Adding Sourness to Your Day

Japanese apologies aren’t about how strong the word is. They’re about the relationship and social distance between people. You can express how sorry you are — through tone, body language, and how you say it. But the words themselves don’t scale intensity the way English does. ごめん / ごめんなさい → personal, close すみません → situational / social distance (often not even an apology) 申し訳ございません → formal responsibility Some content focuses on things like “how deep to bow” to sound more sincere. While gestures