Departments
Intermediate Japanese - Free Online Course
MAJIME
真面目
sincerity
Sincerity is an especially valued commodity in Japan. When expressing gratitude or conveying an apology, it is especially important to speak and act as though your words come from the heart.
Japanese often make apologies and express thanks to each other with bows, deeply emotive tonality, and repetitions of the same words. To a Westerner, this can easily come across as melodramatic or even maudlin. On the other hand, the cool detachment that is so prized in the West is often interpreted as insincerity in Japan.
MANEKI-NEKO
招き猫
beckoning cat
A Chinese superstition states that when a cat rubs its face with its forepaws, the animal’s owner will soon receive a visitor. Visitors are exactly what shopkeepers and restaurant owners want. In Japan, maneki-neko statues can be seen in all sorts of business establishments. The statues are an attempt to take advantage of any truth in the old superstition.
A Japanese maneki-neko statue is usually a white porcelain image of a cat, with one forepaw raised. The cat may wear a medallion bearing the character fuku / 福, which means “good luck” or “prosperity.”
