and he stands in the glaring sun also. How foolish!--Yes, exactly so,
provided the motive were less than this: "You are in the sun; I
sympathize with you; I would willingly take you under my parasol if it
were large enough, or if we were familiarly acquainted; as I cannot
shade you, I will share your discomforts." Little acts of this kind,
equally or more amusing, are not mere gestures or conventionalities.
They are the "bodying forth" of thoughtful feelings for the comfort of
others.

Another "awfully funny" custom is dictated by our canons of Politeness;
but many superficial writers on Japan, have dismissed it by simply
attributing it to the general topsy-turvyness of the nation. Every
foreigner who has observed it will confess the awkwardness he felt in
making proper reply upon the occasion. In America, when you make a gift,
you sing its praises to the recipient; in Japan we depreciate or slander
it. The underlying idea with you is, "This is a nice gift: if it were
not nice I would not dare give it to you; for it will be an insult to
give you anything but what is nice." In contrast to this, our logic
runs: "You are a nice person, and no gift is nice enough for you. You
will not accept anything I can lay at your feet except as a token of my
good will; so accept this, not for its intrinsic value, but as a token.
It will be an insult to your worth to call the best gift good enough for
you." Place the two ideas side by side; and we see that the ultimate
idea is one and the same. Neither is "awfully funny." The American
speaks of the material which makes the gift; the Japanese speaks of the
spirit which prompts the gift.

It is perverse reasoning to conclude, because our sense of propriety
shows itself in all the smallest ramifications of our deportment, to
take the least important of them and uphold it as the type, and pass