I have spent half of my life in Japan and the other half in the US. I can’t say “all Japanese are like this” or “all Americans are like this” because there are individual differences, but if I were to speak roughly, I would say that in the U.S. there are many “people who think and act yes until they are told no”, while in Japan there are many “people who think and act no until they are told yes”.

In other words, in the US, even when you are not sure if an action is the right thing to do, you do it anyway. And when they are told no by someone they need to obey, such as the bureaucracy, the police, their parents, their teachers, or their boss, many people think they can just say “I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to do that” and stop, or explain themselves why they did it.

On the other hand, I think many people in Japan do not do something until they are told yes by someone they need to obey, when they are not sure if that action is the right thing to do or not. Why people have so much self-esteem in Silicon Valley | Leadership, Education, Qualification, Skill | Toyo Keizai Online | Economic News to Improve Society Why Silicon Valley Why Silicon Valley people have so much self-esteem.

relevance - Apology rather than asking for permission


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