Welcome to Forum Spotlight! Here we’ll be introducing interesting and useful posts made by members at our very own JapanesePod101.com Forum. This week’s forum spotlight post is by mtpiper, who asked about an appropriate wedding gift for a Japanese couple. This question was answered by both gerald_ford and hatch_jp, who had some great ideas to share! If someone you know is getting married, this would be a great post to read for some ideas!

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Asking for advice
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We have a friend in Japan that is getting married. We can’t travel to Japan to attend the wedding, but want to send a gift. Sending cash in the mail is out of the question.
What would be an appropriate gift to send? Something representative of our home country, or something traditionally Japanese?
Thanks for any advice!

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Suggestions
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(From gerald_ford)
Good question. I think Japan is actually quite a bit like the US in terms of gifts: home kitchen items are a great idea. Money, like you said, wouldn’t work, but plates, chinaware, and such certainly would. That’s what we got when my wife and I married from Japanese friends. If you were to get an appliance though from the US, that would not work due to voltage differences and such, so stick with traditional kitchen items or lines.

(From hatch_jp)
According to the following site;
https://www.mitsukoshi.co.jp/spcl/wedding/feature/05/

#1 table ware
#2 kitchen utensil
#3 glass for liquor
#4 interior goods
#5 appliance
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Thank you gerald_ford and hatch_jp for those helpful suggestions!

You can find a lot more useful information like this at the JapanesePod101.com Forum, so stop by and join in the many discussions with fellow listeners and the JPOD101 crew!