But alas, such is the cost of being polite!
唉，这就是懂礼貌的代价吧！
And the #1 strangest ways to be polite in Japan is…
第一名：最最最最奇葩的日本礼仪是……
Saying “sorry” instead of “thank you”
用“对不起”代替“谢谢”
A lot of the time in Japan, when you want to thank someone, you don’t use the word for “thank you” (arigatou, arigatou gozaimasu, etc), but instead you use the word for “sorry/excuse me” (sumimasen).
在日本大多数时候当你想要感谢某人的时候，你不会说“谢谢”，而是会说“对不起/抱歉”。
At first that might make sense. After all, even in English we have expressions like “oh you shouldn’t have!” when we’re given a present. But now imagine if
you said that in a lot of other situations……
一开始这可能还说得过去。毕竟在英语里面，当我们收到礼物的时候也用“哦！不要这么客气！”这样的话语。但是试想在大多数场合都这么说会怎么样呢……
Saying “oh you shouldn’t have” or “I’m sorry” in those situations in English would just seem awkward, but in Japanese it’s perfectly natural. Basically anytime someone does a favor for you, or even often when they give you a gift, saying “I’m sorry” is completely normal.
在英语的一些场合中说“哦！你太客气了！”或者“对不起”会显得有些尴尬，但在日本却非常顺理成章。基本上任何时候只要有人帮了你一个帮甚至是当你收到礼物的时候说声抱歉是非常正常的事情
[美联英语]双语阅读：每一条都让老外懵逼
