Apologize for leaving 20 seconds early.
the ambulance "sorry gonna drive through.... please make way"
and at the end of the conference they will stand up and they will bow for cheating
they might even say "takaiichi kara sumimasen" sorry for serving this from a higher position
you know please accept me in a kind of way
Hey guys on Ask Japanese... it's Cathy cat, there is a thing if there's too much of it
it's not good anymore and that can be politeness
and apologies. There are some things that we love about Japan and their manners
and rules, however here are five shocking apologies that foreigners get surprised by
so let's find out what they are.
Japanese trains are incredibly reliable which is one of the things that we love
about them and they will apologize for the things that abroad are even
unthinkable of . Such as for example if the train is only one minute late
well maybe two... they will apologize for the train being late due to natural
disasters which they can't really change... and they will also apologize in case a
train leaves too early. Japanese people are very punctual, especially their
trains. You won't see this anywhere else in the world so on that note listen
out for the apologies when the train is delayed... also there might be now English
apologies on the train as well. So listen out for those when you come to Tokyo but
sometimes these apologies will even surprise the Japanese media. For example
2018 The Tsukuba express left 20 seconds early and they apologized for leaving
20 seconds early so even the Japanese media was a little bit puzzled about that one.
They said the staff didn't check the timetable accordingly... come on guys it's
just 20 seconds I'm glad that the train is there at all. I know that so many
trains just got cancelled randomly when I was in the UK and I didn't know how to
get to the airport so you know 20 seconds
I'm fine with that
Number Two...
one of the biggest shocks and surprises I got... was from the ambulance
Now I was on a car driving to the supermarket in one direction and first
of all you can hear the sirens. But then once the ambulance goes to the actual
crossing they will have a little microphone and they will actually speak
to the cars around them and say "We're gonna drive through please make way
...sorry sorry I'm gonna drive through please...
make way" so they apologize and tell everyone that they're actually going to
go over the traffic light ...on top of the sirens. Once they're over the
crossing and the red traffic lights as such they will then apologize and say
thank you. And then drive on and that's one thing that really surprised me
because it is such a matter-of-fact thing in Germany that when we hear the
sirens, even when they're miles away: we check where they are
for that purpose we're allowed to like drive even on the area ... the
pedestrian area similar things like to make way to save lives
and still in Japan with the sirens and people speaking ... sometimes people so do not make way
that surprises me as well but let's put that aside for a moment the
idea that they have a device to communicate with other cars apologizing
for them coming through, apologising for them crossing, apologizing for other people
having to make way for them... speaks a lot about the humble and politeness of
Japanese culture. I heard once when I was in a car with several people after they the
car went over the crossing and just kept driving on ...one of the persons in the car
complained that they didn't say "thank you"
and I was like .... that's such a different...
Noo!
A friend of mine in Germany was an
ambulance driver and they were wild, they were ruthless, they were doing the
craziest things to get people to the hospital a right and keep them there alive
so again different culture. That's another apology or probably for me
personally number 1 apology that surprises me in Japan.
Number 3 social scandals... now for example if an employee of a company gets
arrested for whatever... there will be a conference where the company will
apologize together with the employee, for what he has done.
That's like an official press conference and it gets even more extreme
if it's a celebrity
celebrities will have to do the same if they come into some kind of scandals
with the police, drugs, some criminal activities and they'll also have to do
that for cheating. So if some celebrity is caught cheating,
they have to do an official press conference and their lawyers will be there
and they'll generally wear the kind of suit and then they will like sit there and they ...
the lawyer of the celebrity or the manager of the celebrity will then do
most of the talking on behalf of the celebrity of what great crime they have
done ... or it might even be for example an idol who did not cheat but she had a
boyfriend. They are not supposed to have boyfriends are they? So a big apology and generally
the setup is always the same it's like they have to wear a suit and at the end
of the conference they will stand up and they will bow to 90 degree of really low
bow and hold that bow for a long time to apologize
You can sometimes even see that on YouTube... if a big youtuber has done
something bad meaning cheating ... with a lot of girls we had that (right Hajime?)
Simlar things they will do the same thing again. It might be even if they do other little
faux pas, because youtubers get the stick for little faux pas as well they
will then have to sit there in their suit and do a full apology speech and do
the bowing and everything... as well so again that's the kind of official formal
social scandal apologies that are happening here in Japan
Not like that into the media and apologizing to their fans it's interesting... is that
something like that that would happen in your country... Would the celebs do that?
