Japanese ethics

Creating and Sustaining Important Relationships in Japan!

by Boye De Mente on Sep 17, 2009

The etiquette system that began evolving in the earliest period of Japan’s history was to become what was probably the most comprehensive, the most precise and the most rigidly enforced forms of behavior in any society, before or since.      During the long and culturally defining era of the Tokugawa Shogunate [1603-1867] Japanese etiquette was refined down to the point that the rules for presenting gifts to high officials covered over 200 pages—and failure to follow them precisely could have serious consequences.      By the beginning of the 1800s the national etiquette had become so structured, refined and sophisticated that a simple carpenter sent to England in the late 1800s to build a teahouse for a London banker was mistaken for a member of Japan’s royal family when he presented himself at the banker’s home.      Until the mid-1900s all Japanese, on all levels of society, were physically trained and verbally...Read More >>