Andrew Gallimore

And this probably goes back to the samurai, you know, these hierarchies.

Yeah, yeah, it is.

But you see it.

You see the remnants of that kind of ancient societal structure, even in the language.

When you learn Japanese, there are several levels of politeness, right?

It's really complicated, but you have something called keigo.

which is kind of formal or polite speech.

And if you are talking to... If you're lower down and you're talking to someone above you, you have to speak in a different... Even the words, the verbs are different.

The words are different.

And if you're speaking about them...

then you have to use what's called honorific.

You're elevating them.

If you're talking about someone higher up, you have to elevate them.

Use honorific language.

If you're talking about yourself to someone who's higher up, you use humble language.

So you lower yourself down.

So it's very difficult.

I still kind of struggle with it.

And it actually causes some problems because it's very difficult for you.

junior people to communicate with senior people, to communicate honestly, at least.