I accidentally brought up a death anniversary at a dinner in Tokyo

I was at a work dinner in Tokyo last month with some local colleagues. We were talking about family traditions, and I mentioned how my grandma always makes a special meal on the anniversary of my grandpa's passing. I mean, it's just a normal thing for us to talk about. The table went completely quiet for like 30 seconds. My main colleague, Kenji, just said softly, 'We do not speak of such things during a meal, it is bad luck.' I felt my face get hot. I tried to apologize and change the subject to the food, but the mood was off for the rest of the night. I guess directly mentioning death, especially around food, is a huge taboo there. Has anyone else messed up by talking about a normal topic from their culture that turned out to be super off limits somewhere else?

2 comments

2 Comments

daniel55215d ago

Guess you learned the hard way not to order the dead guy special.

umaf4415d agoMost Upvoted

What even is the dead guy special, some kind of bad takeout? Or did someone actually order something named after a dead person?