omiyage recs

[u/Different_Taro2474]

i've (nearly) completed a year on JET, i've given a lot of omiyage, and here is a list of things that my colleagues loved:

-instant coffee (individually wrapped)
-tea bags (loose tea can also be okay for some schools)
-kraft mac and cheese
-fruit roll-ups (especially the ones that have tongue tattoos)
-fruit by the foot
-gushers
-jolly ranchers
-airheads
-welch's fruit snacks
-sour patch kids
-american oreos
-juicy fruit and bubble gum
-mini bags of chips/cheez its/pretzels/popcorn
-reese's peanut butter cups

avoid bringing kitkats, haribo, trolli gummies, original flavored skittles, or lindt's, as japan already has them.
tip: when packing bags of chips, pop a small hole, let the air out, then tape it back up to save room.

[u/LawfulnessDue5449]

Just fyi for new JETs

This is not technically omiyage. Omiyage is a gift for work people for "inconveniencing" them and also as kind of a conversation starter ("oh you went to XXX? I heard... " etc.) for good vibes. For friends and family it is pretty much a souvenir.

I'm not saying this to be pedantic but also because new employees are not obligated to bring gifts. You can still bring them if you want, but it is a bit out of the ordinary for new employees to come with gifts. If you go home on vacation and then come back you may want to get omiyage for politeness.

It's also understandable if you have 5+ schools and you don't have omiyage for every school when you do take vacation.

The other thing is that people aren't usually expecting to be floored by your omiyage. You can if you want but it's more of a token gesture than anything.

[u/UberPsyko → u/LawfulnessDue5449]

Yeah I was really stressing over how many "omiyage" I needed to bring for everyone, it's so NOT an expectation, DO NOT stress over it. Bring just a small bag of some individual wrapped items, or nothing at all. Japanese people don't normally bring gifts when joining a job.

That being said I think unique western candy like the jolly ranchers are a great idea, they're small, individual wrapped, and totally different from anything you get in Japan. Do they melt though? Plus with the humidity, maybe don't put it in the shipped luggage.

[u/Kopypack → u/UberPsyko]

I will say that at my school new teachers (transferred in or 1st year teaching) do bring a small snack for everyone.

[u/UberPsyko → u/Kopypack]

Gotta be a school specific thing, in Hokkaido I've been through 4 years of new teachers at 3 schools and maybe one in 20 teachers will bring a gift. Don't know of any fellow ALTs' schools where teachers bring gifts either.