A game of shogi ends when one player admits defeat. The player who judges the game lost says Makemashita, “I have lost,” and bows. This is called tōryō, resigning. The opponent answers Arigatō gozaimashita, “Thank you.” A guide to Japanese culture notes that the winner does not celebrate.
How Is Your Wife’s Illness?
Tanaka Kakuei was known for remembering people. A Bunshun article says that he remembered not only faces and names, but also family matters that he had heard about once. To a young official, the article says, he would call out: Yō, ○○-kun, okusan no byōki wa dō da. “Hey there, how is your wife’s illness?”
New Year Rounds
Nenshi mawari is the first greeting visit of the new year to business partners. A business etiquette guide advises finishing the rounds by January 15, the Little New Year. Visitors often bring towels, a box of sweets, or coffee or tea. The gift brought on this visit is called onenga.
An accounting guide notes that some companies hand out towels at the start of the year to clients they have long dealt with. It also mentions New Year hand towels and calendars.
Kyoto Compliments
Okosan, piano jōzu ni naraharimashita nā (お子さん、ピアノ上手にならはりましたなぁ): your child has become good at the piano. In Kyoto, this is said to be a neighbor’s way of asking for the playing to stop.
Hiroi ouchi de sodachihatta n ya nē (広いお家で育ちはったんやねぇ): you must have grown up in a big house. Said to mean that a voice is too loud.
The news site J-CAST gave both examples in 2025.
Delayed Responses
A study published in 2016 in a bulletin of Hiroshima University examined how speakers reach agreement in discussion. When native speakers of Japanese gave a negative response, they used demo or kedo, but, only once, and almost no other connecting words. They often delayed their responses instead. The study suggests that they delayed in order to prompt the other person to adjust their opinion.
In one example from the study, a native speaker softens a rejection with nanka, a filler, and a pause, and then proposes an alternative instead of stating the disagreement.
The Vocabulary of Settlement
Otoshidokoro (落としどころ): the place to let it drop. A dictionary defines it as the point of compromise in a dispute or discussion, a settlement that both sides accept.
Suimenka (水面下): below the surface of the water. A place that does not show on the surface, as in suimenka de kōshō ga susumu, negotiations proceed below the surface.
Each Loses One Ryō
In a well-known tale, a man finds three ryō and brings the money to its owner. The owner refuses it. Money that he has lost, he says, is no longer his. Neither man will keep it. The magistrate Ōoka Echizen adds one ryō of his own and gives each man two. Each of the three loses one ryō.
The tale is called sanpō ichiryō zon, three sides each lose one ryō. It is one of the Ōoka sabaki, the judgments of Ōoka, and it is almost entirely invented.
The Crusher
In the group discussions of Japanese job hunting, students sometimes meet a kurasshā, a crusher, who wrecks the discussion. A job guide for students notes that interviewers watch for cooperation and the ability to respond flexibly.
A career column on the site All About is blunter: “There are often students who try to push their own opinion through. Count on that student failing.” It adds that what the group discussion assesses is teamwork.
Prayer Emails
Japanese companies reject job applicants in set phrases. A typical message reads: Makoto ni zannen nagara, konkai wa go-kitai ni soenai kekka to narimashita. We are very sorry, but this time the result does not meet your expectations. It almost always ends with a line such as Kongo no katsuyaku o oinori itashimasu, we pray for your success in the future.
Job seekers call these messages oinori mēru, prayer emails.
Sakura Sōgorō
Sakura Sōgorō was a village headman of the early Edo period. According to the legend, he appealed directly to the shogun against his lord’s heavy taxes, and he was executed for it.
In 1851, his story was staged at the Nakamura-za theater in Edo as the play Higashiyama Sakura Sōshi. He became the best-known gimin, a man who gave his life for the people. Little about him is historically certain, and some have argued that he never existed.