation starter because some teachers will ask me about what it is ("Choco?"), or how my vacation was, or what "carbohydrates" are if they're trying to read the label. It's also good because these are not teachers I would normally talk to otherwise.

"Sank you very much for your puresento of America! Your suitcase was very heavy, ne?"