[Music] the culture of respect is one of the most important values in japanese society it's reflected in japanese language manners and customs status and hierarchy are important in modern japanese society just like they were in feudal japan most relationships in japanese society are not equal one person's position is higher than the others position is determined by place within a family and organization as well as job age and experience japanese company workers respect their managers students respect their teachers families respect their elders sporting teams respect their coaches and japanese people respect the emperor and the imperial family one way for japanese people to show respect is to bow they also bow instead of shaking hands or elevator attendants in department stores have to bow to hundreds of customers every day the depth of a bow varies according to who you're greeting japanese people give meishi these name cards introduce people to one another they give meishi when meeting new people clients or customers instead of shaking hands when you offer a meishi hold the card in both hands and bow meishio japanese people bow even when they are talking on the phone japanese people are very friendly and welcoming to foreign and local tourists this custom is called omotenashi it reflects the japanese respect for other people and their humility in the way they interact with them when you visit japan you'll see that people always wait very patiently in queues japanese people show respect for others they never push and shove the japanese language has an extensive grammatical system for expressing politeness respect and humility which is called kegel here is an example of keigo a very polite and humble introduction though there are three types of keigo kenjogo and tenego all verbs in japanese have these three forms using them correctly is essential for functioning in japan for example to eat itadakimasu is respectful language if you were speaking respectfully about your japanese teacher you would say this sense kenjo is modest or humble language that you use about yourself [Music] tenego is honorific or polite language it doesn't refer to any particular person as this is respectful as this is kenjogo or humble kimasu as this is polite language one way to show respect is in the way you address people always say and write sang after other people's names sometimes males put kun after their names joshua there are no japanese words for mr mrs or ms but using sun after people's names has a similar function to show great respect you can use sama after the person's name instead of sun when addressing a teacher university professor politician doctor or martial arts teacher use sensei instead of sun or sama sensei in kanji means previous life which implies having great wisdom in japanese there is often a polite form as well as a casual form which one you use depends on your audience for example when speaking to your own family and friends you can use casual japanese this is the polite form of the same sentence but when talking to people who are older than you polite japanese or respectful japanese must be used to make some nouns polite simply add o or go in front of the noun when you ask a question you put o or go in front of a noun it's always important to be polite to other people in japanese and humble about yourself to make some expressions polite you add gozaimasu polite verbs end with mas the mastery of politeness is very important in understanding how japanese society functions and the core values of respect for others and humility are perhaps ones we should all aspire to practicing every day you