Opinion: What is the cost of apologizing in Japanese politics? Not much, it seems February 24, 2021 (Mainichi Japan) (Mainichi) I hear that Japan has a unique "apology culture." For example, in North America and Europe, monetary recompense is considered important, but in Japan, it is the words of apology that are apparently important above all. This kind of culture may be changing in recent years, however. According to the results of a large-scale 2012 survey carried out by Japanese scholars and others on Asia -- including Japan -- and the West, people in every country covered were more likely to be forgiven if they paid some sort of cost in addition to offering words of apology.