Find information about an interesting way of life around the world

1. Wearing shoes inside is not normal in Japan

There are often even separate toilet slippers. The idea of taking off your shoes before entering a house, restaurant, or hotel is to keep the dirt outside. After all, it is pretty tough to get the dirt out of a tatami mat.

There are usually special shoe areas at the entrance of buildings where people remove their outside shoes and put on slippers for indoors. Don’t go inside a Japanese home with shoes on; it is impolite.There are often even separate toilet slippers. The idea of taking off your shoes before entering a house, restaurant, or hotel is to keep the dirt outside. After all, it is pretty tough to get the dirt out of a tatami mat.

2. Use your hands to eat in India

For proper table etiquette, do use your hands to eat. I started out eating with spoon and knife, was corrected, practiced over a few meals, and finally after three days I could eat properly!

3. Hanji - Korea

Hanji literally means “the paper of Korea.” Traditionally it is made using fibres from the bark of a mulberry tree, a material known for its strength and resistance to decomposition – the reason why Korea has managed to preserve some of the oldest surviving printed materials in the world. Hanji is used in a variety of different crafts as well as modern art, for example Joung Young-ju’s collection The Living City which will be displayed at the Pontone Gallery in London until 5 July 2020.

4. Hula dancing - Hawaiian Hula

Hula has many roots, with various traditions offering different origins of the art – reflecting the beauty of the Hawaiian respect for multiple perspectives in a way that does not need to be mutually exclusive.

Two overarching styles of hula are hula kahiko (ancient hula) and hula ʻauana (modern hula). To simply categorize the two as old and new, however, minimizes the differences between the two and overlooks important distinctions.

Hula kahiko is traditionally performed as part of or as an extension of a ceremony, set to an oli (chant) and accompanied by percussion instruments. While many of the oli we hear along with hula kahiko are compositions from generations ago, there are also new oli and accompanying hula composed today. To call hula “ancient” improperly implies that the art is static. Rather, hula kahiko has strong roots in the past and continues to grow in modern Hawaiʻi.

Hula ʻauana is less formal hula, performed without ceremony. Around the turn of the 20th century, more new hula began to emerge in this less formal style. A story is told with the accompaniment of song and stringed instruments such as guitar, bass, steel guitar and ʻukulele.

5. Water Festival in Thailand

This is the biggest, longest and most fun festival in Thailand… and maybe the world! Songkran is a 3-day water fight that takes place throughout the whole country. Wild scenes of exuberance can be seen throughout the Kingdom, with music, dancing, drinking and people drenched from head to toe. Water guns, hose pipes, buckets – in fact, anything you can get your hands on can be used to splash people. One thing is for certain: you will get wet!