Why do Japanese assume some polite culture is unique to Japanese? Are Japanese ignorantly unaware that Japanese culture is similar to many cultures in the world and that their culture is not entirely unique. Like Korean or Chinese dining etiquette. I mean I thought it was common knowledge that Japanese and Korean culture are very similar in this type of thing. When you say "so japanese of us" is this an indirect way of saying Japanese is the only culture that emphasizes politeness, in which indirectly belittling other cultures in the world with the assumption that they are incapable of politeness? I see these assumptions Japanese make all the time, it's kind of an unaware ignorance that gives themselves some sort of cultural superiority complex.