Humorous Dutchman

Not long ago, during a business trip to Japan with a Dutch colleague, he was pleasantly surprised to witness frequent bowing and expressions of gratitude or apology from ticket sellers, convenience store clerks, restaurant servers, taxi drivers, and even cooperative clients along the way.

During our journey, we passed by a road construction warning sign with a depiction of bowing workers. Our Japanese agent explained to us, "While many foreigners may interpret this bowing image as a gesture of thanks, its actual meaning is an apology, expressing regret for any inconvenience caused."

My colleague half-jokingly remarked that in the Netherlands, it would typically say, "Thank you for your cooperation," or even, "For your future convenience, we are carrying out necessary construction," on the sign. In that case, it would be the passersby who would be thanking the workers.

The next day, I happened to come across a photo online showing a construction sign in Dutch that read, "Road construction detour: Riding a bicycle for 3 minutes burns 22 kilocalories." Such an explanation was particularly humorous and elicited a smile. Dutch people are skilled at sensing others' needs and use this to persuade them. They are also adept at considering "What benefits can I bring to others?"

It turns out that simply by changing the way we express things, we can make people think about unexpected benefits from road construction. By recognizing one's own value and effectively employing persuasive communication techniques, there is no need to apologize to gain understanding, nor is there a need to deliberately lower one's status.