Abstract
In Japan, a form of respect can be seen through the act of being humble. The sense of humility is extremely developed in the Japanese culture. Compared to Westerners Japanese people will not be afraid to put themselves down in order to raise the other person up. The self discrediting will be extremely insistent.
Examples of Japanese form of humility can be found through experiences such as when complimenting Japanese on their English level or while receiving a gift from Japanese. Even though when a Japanese speaks very well English he will deny strongly the compliment.
Westerns will respond to a compliment in a humble way by a simple “thank you”. For Japanese, accepting a compliment is synonymous to not showing humility and can even be interpreted as a form of bragging. Another example of putting oneself down as a form of humility is during gift-giving moments from a Japanese. A polite formula in Japanese commonly said while offering can be translated by “this gift is a little boring but…”. Once again they discredit themselves.
