ABSTRACT

THE delightful quality of studied pretense in the manners and customs of the Japanese people has not been changed by the Commercial Age. Personal relationships among the people are still handled with silk gloves. To be impolite is a cardinal offense; to "lose face" is still a most humiliating experience. However, leniency is shown to foreigners who do not know their ways; the people are quick to see and try to remedy any embarrassment on the part of a guest. This forbearance does not apply to themselves when guilty of a faux pas. Here again we come in contact with