Q.
What are 3 things Japanese people use cash for, other than purchasing goods?
A.
The answer is: Otoshidama, Okozukai and Wedding Gifts!
Otoshidama is the word for money that kids receive from their parents and relatives on New Year’s Day. This is a tradition every year, and sometimes even adults who are Sempai (mentor) will give money to other adults who are their Kohai (mentee).
Okozukai is an allowance that parents give to children, typically every month.
When you go to a Japanese wedding, make sure you bring clean and new cash in odd-number increments. Typically a gift of 30,000 is acceptable. It’s thought to be bad luck to bring cash that is bent, so go to the bank and ask for brand new cash!
At the end of the day, all three of these are gift-giving concepts.
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