Dress dress in a suit and apologize and bow for a long time?
Would they? Let us know.
Number 4 in the service industry such as restaurants or maybe
convenience store and similar, there are so many apologies there
The very first point you get is omatase shite sumimasen deshita.
Meaning I'm sorry for making you wait.
that's the very first thing that generally people will start
with if you come into a restaurant you sit down and the stuff comes straight to you
they will sometimes still say that even the smallest moment of you waiting
or the staff not being there straight away means they will apologize then.
If they knock something on the table they will apologize, if there's something not
on the menu they will apologize.... if the food comes later they will
again say sorry for having kept you waiting. So there's a lot of sorry sorry
sorry in that industry also for example... if you get change and the changes in
coins that's another thing where they will apologize for again, so it's again
the idea of the customer is not king but God so you have to speak to them in a
certain way which also comes to the point of ...sometimes an izakayas the staff
will kneel next to the chair....
I wanna show how that looks....
Sorry for keeping you wait! What is your order?
Sometimes the staff will kneel next to the chair meaning the
person sitting will be taller than them, so they look up to them again that's a
manner thing you might have seen that in Japan as well. Again the customer is not
King the customer is God so you have to look up to them when you take your
orders when when you take their orders and it's interesting if they serve
drinks and they don't serve them like this they will actually....
When they serve drinks from a higher angle than the customer they might even say...
Takai ichi kara sumimasen
Sorry for serving this from a higher position
so again
a lot of that politeness is there in the customer service industry making sure
the customer feels great about themselves.
If a member of staff
knocks over your drink, your soup or maybe your item on the counter they
would probably apologize in your country too,
however in Japan if their knock over
an item that is not related to you they will still apologize, meaning if you're at
the counter in a convini and an item that's just next to it they knock it over
they'll apologize to you or if they drop
an item in the kitchen...... afterwards you hear SUMIMASEN DESHITA
coming from the kitchen
That's not for the staff around, them maybe a little bit, but
generally it's actually for the customers for having scared the customers
Wow that's that's another big step isn't it? In apology level.
Sorry for entering the room
There are certain types of greetings we also apologize... for example
apologizing for entering the room. If you enter someone's house you might also say
"Gomen Kudasai!" again hey sorry for disturbing you.... loads and loads of
greetings in which you also put in a nuance of sorry for disturbing your
habits your life you work right now. And when you're leaving work you also say
"Osakini shitsurei shimasu" like I am sorry for leaving early
again it's a big thing
in Japan to protect the group harmony.
Loads of those gestures all go around
making the other people around you feel a little bit better about themselves and
again "sorry for leaving early" you know they're all working you kind of should
feel a little bit sorry for leaving early that's one of those greetings or
hey sorry for just barging in there even though you weren't barging in there.
All of these greetings are there to make everyone around you feel a little bit
better, and being nice and polite to each other.
I think there is one more point left...
Sorry!!!
"Gomen Kudasai!" for example
"Gomen" sorry the way you can use also for acceptance
"Kudasai" please so please accept me in a way of like you know please accept me
in a kind of way please and
"Ojyama shimasu" or "Jyama" sorry for disturbing as
is in that word as well
so whenever you're entering or leaving a room be sure to
be nice and polite and apologize "Shitsurei Shimashita!"
These were 5 apologies that surprise foreigners here in Japan
however if you master especially the
last one right, you'll do pretty well when you come here to Japan
it's better to be a little bit more polite than not be polite enough ....
director!
but especially the last one if you learn how to apologize right and properly in Japan
sometimes apologizing a little bit more than less is a good thing as well. If you
learn to apologize right you're definitely gonna do better in Japan
because that general sense of politeness is such a vital part of Japanese society
so get your sorries in gear, cuz you might need to use them when you work
here in Japan. On that note, I hope you enjoyed this video we've done more
content on Japan coming out from Japan to you ....
so director .....director sorry can you ....can you not ....can you please not ...
on that note I hope you enjoyed this video
don't forget to hit the subscribe button and the like for more stuff coming out
from Japan to you guys no matter where in the world you are. Thanks for amazing
so for your amazing support, over the last couple of month, when
many thanks were happening and I hope I'll catch you soon for a future video
with Ask Japanese. Thanks for tuning in bye!!!
What's on that picture??
Oh No please what are you doing nooooooo
you