“honorably sorry,” “feel hungry,” and all the common sentences of daily life are entirely free from that personal definiteness which an Occidental language necessitates.  We shall see later that the absence of the personal element from the wording of the sentence does not imply, or prove, its absence from the thought of either the speaker or hearer.  The Japanese language abounds in roundabout methods of expression.  This is specially true in phrases of courtesy.  Instead of saying, “I am glad to see you,” the Japanese say, “Well, honorably have come”; instead of, “I am sorry to have troubled you,” they say, “Honorable hindrance have done”; instead of “Thank you,” the correct expression is, “It is difficult.”

In a conversation once with a leading educator, I was maintaining that a wide study of English was not needful for the Japanese youth; that the majority of the boys would never learn enough English to make it of practical use to them in after-life, and that it would be wiser for them to spend the same amount of time on more immediately practical subjects.  The reply was that the boys needed to have the drill in English in order to gain clear methods of thought:  that the sharp distinctness of the English sentence, with its personal pronouns and tense and number, affords a mental drill which the Japanese can get in no other way; and that even if the boys should never make the slightest after-use of English in reading or conversation, the advantage gained was well worth the time expended.  I have since noticed that those men who have spent some time in the study of a foreign language speak very much more clearly in Japanese than those who have not had this training.  In the former case, the enunciation is apt to be more distinct, and the sentences rounded into more definite periods.  The conversation of the average Japanese tends to ramble on in a never-ending sentence.  But a marked change has come over vast numbers of the people during the last three decades.  The roundaboutness of to-day is as nothing to that which existed under the old order of society.  For the new order rests on radically different ideas; directness of speech and not its opposite is being cultivated, and in absolute contrast to the methods of the feudal era, directness of governmental procedure is well-nigh universal to-day.  In trade, too, there has come a straightforwardness that is promising, though not yet triumphant.  It is safe to assume that in all respectable stores the normal price is charged; for the custom of fixed prices has been widely adopted.  If individuals are known to have the “beating down” habit, special prices are added for their sakes.

A personal experience illustrates the point.  My wife and I had priced several lamps, had made note of the most satisfactory, and had gone home without buying.  The next day a domestic was sent to secure the one which pleased us best.  He was charged more than we had been, and in surprise mentioned the sum which we had authorized him to pay.  The shopkeeper explained by saying that he always told us the true price in the beginning, because we never tried to beat him down.  In truth, modern industrial conditions have pretty well banished the old-time custom of haggling.  A premium is set on straightforwardness in business unknown to the old social order.