re: Common mistakes when traveling internationally?

Take a look at concept of "face" or mentsu in Japanese. In short, be mindful of your actions, tone etc in confrontation, situations that might give rise to confrontation.

And that can be hard to do abroad, when there's a huge language and tonal barrier. Easy to get stressed when people are staring and yapping in your direction, w/ no idea if they want to steal your wallet or talk about the NBA.

Read about it. Interesting cultural topic. In my experience, Asians as a whole are hypocritical in this notion of face. You'll see it go both ways I'm sure.