I haven't had much exposure to Asian cultures with their reputation for mystery. I have certainly found that to be the case when analyzing Japanese companies. Beyond that I have almost zero exposure, but some friends of mine from Vietnam are changing that.
The first remarkable difference was their indifference to celebrating birthdays. In the US, it appears that our birthday celebrations are a focus on our specialness or uniqueness. It may be due to Christian heritage with a focus on Jesus's birthday. I don't know, but birthday cards, calls and gifts are a big deal. Apparently Vietnamese culture does not celebrate birthdays, but focuses instead on community events such as weddings and funerals. This seems to be representative of a deep difference in emphasis on the individual versus the group or collective.
The second remarkable difference is a different concern with cleanliness. When they arrive at my house, they take off their shoes (I have some Russian friends who do the same thing). This seems completely sensible to me as outdoor "stuff" is tracked through the house. But this code of cleanliness gets complicated when there is extensive backyard use. If I took off my shoes when I come in the front door, then when I go out the back door, I would either need to retrieve my shoes from the front to put on when I got to the back or buy two duplicate sets of shoes. It would also create a little clutter view with all my shoes on display the moment someone comes to the house. Not too pretty, but the cleanliness through the house is clearly higher. Another area in cleanliness was a surprise. They did not use my dishwasher because they "don't trust that dishwashers clean adequately." I had almost the opposite approach because the heat level is so high in a dishwasher.
