Japan has a unique culture of social greetings. As the name implies, it is a social greeting. It is a superficial greeting to make the other person happy. It is a kind of lip service.
If that is all you hear, you might think that lip service is common in other countries as well. But what if someone says something like this to you at work or in your daily life? You may take it as it is, but in Japan, you should not take it as it is.
Examples of social expressions
Let me give you an example.
I’ll go if I can.” – “I’ll never come.
Please invite me again” → “I won’t go this time or the next.
I’ll consider it” → “I won’t.”
Of course, there are rare cases where people really mean what they say, but it is highly likely that the above words are a social order.
You may wonder why Japanese people are so slow to respond, but it is believed that a vague response rather than a definite “no” will avoid any misunderstanding and make things go more smoothly.
Other examples
A good example of a social letter would be a moving or relocation postcard.
It might say, “Please feel free to stop by when you’re in the neighborhood.”
If you take this sentence at face value, you are in big trouble.
A couple of my acquaintances took this sentence to heart and dropped by the new place on Sunday because they were in the neighborhood. The couple looked surprised and annoyed, and did not even offer them tea on a hot summer day. I thought that I should not have written such a thing, but this is also a ritualistic greeting. Well, the couple was sensible enough to leave right away, but there are people who are not so sensible.
Ochazuke in Kyoto
In Kyoto, if someone says, “Would you like some ochazuke ‘bubu-zuke’ (*the Kyoto way of calling ochazuke)? (*Kyoto ochazuke is a type of rice with tea leaves), it is a sign to go home. Ochazuke is rice with tea poured over it. The tea can be sencha, bancha, hojicha, or matcha,
It is usually served with pickles, dried laver, pickled plums, etc.
It is also a rakugo story. Kyo-no-chazuke” in Kamigata Rakugo* Rakugo is a type of traditional storytelling that originated in Japan during the Edo period and has been handed down to the present day. Rakugo is a traditional form of storytelling that originated in Japan during the Edo period and has been handed down to the present day.
The following is a synopsis of “Kyo no chazuke.
A merchant in Osaka, Kuidaore, was asked, “Would you like some ochazuke in Kyoto? I have never been asked and served it. Since I was near my acquaintance’s house, I thought, “Let him serve me ochazuke,” since I had missed lunch. However, the owner was not home and decided to let me wait. The merchant told his wife a long story about how he had entertained his master with sea bream and sake when the master came to his house, and urged her to eat. The wife, however, turned her back on him. When I asked her if there was a place around here where I could get food delivered to my table, she replied, “There is nothing around here. When I was about to leave, the wife said, “There’s nothing here, but I’d like some ochazuke (rice with green tea). Of course, I was the hero of a rakugo story and had come here to eat ochazuke, so there was no way she would understand and leave, and she was overjoyed.
The wife managed to scrape up a small amount of rice from the ohitsu (a container for transferring cooked rice), put it in a bowl, and poured tea over it. What a small quantity of ochazuke! The merchant was surprised, but he was brazen enough to ask for a second helping, praising the pickles and the bowl. When the merchant asked, “Where did you get this bowl? When the merchant asked, “Where did you get this bowl?” his wife, in defeat, said, “I bought it together with this bowl at a nearby dry-goods store,” and presented the empty bowl to the merchant.
Well, since she even asked for another bowl of ochazuke, which is supposed to be finished in a jiffy, it seems that the main characters in rakugo stories do not have a word for social courtesies.
I would like to tell you to be careful about social etiquette when you come to Japan, but I do not want you to have a hard time during your trip, so please enjoy social etiquette as a part of Japanese culture.
