Tatemae (建前): the principle one officially stands by. The outward view. A dictionary gives the example Ano hito wa tatemae to honne ga mattaku chigau, that person’s public stance and true feelings are completely different.
Honne (本音): one’s true thoughts or feelings, as opposed to what one says in public for the sake of harmony.
Deru kui wa utareru (出る杭は打たれる): the stake that sticks out gets hammered. A person who stands out or oversteps tends to be resented and criticized by others.
Chotto… (ちょっと…): a little… A sentence left unfinished, as in Sono hi wa chotto…, that day is a little…
A Japanese study of refusals calls such forms iisashi, sentences left unfinished. It explains that leaving the end of the sentence unsaid keeps one’s opinion from striking the other person directly. Among the unfinished forms in the study, chotto stood out as especially frequent.
Gyūho senjutsu, the ox-walk tactic, is a way for opposition members of the Diet to delay a vote. Members walk to the ballot box very slowly.
In June 1992, during the Diet debate on Japan’s part in United Nations peacekeeping, the opposition used it. According to The Christian Science Monitor, members took from 10 to 30 minutes each to walk about 20 feet to the ballot box. Voting on the first of five censure motions took eleven and a half hours. On June 9, the Socialists gave up the tactic.
Workers of Japan’s national railways, as public employees, were not allowed to strike. Their unions pressed their demands with junpō tōsō, a struggle by obeying the rules. Trains ran strictly by the regulations, and therefore slowly.
On March 13, 1973, about 5,000 passengers waiting at Ageo Station on the Takasaki Line in Saitama Prefecture rioted. They broke the windows of a driver’s cab and burst into the stationmaster’s office. Ninety-two people were injured, and seven were arrested.
On July 26, 1945, the United States, Britain and China issued the Potsdam Declaration, which called on Japan to surrender. At a press conference on July 28, Prime Minister Suzuki Kantarō said that the government would mokusatsu it. The Dōmei news agency probably translated the word as “ignore,” and the foreign press took it as “reject.”
The Soviet declaration of war treated the answer as Japan’s refusal. Whether Suzuki meant a refusal at all is disputed.
Natsume Sōseki’s novel Kusamakura (Grass Pillow) appeared in September 1906 in the magazine Shin Shōsetsu. It opens: Chi ni hatarakeba kado ga tatsu. Jō ni sao saseba nagasareru. Ikiji o tōseba kyūkutsu da. Tokaku ni hito no yo wa suminikui.
“Work by reason, and corners stick out. Pole along on feeling, and the current sweeps one away. Insist on one’s own will, and life grows cramped. In any case, the world of people is hard to live in.”
A taishoku daikō, a resignation agency, handles an employee’s resignation on the employee’s behalf. The largest in the industry is Momuri. Its operator, Albatross, was founded in February 2022.
In a survey by Tokyo Shoko Research in June 2025, 7.2 percent of companies said that a resignation agency had contacted them. Among large companies, the share was 15.7 percent.
In the 1620s, officials in Nagasaki began to make people step on fumie, Christian images, to prove that they were not Christians. Sources differ on the first year, 1626 or 1629. Some Christians stepped on the images and kept their faith in secret.
In 1865, hidden Christians of Urakami village confessed their faith. On February 24, 1873, the government removed the notice boards that banned Christianity. In 2018, the sites of the hidden Christians of the Nagasaki and Amakusa region became a World Heritage site.
Muzukashii desu ne (難しいですね): that is difficult. A common way to refuse a request politely without saying no.
Maemuki ni kentō shimasu (前向きに検討します): we will consider it positively. Sometimes used to avoid an immediate answer or to decline gently. It is not a promise.
Kekkō desu (結構です): that is fine. It can mean acceptance or refusal, depending on the situation.