Engaged

Don't worry its not me that's engaged, but I have recently witnessed something very interesting in Japanese culture. I was talking to a friend the other day and I asked her how her boyfriend was doing. She told me they were engaged. I hadn't seen her for a few weeks and I knew it was a serious relationship so I wasn't that surprised. I asked the obvious question, "When did he propose?." She told me, as if it was no big deal, that he had proposed back in May. (It's the end of August and this is a person I see almost every week.) She proceeded to tell me that it still wasn't public knowledge and not to tell anyone.

At first I figured that this was unique to her situation so I asked a few more questions. It turns out that this is very normal in Japanese culture. I laughed knowing my friends back in the states would never be able to keep the fact they were engaged a secret for 3 days, let alone 3 months.