Mizu ni nagasu (水に流す): to let it flow away in water. To treat past troubles as if they had never happened.
Ame futte ji katamaru (雨降って地固まる): after rain, the ground hardens. After a quarrel or a hardship, things are on firmer ground than before.
Uramikko nashi (恨みっこなし): no grudges on either side. Said before a result is known, as in dō iu kekka ni natte mo uramikko nashi ni shiyō, whatever the result, let us hold no grudges.
The film Shazai no ōsama (The Apology King) opened in Japan on September 28, 2013. Abe Sadao plays Kuroshima Yuzuru, who runs the Tokyo Apology Center and helps clients out of trouble by apologizing. In the end, he saves Japan with the ultimate apology, one that goes beyond dogeza, kneeling with the forehead to the ground.
The film was directed by Mizuta Nobuo from a screenplay by Kudō Kankurō. It earned 2.18 billion yen.
In Japanese baseball, a pitcher who hits a batter with a pitch takes off his cap to apologize. The newspaper Nikkan Gendai describes this as what is taken for granted in Japan.
In August 2024, after a brawl in a game of the Lotte Marines, the former star hitter Ochiai Hiromitsu spoke about it on television. The pitcher probably believed he had apologized, he said, but the apology had not reached the batter.
In Kikuchi Kan’s story Onshū no kanata ni (Beyond Love and Hate), published in 1919, Ichikurō kills his master. He repents, becomes the monk Ryōkai, and spends his life cutting a tunnel through rock. Jitsunosuke, the master’s son, finds him and comes for revenge. He agrees to wait until the tunnel is finished.
When the tunnel breaks through, the story ends: Futari wa soko ni subete o wasurete, kangeki no namida ni musebi-ōta no de atta. The two forgot everything there and wept together, overcome with emotion.
The story draws on the Ao no Dōmon tunnel at Yabakei in Ōita, which the monk Zenkai completed in 1763 with the help of hired stonecutters.
Kenka ryōseibai (喧嘩両成敗) means that both parties to a quarrel are punished. Article 8 of the Imagawa kana mokuroku, the law code of the Imagawa family of 1526, states: Kenka ni oyobu yakara, rihi o ronzezu, ryōhō tomo ni shizai ni okonau beki nari. Those who come to blows shall both be put to death, without regard to who was right.
A publication of the Shizuoka Prefectural Library notes that this was the first appearance of the rule in the law of a domain.
On August 15, 1995, the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the war, Prime Minister Murayama Tomiichi issued a statement as prime minister. He said that Japan, through colonial rule and aggression, had caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries, particularly in Asia. He expressed tsūsetsu na hansei, deep remorse, and kokoro kara no owabi, a heartfelt apology.
A Japanese law firm explains that after a traffic accident, the share of fault is decided by the objective facts of the accident. It does not change because one side apologized. The firm also notes that some insurance companies tell the driver at fault not to go to the victim to apologize.
For criminal cases in which the accused denies the charge, a lawyer advises an apology that does not go into the facts. It should focus on having caused the other person distress and on the trouble that arose.
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.
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.
A shimatsusho is a written apology and reflection on a mistake, submitted promptly after trouble occurs.
A tenmatsusho is a different document. It reports the full course of events. It is generally an internal document, usually addressed to supervisors or the management department, and is submitted after the matter is resolved.