The complex art of apology in Japan

#TIA – The uncommon and complex art of apology in Japan and perhaps the reason for it

“It was 01:00 in Tokyo and we were trying to get into an apartment with a pair of stolen keys. We’d got lost trying to find our Airbnb, and were now at an address that looked 90% right. Turns out in the middle of the night that’s close enough. There were keys in the letterbox, where our host said they’d be, so when the security code didn’t work I just worked my surprisingly flexible hands through the slot to grab them, like a modern-day Artful Dodger.

At this point, you’d think we might have stopped to take stock, but we were fuelled by the kind of determination that comes from a 12-hour flight followed by the public-transport pilgrimage from Narita to Shinjuku. But midway through jiggling the keys in the lock, the door whipped open to reveal a nightdress-clad lady and her daughter looking out at us in bemusement. Definitely not our Airbnb then.”

Read more at BBC