The Sun Comes Up, It's Tuesday Morning

5:30am Tokyo / 3;30pm Detroit

or is it Wednesday? It seems my body has hit a roadblock this morning, an incapability of sleeping past 4:30am. Dommage. On a positive note, that means I can call people at work back home and they're at the end of their work day.

so here's the Japanese cultural lesson of the day.

Japanese people never say "no" -- at least, I've never heard it. Apparently, it is considered quite harsh and rude to flatly deny someone else like that. So here is my ｔｏｐ 4 list of phrases you will hear instead and the actual meaning behind each phrase:

1. "Maybe not" or "perhaps not" -- simply means "no."

2. "I don't think so" -- which means, "you are wrong this won't work."

3. "It would be difficult" -- read: "Impossible, I can't believe you asked me this."

4. any of the above, preceded by a wincing look and a long, drawn out "ahhhhhh" or "ummmmmmmm" -- this is the worst. You are an embarrassment to human-kind for even suggesting such a ridiculous thing. Your only option at this point is to apologize profusely and change the subject.