Chapter 1579 The Gift Brought by Ono Akihiko
Xiao Peng looked at Ono Akihiko kneeling in front of him and sighed silently in his heart - Ono Akihiko is such a big company's vice president, so he can kneel down just by saying so!
Look at him, legs together, hands in front of him in a pigeon-toed position, head pressed firmly against the ground. What a perfect posture! You can tell he kneels a lot! Looking at his shiny head and the little bit of well-groomed hair on the side, Xiao Peng almost couldn't help laughing out loud!
Logically speaking, when Xiao Peng saw such an old man kneeling in front of him, he should have helped him up immediately. As a Daxia person, "respecting the elderly and loving the young" is a virtue engraved in his soul. However, when he saw the Japanese man kneeling in front of him, Xiao Peng did not help him up immediately.
This is also a cultural difference.
For Daxia people, an apology means admitting one's fault. Therefore, Daxia people generally don't apologize easily. Once they apologize, it means they have to take responsibility for something and take the blame for something - and no one wants to take the blame, right?
But this is not the case with the Japanese.
They apologize every day, but the act itself is meaningless and they never take responsibility for their apologies.
There is a Japanese comic called "Gambling Apocalypse", in which there is a plot that can illustrate the problem of Japanese people's apology: the villain in the comic turns out to be a loan shark, and every time those who can't pay back their debts will "get down from their seats" and apologize sincerely in a humble manner. The word "humble" is not an exaggeration to describe them, but their idea is not really to apologize, but to get others' forgiveness and then refuse to pay.
Moreover, the thoughts of these Japanese people after apologizing are also very strange: they will think that since they have apologized humbly, they should be forgiven. If they are not forgiven, they will think that it is others' fault.
The Daxia people were different. They were more pragmatic. In their eyes, the best apology was to take responsibility for one's actions, not just go through the motions.
The Japanese have a deeply ingrained "apology culture." It's common to see Japanese officials publicly expressing remorse and apology for their colonial past and aggressive actions, while simultaneously happily visiting shrines. They don't take their apologies seriously; they may say the words, but their actions show no remorse or apology. Their apologies are essentially just empty talk.
It's because of this that they can apologize anytime, anywhere. When people from Daxia meet, the first thing they say is: "Have you eaten?" When people from Dongying meet, the first thing they say is "I'm sorry"...
Seeing Xiao Peng remain silent, Ishii Kevin couldn't hold back his anger any longer: "Damn, shouldn't you help Ono Akihiko up and forgive him now? What do you mean by staying silent?"
Fake, you don’t want me to kneel with him, do you?
Although I am of Japanese descent, I was born and raised in the United States. I am really not as shameless as the real Japanese!
Xiao Peng, that's right! Aren't you from Daxia? Don't Daxia people respect the elderly and love the young? If you see someone kneeling, you should help them up immediately!
Seeing Xiao Peng looking at Ono Akihiko kowtow and apologize with a look of shock on his face, Ishii Kevin slapped his forehead and realized: Damn, Xiao Peng doesn't understand Japanese! How did he know what Ono Akihiko was saying when he kowtowed?
So Ishii Kevin hurriedly said to Xiao Peng: "Mr. Xiao, Mr. Ono said that he wanted to apologize for his rude behavior last time. This time he has been preparing the most suitable gift. I hope Mr. Xiao will take a look!"
Xiao Peng finally came to his senses as if waking from a dream, and hurriedly said to Kevin Ishii: "Mr. Ishii, quickly help Mr. Ono up. Oh, what is he doing? I don't know what he is talking about. I dare not move!"
Ishii Kevin heaved a sigh of relief after hearing this. It was indeed the language barrier that caused the problem. He hurriedly helped Ono Akihiko up from the ground and translated Xiao Peng's meaning to him. Ono Akihiko quickly waved to the kimono-clad girls standing over there holding gift boxes, signaling them to hand over their gifts in turn.
What made Xiao Peng speechless was that although there were many of them, they didn’t actually bring many gifts. The gifts from the five girls put together became one thing: a kimono.
One girl was holding clothes, one girl was holding a belt, one girl was holding hakama, one girl was holding wooden clogs, one girl's box contained tabi, undergarments, loincloths, shingen bags, waist buttons and other small items, and one girl was holding a fan.
Xiao Peng understood why Ono Akihiko had given him such a grand gift. There was only one reason - it was too expensive!
It's no exaggeration to say that a top-notch Japanese kimono is beyond the reach of 99% of the world's population. Essentially, it's like wearing a house.
Many people in Japan like to spend around 1,800 RMB on a kimono as a souvenir when traveling to Tokyo. However, these are often not kimonos, but rather yukatas. Yukatas are considered casual clothing, while real kimonos are quite expensive.
Young people in Japan wear kimonos for coming-of-age ceremonies, and most choose to rent one rather than buy one. The reason is the high cost. An everyday, affordable kimono is generally affordable, costing around 700 to 800 RMB per day. But what about those high-end kimonos worn for ceremonies? A day's rental starts at 10,000 RMB!
This is just renting, not buying!
Many Japanese families have kimonos that are passed down from father to son, and from son to grandson, and preserved for dozens or hundreds of years.
The kimono they gave Xiao Peng was a high-end kimono made of pure silk and hand-embroidered, and it was the most solemn black color.
It's no exaggeration to say that the kimono in front of him, made of paulownia wood by clog craftsman Akihiro Inohara, would cost about 100,000 yuan. A belt alone could cost hundreds of thousands or even millions of yuan, so it wouldn't be surprising if this outfit started at 5 million yuan or even exceeded 10 million yuan.
Of course, Xiao Peng had no interest in these things. What about kimono? It was actually the "Wufu" of Daxia, which was the product of the clothing of the Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period introduced to Japan. Back then, there was a difference between Wufu and kimono, but now in Japan, the concepts of the two basically overlap. Many kimono shops on the streets of Japan have "Wufu" written on their signs.
Japanese things like cherry blossoms, kimonos, sumo, geta, tea ceremony, tatami, and geisha were basically passed down from Daxia. He didn't care about this piece of clothing, no matter how expensive it was.
Xiao Peng gestured to Van der Laupe to accept the gift, then asked Ono Akihiko, "Mr. Ono, you must have given me such an expensive gift for a reason. Now, can you tell me what you want from me?"
Ishii Kevin said directly: "Mr. Xiao, Mitsui Company actually hopes that you will go to Japan to salvage a sunken ship."
"Huh? What shipwreck?" Xiao Peng picked up the beer next to him and took a sip. It was quite hot after just coming back.
Kevin Ishii replied, "A ship of Mitsui Shipping hit a reef and sank."
Xiao Peng replied calmly, "Why don't I find it strange at all?"
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