As a Chef, I have grown accustomed to a chorus of “Bless you” or some variation thereof, whenever I sneeze in the kitchen. Not that anyone who sneezes in the kitchen should not elicit such a response, but when the Chef sneezes, everyone responds.

Not in Japan. Custom has it that sneezing is not an event that is cause for any response from neighbors, except perhaps to get out of the way, and like driving on the left, the dead silence takes some getting used to!