A few interesting ones I've encountered in educational settings:When opening my lessons, I now ask my students to do the greeting in Japanese on the advice of another veteran educator here. She said that, though many schools encourage children to call out "Stand up, attention, bow" it feels curiously different from the standard Japanese greeting. For a while now, I've asked my students to do the whole greeting in Japanese and properly bow. The lesson is conducted primarily in English. They are so much more focused.
In a martial arts dojo, I tried so hard to mind the traditional manners, greeting people with a bow and "Konnichi wa" or "Konban wa" on entering and people ignored me. I persisted, and at the first new year opening of the dojo training, I was regaled with greetings and could return the kindness. The attitude was that I'd gone the distance and was now a fixture. It was a surprising experience of becoming part of the in-group.
The classroom greeting and closing? Give it a go and tell us how the students respond!I'm also a stickler for doing it properly - ties and ribbons straight, proper posture, and a big "Onegaishimasu" to start and heartfelt "Arigato gozaimasu" to finish. But between the greetings, as much as possible, interaction in English.
A few interesting ones I've encountered in educational settings: When opening my lessons, I now ask my students to do the greeting in Japanese on the advice of another veteran educator here. She said that, though many schools encourage children to call out "Stand up, attention, bow" it feels curiously different from the standard Japanese greeting. For a while now, I've asked my students to do the whole greeting in Japanese and properly bow. The lesson is conducted primarily in English. They are so much more focused.
In a martial arts dojo, I tried so hard to mind the traditional manners, greeting people with a bow and "Konnichi wa" or "Konban wa" on entering and people ignored me. I persisted, and at the first new year opening of the dojo training, I was regaled with greetings and could return the kindness. The attitude was that I'd gone the distance and was now a fixture. It was a surprising experience of becoming part of the in-group.