10 adjectives that best describe your image of the Japanese national character

[Maciamo]

-Punctual (definitely)

I have my reserves on this. If I agree that most Japanese business people tend to be punctual (for work related matters at least), I have found that housewives tend to be as late as in Latin countries (5 to 15 min) to appointments (with friends, to private English lessons...). I have met a few Japanese (I admit it was a minority) who were almost always late at appointment (for lessons) - and when I say late, it is typically 15 min to 1h late ! Some don't even call to notify that they are not coming (one of them was an ANA flight attendant, which was even more suprising as her job was the ultimate customer-oriented job). In my experience real lower class Japanese (of which I met only a few) completely lacked the discipline of punctuality - which is maybe why they ended up with petty jobs and money problems.

So, overall it is true that the Japanese as a nation are more punctual than many other nation's people, but I find this qualifier to apply to a lesser percentage of the population than the ones I chose. I would say that the Japanese are most punctual when they are worried/anxious about being criticised (mostly at work) or when they think it is disrespectful to be late (which highly depends on your relation with the person you are meeting or have a deadline with).

[Silverpoint]

I would say that the Japanese are most punctual when they are worried/anxious about being criticised (mostly at work) or when they think it is disrespectful to be late.

I think you could make that point about anyone.