The Tokyo circle · Japan
Tokyo
Institut Solène reads Tokyo as the room actually asks it. Tokyo runs on the exchange of cards, on composure in a tea room, and on a seating order that tells you how the room has been arranged around you.
Editorial image. It illustrates the setting, not a member’s house.
Cards, composure, and the seat of honour
Meishi
Tokyo runs on the exchange of cards. A meishi is given and received with both hands, at the opening of a meeting, held lower than the other person's and read before it is put away. It is never written on, never folded into a pocket, and never put away while somebody is still speaking to you about theirs.
Chado composure
In a tea room, composure matters more than correctness. Admire the alcove, sit where the host indicates, and never enter ahead of a senior guest. The bowl is turned before drinking and the last sip is audible on purpose; the silence between movements is part of the hospitality rather than a gap in it.
Kamiza and shimoza
Seating follows kamiza, the seat of honour — usually furthest from the door and nearest the alcove — and shimoza, its opposite, where the most junior guest or the host sits. Know which door you entered by, and who was placed nearest the alcove; that single fact tells you how the room has been arranged around you.
The limits of giving
Gifts are given at the right season, wrapped properly, and returned in kind without fuss. A present that is too large puts the recipient in debt, which is the opposite of courtesy; a present that is modest and useful — something eaten, something for the desk — does not. Cash belongs in the envelope, and only on the occasions that have one.
Common practice, with regional variation. Never law.
The three voices nearest this city
In one paragraph, for the record
The Tokyo circle of Institut Solène describes a city that runs on the exchange of cards: meishi given and received with both hands, composure in the tea room, kamiza and shimoza seating, and knowing which door you entered by. Common practice, with variation, never law.