Departments
甘え
AMA-KUDARI
The Japanese version of capitalism is characterized by close a cooperation between the private and public sectors.
This coziness sometimes creates opportunities for retiring government officials to take executive positions in private companies. The metaphor behind the term ama-kudari is the idea that newborn executives have “descended from the heavens” of government administration to the more earthly realm of private enterprise.
Ama-kudari can also refer to situation in which an executive from a first-tier Japanese company (like Honda or Mitsubishi) is given a top spot in an affiliate company or a supplier. This practice is particular common with the large Japanese keiretsu (系列).
相槌
AIZUCHI
“chiming in”
If you have ever observed two Japanese people engaged in a conversation, you probably noticed that as one person was talking, the other person was constantly interjecting short phrases. These short interjections may have been accompanied by nods.
One of the characteristics of the Japanese language is the aizuchi. Aizuchi are brief interjections that the listener uses to express interest in and/or comprehension of what the speaker is saying. Aizuchi are not considered to be rude, but are rather taken as a sign of active listening. The term aizuchi is based on a metaphor; the word originally referred to two blacksmiths striking a hot piece of metal with alternate hammers.
A conversation in Japanese includes many phrases such as naruhodo (“I see”), hai (“yes”) and Soo desu ka (“Is that so?). There is no prescribed frequency for using aizuchi, but they may appear every few seconds in a Japanese conversation.
Nonnative speakers of Japanese are sometimes perplexed by the aizuchi, especially if similar devices to not exist in their own native languages. Constant interjections like Soo desu ka? can make the nonnative speaker wonder if her Japanese is sufficiently understandable. On the other hand, the nonnative speaker who receives no aizuchi interjections may wonder why her listener isn’t “chiming in.”