Japanese show respect ...

[bertietheblue]

Not a huge difference, but I would go along with the idea that paying respect is heartfelt, while showing respect could be more of a social duty.

I'm not so sure about the 'heartfelt'. When I was teaching in Japan, I met many Japanese people who found the whole ancestor worship thing a lot of hogwash but went through with the Obon ritual of paying respect to their ancestors because it's a tradition and also because not to do would be to show disrespect to their parents (and not so much their ancestors).

[Kazuo]

Hello, bertietheblue!

I'm not so sure about the 'heartfelt'. When I was teaching in Japan, I met many Japanese people who found the whole ancestor worship thing a lot of hogwash but went through with the Obon ritual of paying respect to their ancestors because it's a tradition and also because not to do would be to show disrespect to their parents (and not so much their ancestors).

I suppose that what Tdol said is about the general meaning of the expressions, not necessarily relating it to cases of the Obon ritual being performed nowadays in Japan.

Thank you very much

[rx-f]

I may be on my own here; but to me, "Japanese" is an adjective, not a noun.

A. During the festival of Obon, Japanese people show respect to their dead ancestors.
B. The Japanese regard Mount Fuji as a sacred mountain.

Here, there is no difference in meaning between "Japanese people" and "the Japanese". The meanings of these phrases have nothing to do with whether someone is alive or dead.

When I lived in Japan, I heard a lot of Japanese people say things like "Japanese are shy". I think it's because most Japanese people who learn some English have an extremely unclear understanding of fundamental English grammar. One result is that many Japanese learners of English often don't distinguish between different grammatical categories when producing English.

You can't say "French drink lots of wine", "American like baseball" or "Japanese show respect" because those sentences all begin with an adjective that's not modifying any noun.

[Tdol]

Hello, bertietheblue!



I suppose that what Tdol said is about the general meaning of the expressions, not necessarily relating it to cases of the Obon ritual being performed nowadays in Japan.

Thank you very much

Yup