appropriate gift to the japanese subsidiary

Hello

I am moving to the Japanese subsidiary of my company to work there during two years.

In the Japanese team there are about 15 people, all Japanese, and until now I had to deal mainly with three of them.
In that context, I was wondering what kind of gift should I bring to them, and if I had to give a gift for the whole team of for each individuals I will have to work with...

I was thinking of the first option: buying a liquor from my country (France), so as in the case they use it everyone could taste it, but I still could like to get confirmed by someone more advised.

Could you give me some advice?

Thanks in advance.

Max

No need to bring any gifts to your future colleagues.
If you stay in one of your colleague place until you find your apartment or accommodation, it will be nice bring a gift from your home country.

I'm always bringing nice chocolates, both for folks in the office and clients. You cannot go wrong with a box of godiva or something similar.

I would not bring alcohol. People never drink in the office and you may find your bottle sitting there forever. Like the one my colleague brought over 3 months ago, it just sits there untouched (I'm in a similar situation, the only non-JP person in an office of 20, moved to Tokyo few months ago).

Yes, definitely no liquor. Do bring something for those 3 individually. For the whole team, I would agree that a nice sized box of chocolate would be a good hajimemashite/ yoroshiku onegaishimasu gift. You can bring an aditional small box of macarons ( or something like that ) for each of those 3 colleagues.

The liquor will be a nice treat for your home party once you get to know some people here in Japan.

But for the office, I think that most companies now have strict rules forbidding alcohol during working hours (even for lunch, and even in foreign company branches).

You can open a box of dry sweets for your colleagues to take bites during work (not Godiva, cause they're Belgian!). Generally speaking, females are crazy for French sweets in cute designs, and males don't understand that but will appreciate your nice gestures.

Thanks a lot everybody.

I finally decided to bring some chocolate and macaron to the Japanese team, and some liquor to the french professor I worked with in Tokyo several years ago (this is an international team of students who make some parties and drink alcohol in the lab).

Minerva, are chocolate still ok after a flight? It is quite hot right now in Japan...

You packed them in your suitcase, I assume. They should be fine *fingers crossed* Hopefully you didn't choose truffles, they melt in an instant. Just make sure to store them inside a plastic bag ( to protect the wrapping/box from moisture ) inside the fruit/vegetable drawer of the fridge until the day you present them. If you are too suspicious of their condition, la maison du chocolat is available in Japan ( at least Tokyo ). Though, I think with the hellish weather these days, it would be understandable even if your box won't look perfect when it is opened.

Something else you can do to put your mind at ease is to check them by carefully opening the ribbon and the box, then slightly lifting the tissue paper and topping board to have a peek. If the pieces have white lines on them ( or appear cloudy ) then they melted once and won't taste good - otherwise, they should be fine. Put the wrappings back in their original position, close the box, retie the ribbon ( make sure you match the original creases ).

To be honest, my dad and brother both take chocolate on their business trips ( with long flights ) even to the hottest regions and so far never had a problem.

PS: Don't forget to put your macarons inside the fridge too! Normally the fresh ones don't last more than 12hrs outside of fridge if it is warm. That is something you want to note when giving them as well. The receivers can store them in the fridge until they leave the office.

Sorry for the double/long reply.

I never had a problem, both with something from the airport (carried in the cabin) or something in the checked luggage. As long as your travel does not include long periods in the heat, there's nothing to worry. I take chocolates everywhere - Singapore, China, Japan and this sometimes meant that the chocolates literally travelled the world when I did several countries during a 2 weeks long trip from Europe. After all, you go from one airconditioned space to another.