Advice needed

Hi guys, please help me out. Below are my few questions that needed to be answer.

1) I will be visiting to Japan to visit one of my friend. We have met before when my friend is in my home country and vice versa. So this time I will be asked to visit the family of my friend. So as everyone knows, when visiting someone's house, we need to bring a gift to them. I am not sure what to buy...

2) When visiting a Japanese house, is there any etiquette that I should know?

3) What are things I should be avoid mentioning that might hurt the feeling of others? And what are topics that I can talk with the family members?

4) When meeting your Japanese friend at the train station or airport arrival hall.. what should you do when you saw them? Should you bow and say hi or you should hug first and leave the talking later?

5) I will be in Japan for about 10 days, and at the same time, I will be calling back to US (that's where I'm from). Can someone please tell me which kind of choices that I made will save some money? Is either I buy the data roaming from my Telco or I buy/rent a SIM card in Japan? Which options is more better and cheaper?

Thank you very much!

1) I will be visiting to Japan to visit one of my friend. We have met before when my friend is in my home country and vice versa. So this time I will be asked to visit the family of my friend. So as everyone knows, when visiting someone's house, we need to bring a gift to them. I am not sure what to buy...

Something from your own country, such as a consumable specialty that your area is noted for.
Sports apparel from your country, university tees, etc.
A picture book. Anything that lets them know more about where you come from.

2) When visiting a Japanese house, is there any etiquette that I should know?

Why don't you tell us about any etiquette that you already know, and we can work from there?


3) What are things I should be avoid mentioning that might hurt the feeling of others? And what are topics that I can talk with the family members?

What language do you expect to be using around them? I wouldn't worry too much if I wasn't fluent in Japanese.


4) When meeting your Japanese friend at the train station or airport arrival hall.. what should you do when you saw them? Should you bow and say hi or you should hug first and leave the talking later?

I wouldn't worry.


5) I will be in Japan for about 10 days, and at the same time, I will be calling back to US (that's where I'm from). Can someone please tell me which kind of choices that I made will save some money? Is either I buy the data roaming from my Telco or I buy/rent a SIM card in Japan? Which options is more better and cheaper?

SIM card (make sure your phone is unlocked), never roaming.

2) So far, I only knew that we need to take off our shoes before entering the house. This is the only thing I knew.

5) How much will it cost buying a SIM card in Japan?

4. NO hugging. A slight bow for her/his family, just Hi or Hello to him/her.
5. Do you REALLY need to call home? You're not going to disappear in mid-flight and you will be perfectly safe in Japan.
You will be so busy you won't have time.

Can someone please tell me which kind of choices that I made will save some money?

The cheapest is to get a data only sim and use google voice via the hangouts app for calling.

Is either I buy the data roaming from my Telco or I buy/rent a SIM card in Japan? Which options is more better and cheaper?

Data roaming is easier, but expensive. It is usually much cheaper to get the sim locally. Look at companies like global advance, econnect, and b-mobile to get an idea of data sim options.

3) What about topics that I should avoid mentioning when interacting with a japanese family?

Unless you speak native or perfect Japanese you shouldn't be starting a conversation.

Well, I can speak basic Japanese only.