How & When to Apologize in Japan
Apology is a kind of social currency in Japan. It's the simplest way to maintain the harmony, or wa, of the community or social group, and it's used liberally to defuse just about any situation from the sidewalk to the workplace.
By Michael KanertApologies: Gomen-nasai & Sumimasen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQPwU9bY7LE
Here we have the two classic apologies in Japanese: gomen-nasai ("I'm sorry") and sumimasen ("Excuse me"). As you might gather from the context in the video above, gomen-nasai tends to be more casual, and is used among friends, whereas the more formal sumimasen is more appropriate for use with strangers and superiors.
While gomen-nasai only has the one meaning, sumimasen can be used in nearly all the contexts in which we'd use "Excuse me" in English. In fact, it's an incredibly versatile phrase that you can use all on its own to navigate most of Japan!
Apologies: Moshiwake Arimasen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YGtsr1yLOQ
The video above reviews sumimasen and gomen-nasai, but adds the more formal (and obsequious) moshiwake arimasen, which literally means, "There is no excuse (for what I have done)."
You can also see that if someone apologizes to you for something small, you can just respond with a simple daijobu or ii yo, both of which mean, "It's okay."
Apologies: Variations
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noODlhIBf0k
Within these three main apologies, you have a few variations. Gomen is an even more informal version of gomen-nasai. This can also become gomen-ne, which is about the same, but has a hint of pleading for understanding as well.
Sumimasen can expand to sumimasen deshita, which puts it in the past tense and sounds a little heavier. It implies, "I'm sorry for what has happened." Some people can be heard saying suman, which is rather casual (but not as casual as gomen-nasai), or sumanai, which is similar, but a little bit older-sounding.
Similarly, moshiwake arimasen can become moshiwake arimasen deshita to put it in the past tense and give it more weight. There's also the variant moshiwake gozaimasen, which uses the humble verb gozaru in place of the more common aru, indicating an even deeper abasing of yourself.
There are of course many, many more ways to apologize, but these three will be more than enough to get you started as we look at three common inconveniences people can cause without being aware of them.
