Today’s lecture is Japanese cultures and Japanese tax. I will talk about manners for Wedding and funeral in Japan.

In Japan, when you are invited for the wedding ceremony, you should bring money gift for the couple. The amount depends on your relationship with the couple.
For example, when the couple are my friends, I usually bring 30,000 yen and give at the reception of the wedding. For my family, I give more.

The important points are as follows:
 Choose odd number
 Use new bills

Please pay by odd number, such as 10,000 yen, 30,000 yen and 50,000 yen. Odd number cannot be divided, so the couple will not separat.
You can get new bills at banks if you do not have in your wallet.

When you attend the funeral, you also give condolence money. When you pay condolence money, you need to watch out for the following two points.

 Avoid the numbers, such as 4 or 9
 Do not use new bills

4 is pronounced as Shi, which means “death” in Japanese. 9 implies “Sufferings” in Japanese. Also, using new bills means that you were expecting the death, so please bring used bills for condolence money.

Do we have to pay tax for money gift for wedding and condolence money?

In principle, we need to pay tax for all kind of money we received. However, money gift for wedding and condolence money for funeral are the very common practice in Japanese culture.
If the amount is not exceeding ordinary amount, we are exempted from tax.