Otsukaresama (お疲れ様): an expression that acknowledges another person’s effort. At work, it is also said to a colleague who leaves before others. It can be said to colleagues and to superiors.
Isshōkenmei (一生懸命): with all one’s might. It grew out of the older isshokenmei (一所懸命), which described a medieval warrior who staked his life on a single landholding.
Article 1, paragraph 2 of Japan’s Civil Code reads: Kenri no kōshi oyobi gimu no rikō wa, shingi ni shitagai seijitsu ni okonawanakereba naranai. Rights must be exercised and duties performed in good faith and with sincerity.
On September 18, 1984, Japan’s Supreme Court decided a case about a condominium unit. A dentist who wanted to buy it raised the question of its electrical capacity. The seller changed the design and built it that way. The buyer then did not sign.
The court held that the buyer had breached a duty of care under the principle of good faith at the preparatory stage of the contract. He had to pay the seller’s damages. Because of shared fault, the damages were cut by half.
Since April 1, 2021, Japanese law has given employers a doryoku gimu, a duty to make efforts, to secure work opportunities for employees up to age 70. The amendment to the Act on Stabilization of Employment of Elderly Persons requires employers to try to introduce one of several measures.
Article 248 of Japan’s Code of Criminal Procedure lets a prosecutor decide not to indict. The prosecutor weighs the offender’s character, age and circumstances, the gravity and circumstances of the crime, and “the situation after the offense.”
Defense lawyers advise that a settlement with the victim, jidan, with an apology and compensation, is the most important step toward a suspended sentence. It shows that the offender is remorseful and that the harm has been repaired.
The Shinsengumi, a band of swordsmen of the late Edo period, are remembered for their light blue coats and their red banner bearing a single character: 誠, makoto, sincerity. The character is said to stand for their loyalty to the shogunate and to the Aizu domain, which had taken them on.
The teacher Yoshida Shōin lived by a line from Mencius: Shisei ni shite ugokazaru mono wa, imada kore arazaru nari. There has never been anyone who was not moved by utmost sincerity.
When he was interrogated by the shogunate in Edo, he believed in this teaching and kept trying to persuade the senior councillors. He was sentenced to death.
Ninomiya Sontoku taught a way of life known as hōtoku, repaying virtue. It rests on four principles: shisei (utmost sincerity), kinrō (diligent work), bundo (living within one’s means) and suijō (putting the surplus to further use). Each person keeps to a life that fits his station and uses what is left over to expand production.
A Japanese person who goes to apologize in person often brings a kashi-ori, a box of sweets. A Japanese lifestyle guide calls this a custom unique to Japan, and notes the saying that “the weight of the sweets is the weight of the feeling.”
Very expensive sweets are avoided, because they can suggest an attempt to settle the matter with things. Another guide advises keeping the gift out of sight at first and handing it over only after the apology has been accepted.
Seishin seii (誠心誠意): with a true heart and sincerity. Doing something without lies or pretense, from the heart.