August 27, 2018　=========

☆  protocol  礼儀作法

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Protocol is a system of rules about the correct way to act in certain situations. Knowing the protocol for the situation you are in can really help avoid any misunderstandings, right? But what if you don’t know the protocol for the situation? For example, you’re working with foreigners or you’re living and working abroad, and you find yourself in a situation where there is a protocol you should follow, but you don’t know what that is.

For me, this happened when I had to attend a funeral in Japan, I had no idea what the protocol was. In fact, at that stage I had only ever been to one funeral in my whole life! So, I wasn’t really sure of the protocol in Australia, let alone Japan! However, the way I dealt with not knowing what to do was to stay quiet and observe what everyone else was doing. This was going well, until at the very end, I hugged the wife of my friend (her husband had died quite young) and she was little shocked but accepted my hug gratefully, thank goodness! Hugs are quite common in Australia at funerals, but not really part of protocol at Japanese funeral, I discovered!

Bye,

Chris