Japanese trains are among the world’s most punctual: their average delay is just 18 seconds.It is natural for Japanese to being on time.But in some countries, it is unnatural, because foreign people are careless about time.Sometimes things we do naturally are not natural for foreign people.So they have an image that Japanese people behave politely. “Richigi” means reliable or honest in English, and this word is suitable to mention Japanese mind.
While Japan has a lot of valuable culture like foods, architecture, festivals and so on, and they are rated worldwide, the thing to be most proud of is diligent and proper characteristics of Japanese people, and greeting way shows devoted personality of Japanese people in three ways: bow, gifts and letters.
The first example of that Japanese greeting way shows devoted personality is bow. Bow is an. unique action for Japanese people, and foreign people are not familiar with it. The history of bow goes back to the era in which there were samurai. One aspect of bow is its kind. Japanese people use bow properly by each situations. There are three kinds of bow, bow, shallow bow and salute. People show their feelings by using appropriate bow in particular situations. Bow has a lot of meaning like appreciation, request, congratulations and apology. Not only greeting, also to tell their feeling more is one of the meaning to bow. In addition, there are some manners in bow, and if we don’t know them, we are regarded as rude person. The important points of bow are mainly angle and time. When we bow more deeply, we are able to being accepted our enthusiasm. On the other hand, in case of shallow bow, it means informal. And also the time we are bowing is related to enthusiasm. We have seen people who bow while so long time to apologize on the TV in apology press conference. They try to prove their reflection through long time bow. So angle and time become factors to show good faith. To indicate respect, people bow in Japan.
Another example of that Japanese greeting way shows devoted personality is gift. Japanese people give gifts as sign of greeting. Main kinds of gifts for greeting are mid-year gift which another name is summer gifts, year-end gift and celebration gift. Not only words, but also objects become means of greeting for Japanese. People put meaning into gifts and send it. The advantage of gifts is that we can convey the feeling without seeing directly, in other words it is convenient to keep connection with people being far away. Mid- year gifts are suggested massage to wish for being healthy, so they are sent in early summer. In contrast, year-end gifts are sent in end of the year as it’s name suggests, so theses are massage to thank every thing in the year. Sometimes people send gifts to bless wonderful events, for example marriage, childbirth, move and so on. There is a trend which give attention to turning point of season or life in Japan. Japanese people also tend to think a great deal of connection with people helping their like relatives, superior and customers of work, teacher of lesson. Greeting by sending gifts is expression of Japanese soul, concern. Even here, we can see aspect that Japanese people are polite.
Another example of that Japanese greeting way shows devoted personality is letter. Now we have few opportunity to write letter, because most people have cellphones or smartphones and they enable people to send massage easily by e-mails or SNS. However letter have power to make people become heartwarming. Although sending letter comes to be old custom, it has been continued as one of the important ways of greeting from the past. Most popular greeting letter in Japan is new year’s card. This has a meaning of greeting for new year. Other example of letter are thank you letter or letter of sympathy. People send thank you letters in return for a present they received. Letter of sympathy is sent to worry about health when the season changes. There is the construction for writing letter, and mainly letter consists of three parts. At first, people introduce greeting using seasonal words. They often talk about temperatures or plants. Next main sentence is put. Then at last, conclusion is put. In conclusion, people write words for prayer and concluding marks. The ingenuity of introduction and conclusion exactly express ‘okuyukasisa’ , it means being refined in English. The roles of letter are confirmation of safety and update. Many people ask how body condition is. They concern health conditions especially in case of people who live far. And also they tell own information adding to greeting. Their information is exchanged by letter. We feel the number of sending letter is more than other countries because Japanese send letters almost every season. Therefore it can be said that they are faithful. Additionally we can be proud of theses practices as cultural value. For all of these reasons, we can say that Japanese greeting way reflects their spirits to be courteous.
Maybe many people imagine foods, clothes, manga or anime about Japanese culture, but most cultural and valuable thing is Japanese characters which are careful and decent, and also greeting way make it clear. Bow is Japanese individual greeting way, and foreign people judge it as expression of respect. Not only words, but also gifts are one of the approach to greet for Japanese people, and they are appearances of kindness. At last, letters also one of the means which have long history to greet, and a strong sense of duty is felt from the letter using seasonal salutations. Japanese beautiful soul is boast to the world and it should be protected forever as our cultural value.
