Japanese people don't say "NO"


Kim Sun Oku
Korea

What made me surprised when I came to Japan with my husband is that many Japanese people would eat alone in the restaurants. I felt that when compared to Korean people, Japanese may have little concern about others. It might actually be an urbanized and refined sensation and makes living in big cities like Tokyo more convenient.

There are also other things that surprised me. I heard this is a rumor, but Japanese people really do not say "NO". They will not immediately reject something but will use long indirect words to convey that they are "kind of saying NO". When I was a beginner in Japanese, I had no idea whether the person talking to me was saying YES or NO, and I was always very confused. However, after living here for a while, my Japanese has improved and I am starting to understand that "this person is trying to be nice, so he/she is using indirect words to say NO". If you just say a simple NO, you might hurt the other person's pride and you will also feel rude saying it. That's why you try to say NO in a gentle way, don't you?

It has been one full year since my husband and I started living in Japan. I have gradually started to understand the good parts of Japan which I didn't like before, and now I love it. This is just like paradise for ladies. Of course shopping and sightseeing are great, but sweets are the most special. There are various kinds of cake, chocolate, crepe, parfait and Japanese sweets shops area all within reach. All the shops are very high quality and stylish.