Breakaway Destination Guides (International)

To the Japanese, gift wrapping, or origata, embodies the art of gentle concealment. The wrapping is almost as important as the gift itself Forget about the tired trick of curling the ribbon with the edge of a scissors blade. In Japan, to give a gift is to wrap one's heart.

The Japanese prize intricate wrappings, complex folded papers, and ornately knotted cording. The techniques that are used to produce these decorative results are grounded in ancient beliefs. For example, mizuhiki (dyed paper cords) are more than a device to hold paper together. Their symbolic function is to prevent any impurities from entering the package.

While many Japanese wrapping techniques are as intricate as origami (and require similarly complicated diagrams to puzzle through), others can be managed easily and it need not be expensive, either.

  Japanese Gift Wrapping: All About The Folding Arts

The Japanese look at a sheet of paper as 'the mirror of the soul'. They combine the elements of yin and yang - rustic and elegant, modern and ancient, the earthy and the sublime. The opening of the gift is as large a ritual as the wrapping. The Japanese use many intricate techniques, such as pleats, facing to the left to signify celebration, and incorporating hinges, flaps and different cuts to give a hint of what is inside.

  Breakaway offers a few suggestions on gift wrapping to get you started.

The Japanese love to give gifts. This habit is not practiced only on special occasions, but it's widely accepted as giri - a social duty and obligation. Gift-giving is an accepted practice encountered everyday, from taking a little something to a neighbour to receiving an extra radish from the greengrocer. If you give someone a gift, you can be sure to receive one in return. And, if you want a gift, you must give one first. it's a custom to give gifts periodically to people such as co-workers, bosses, relatives, teachers, friends, and so on. The giving of end of year gifts is called oseibo. Department stores display many types and sets of oseibo gifts from November to December. Most people have the store deliver the gifts.

For the Japanese, gift-giving at its finest is a token of appreciation, and at its worst, a competition. When you return a gift, yours must be better and more expensive. In turn, the gift you will receive will be better and more expensive than the one you gave. The value of the gifts increase successively. Although this may seem extreme, the notion of gift-giving is not alien to us. We have all given or received gifts. The Japanese just integrate it into a part of their day-to-day life. Because gift-giving is such an important social aspect of Japanese life, it's important to be aware of some key factors. These pointers will guide you to know how and when to give and receive gifts.

Japanese tend to feel much delighted by nature's beauty - and Japanese confectionary manufacturers keep on to this by providing sweets that allude to the seasons in outer appearance as well as in taste. For example, to celebrate the Morning Glory, a characteristic flower for July, the bag package's foil is printed with matte and glossy paints in different colours and the unsealed end, tied with a leaf decorated fastener, unfurls into a flower.

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