It is said that Tuesday's child is full of grace. Therefore I will take that saying and look at how this "grace" is depicted in Japanese video games, i.e. the social and cultural etiquette and customs.
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| A bath house scene from Tales of Zestiria. |
- Public bathing - public baths are segregated by gender in Japan, and games such as Tales of Zestiria often play up public bathing related transgressions for laughs, with the guys in the cast almost always being the ones transgressing, i.e. sneaking a peek at the girls, often resulting in the girls going apeshit and curbstomping the guys.
- Bowing - this is the most obvious example, and can be seen not only games like Persona 4, which revolves around a (fictional) Japanese town with a blend of rural and modern Japanese culture, but also games like The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel, which at first glance is set in a country that is based on an amalgam of Germany, Britain and other European countries, but also has the main protagonists (students) all doing things like rising and bowing at the end of each class.
- The power of friendship/bonds - trying to go it alone is seen as big no-no in Japanese culture, and this is exemplified in many JRPGs, such as Final Fantasy XV, in which Prompto, Ignis, Gladiolus and Noctis all share an extremely close, brotherly bond with one another, despite not actually being related by blood.
- Praying for good fortune - it is considered polite in Japanese culture to pray for someone's good fortune and even tell them that you will do so - not necessarily praying to any particular god or for anyone of a particular faith though. This custom often pops up in visual novels such as Cherry Tree High Comedy Club.
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