Kirk, no! Japanese aren't late!

Happened again.

I had a meeting with a superior at a new job. The guy showed up about 10 minutes late.

I didn't say anything because well, he's kind of my boss, and two, he seemed pretty harried himself. He gave a perfunctory apology and I assumed he had a good reason and we went about our meeting.

His being late caused me to be about 3 minutes late for my next appointment.
I got there and the people I were to meet were very angry. They explained, as if it were of deep cultural significance: "This is bad. Japanese people aren't late!"

I just wish people would, ok fine, go ahead and get miffed I'm late and leave it at that but there's no need to drag the "Japanese" thing into it. All it does is take a small, ordinary problem and exacerbate it by making it seem a cultural line has been crossed. The fact that a Japanese guy (my superior) was the cause of it only adds to the injury.