Script↓

Today I was surprised by something. I happened to watch a video on youtube and it said there is a different meaning between “good morning” in English and in Japanese.  We were told “good morning” meant おはよう(Ohayou) in Japanese when we were children even though “Ohayou” literally means “you are so early this morning.”  I haven’t cared about the exact meaning so far, today finally I realized that the words “Good morning” are originally from the sentence “I wish you good morning”. So whenever we say “Good morning” in English culture, we are always supposed to pray to have a good morning with each other! That’s why even if I don’t have a good morning today, I mean, some bad things happened and felt bad,  we can say “good morning” to others. Also, even if it rains heavily and is not a beautiful day, we have to say “good morning” because we just pray to each other “I wish you good morning”. Finally, I understand what the truth is. It’s really interesting for me. I would say what a beautiful custom!

By the way, sometimes Japanese people dine in the restaurant where I’m working. In that case, I have to speak the Japanese language to take care of them. But sometimes I get confused because there is nothing to say after their payments instead of saying have a good one. “Have a good day” also comes from the sentence I wish you have a good day. literally there is nothing to say except “thanks for your payment”.

It is because we Japanese don’t have any custom to pray or wish for something with each other. Now I understand.

At the same time, I realized we Japanese has ねぎらい(Negirai) for example おつかれさま(Otsukaresama) instead of praying each other. Negirai is an expression uttered when Japanese people want to show their appreciation for the other person's efforts. It is kind of the same thing because whenever we are not so tired, we always say “otsukaresama” with each other because we just want to say something in sympathy.

English greeting is a prayer, and Japanese greeting is a sympathy. It’s very interesting.

What do you think about greeting in your culture?