Ongaeshi (恩返し): returning a favor received, as in sewa ni natta hito ni ongaeshi suru, to repay someone who has looked after one.
Giri (義理): what one must do for others, or return to them, because of one’s position or as a moral duty in social life. An encyclopedia notes that always returning gifts given at weddings, funerals and other ceremonies is also called girigatai, being true to one’s obligations.
On o ada de kaesu (恩を仇で返す): to repay a favor with harm.
A family that receives kōden, condolence money, at a funeral sends a return gift, the kōden gaeshi, later. The usual rule is hangaeshi, half return: the gift is worth about half of the money received. The Mitsukoshi department store notes that many people return between a third and a half.
On White Day, March 14, gifts go back to those who gave gifts on Valentine’s Day. Its origin is disputed. The confectioner Ishimura Manseidō says that the day began with its Marshmallow Day campaign on March 14, 1978.
The national candy makers’ association says that it set up the day at its general meeting in 1978 as a day for giving candy, and held the first one in 1980. Both claims still stand side by side.
Under furusato nōzei, the hometown tax donation system, municipalities send return gifts to donors. A revision of the Local Tax Act set up a designation system from June 1, 2019.
A designated municipality must keep the value of its return gifts at 30 percent of the donation or less. The gifts must also be local products.
At a Japanese inn, a guest may give the nakai, the attendant who serves the room, a kokorozuke, a token of thanks in money. An etiquette guide advises wrapping it in a white envelope or folded paper, and gives about 10 percent of the total bill as a guide.
A personal finance site notes that, in Japan today, it is not a rule that must be followed.
On January 26, 1998, officials of the Ministry of Finance were arrested for accepting bribes in the form of excessive entertainment from banks. Finance Minister Mitsuzuka Hiroshi resigned on January 28. Administrative Vice-Minister Komura Takeshi resigned the next day.
The ministry disciplined 112 officials. The National Public Service Ethics Act was passed in August 1999 and took full effect in April 2000.
In October 2014, Justice Minister Matsushima Midori faced questions about the uchiwa, round paper fans, she had handed out in her electoral district. The Public Offices Election Act forbids politicians to make donations to people in their district. The question was whether the fans counted as goods.
An opposition member filed a complaint with the Tokyo prosecutors. She resigned on October 20, 2014.
Ruth Benedict’s The Chrysanthemum and the Sword appeared in 1946. A Japanese translation followed in 1948. The book analyzes Japan through the words on and giri. In the Japanese edition, chapter 6 is titled “Repaying one ten-thousandth of on.” Chapter 7 is titled “Nothing is as hard as giri.”
A Japanese encyclopedia sums up her view of on as a burden and a debt that a person must carry with all their strength.
In Shirakawa-gō, the thatched roofs of the gasshō-zukuri farmhouses are re-thatched completely through yui, a system of mutual aid. Everyone in the community takes part, from the old to the young. Shirakawa-gō was registered as a World Heritage site in 1995.
In some regions, an encyclopedia notes, unpaid help with rice planting or roof thatching is itself called giri.
According to the National Tax Agency’s survey of company tax returns for fiscal 2024, Japanese companies spent 4.4139 trillion yen on kōsaihi tō, entertainment and similar expenses. This was 229.8 billion yen, or 5.5 percent, more than the year before. It was the third increase in a row.