A Japanese wedding invitation comes with a reply card. A guest who cannot attend marks the card for absence and adds a short reason.
If the real reason is a death in the family, wedding guides advise against writing it. The guest writes tsugō ga tsukazu, it could not be arranged, or yamu o enai jijō ni yori, due to unavoidable circumstances. One guide says that the right answer is to keep it thoroughly vague. The real reason can be told later, by telephone.
Kōgen reishoku sukunashi jin (巧言令色、鮮し仁): clever words and a pleasing face are seldom found with true virtue. The saying comes from the Analects of Confucius.
In Japanese, kōgen reishoku means to decorate one’s words and put on an agreeable face, without meaning it, in order to flatter others.
Suriawase (すり合わせ): rubbing together. Comparing several proposals or opinions and adjusting them to one another. A dictionary of everyday expressions adds: adjusting the differences in people’s opinions and perceptions until they share an understanding and a direction.
Jinarashi (地均し): leveling the ground. Preparing in advance so that something goes smoothly, as in iken chōsei no jinarashi o suru, leveling the ground for coordinating opinions.
Ishibashi o tataite wataru (石橋を叩いて渡る): to tap on a stone bridge before crossing it. Even a bridge that looks solid is checked for safety first. Doing things with caution on top of caution.
Sonae areba urei nashi (備えあれば憂いなし): if prepared, no worries. A person who is always ready for an emergency need not worry when one happens.
Nen ni wa nen o ireyo (念には念を入れよ): add care to care. In important matters, take great care that no mistake happens, and then check once more.
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.
Sanpō yoshi means good for three sides: good for the seller, good for the buyer, and good for society. It is used to describe the business spirit of the Ōmi merchants.
The phrase itself is modern. The Ōmi merchant scholar Ogura Eiichirō used it around 1988 to sum up their spirit. Its usual precursor is a testament written in 1754 by the Ōmi merchant Nakamura Jihei Sōgan, but the four characters do not appear in it. An earlier use of the phrase is found in a document from 1930.
Before the Japanese cabinet approves a government bill, the bill is first approved inside the governing Liberal Democratic Party. This is the jizen shinsa-sei, the prior review system.
The usual view dates it to a letter of 1962 from Akagi Munenori, chairman of the party’s General Council, to Chief Cabinet Secretary Ōhira Masayoshi. One study argues that it began in 1955, when the party was founded and approval by its Policy Research Council became a condition for a cabinet decision on a bill.
Many large Japanese companies have a jōmukai, a meeting of the managing directors. Unlike the board of directors and the shareholders’ meeting, it is not required by law.
Japanese encyclopedias describe it as the place where matters that the board will formally decide are discussed in substance. There, nearly all important management decisions are made.
Dandori (段取り): the order and steps for doing something, and the preparation for it.
Dandori hachibu (段取り八分): preparation is eighty percent. Good preparation is eighty percent of success.
The Seventeen-Article Constitution, which the Nihon Shoki dates to 604 and credits to Prince Shōtoku, ends with this rule: Sore koto wa hitori sadamu bekarazu. Kanarazu shū to agetsurau beshi. Matters should not be decided by one person alone. They must always be discussed with others.
Its first article opens with a related idea. Harmony is to be valued, and avoiding opposition is to be the principle. Other early sources date the text to 602 or 605.