Today Shuzo and I were going over the importance and power of using “sumimasen”. I found it interesting that it is used all the time in the restaurant that I work at. I often wonder do the Japanese just naturally say without thinking. For example they are sitting at their table and decide that it is time to order, then immediately someone raises their hand and says “sumimasen, order ii desu ka?”. I look at them for a moment with my blonde hair and blue eyes and think is this “ishin denshin” do they know I understand them or do they just assume that since their in the magical Japanese speaking land of Waikiki they can speak Japanese. I mean if they were in a restaurant in Seattle, would they do the exact same thing?