#2 Concealing Their Identities

Ardent Japanese Scholars accustomed to Facebook may find themselves confused after accepting an invitation to join Japan's premier social networking site mixi.jp, puzzled over who is who amongst the Japanese people registered to their maimiku friend list.

That's because Japanese people frown upon using real names for accounts and likewise abstain from uploading pictures of themselves. Instead, Japanese people find it more suitable to upload pictures of their dogs or a favorite anime character to use as avatars.

This often leaves the hobby section of a Japanese person's social networking account as the ideal section to make positive identification. Unfortunately for Ardent Japanese Scholars, the problem is compounded by the fact that mixi has a preselected list of 24 hobbies for its users, which includes gourmet food, traveling, and driving.

In some cases, the only information available to identify a Japanese person may be gender or birthday (month and day only).

The wrong kind of Japanese scholar may ask himself, "Why do Japanese people bother joining social networking sites if they value their online privacy so highly?"

Despite their apprehension, Japanese people are fond of social networking site mixi.jp because it provides them with the opportunity to express themselves within a collective group using a range of 24 accepted hobbies. This avoids the risk of drawing too much attention to themselves and standing out -- something Japanese people don't like.

Social networking sites like mixi meet this condition. It's like having your gourmet cake and eating it too. That's something Japanese people love.

#1 Gourmet Food

Japan is famous for its fine cuisine. For years, white people have fawned over culinary delights such as makizushi (the rolled variant of sushi) along with sake bomb alcoholic drinks.

Japanese take great pride in this because it affirms their belief that Japanese cuisine is ichiban of the world, with the possible exception of France.

Food is a favorite topic of conversation amongst Japanese. If you wish to engage in meaningful conversation with a group of Japanese people, it is a good idea to discuss a fine eatery that you recently visited.

Ramen noodle restaurants make a good starting point.

Despite the fact that there is little variation amongst the menu of these restaurants, every Japanese person insists that he or she knows the best one and your anecdote will provide him or her with the perfect opportunity to segue into that story.

There is one point of caution that should be heeded, however.

If you wish to befriend a Japanese person, be certain to avoid topics such as fast food and McDonald's. Despite posting record profits and routinely creating drive-thru lines which extend into traffic, Japanese people steadfastly insist that they do not like nor consume the cheap unhealthy food which is offered by McDonald's and similar restaurants.

For more conversation ideas, watching Japanese television is highly recommended. Despite Western perceptions of ubiquitous anime broadcasts alongside crazy game show antics, the most common subject of Japanese television is gourmet food and where it can be acquired.

On any given channel at any given time, it's likely you will find an assemblage of Japanese tarento sampling gourmet foods. Typically there will be a dramatic pause as the camera focuses on the celebrity's face, at which point he or she will beam with culinary bliss and use a narrow range of vocabulary to describe his or her euphoria such as oishii, umai, or yawarakai.

Sometimes variations on these words will by formed by the stars of these programs to create ippatsu gyagu. Several Japanese stars have built profitable careers by eating food on television, such as Hidehiko Ishizuka.

Because it is the dream of Japanese people young and old to take a sabbatical from their 60 hour a week jobs to travel the world for the purpose of sampling authentic local gourmet foods, the travel variant of gourmet food shows also enjoy popularity amongst Japanese viewers. In these shows, the regular cast of tarento are taken overseas.

But it's vital that these trips be kept short. Should a Japanese person be kept from rice prepared with a rice cooker for over a week, they may experience severe symptoms of withdrawal.