Greetings from the land of "No Excuses"

Tim here, I realize that Ruth just posted yesterday, and that after such a long posting drought it may be odd to see posts on two consecutive days. They say that when it rains it pours, and it looks like Ruth and I got the writing itch at about the same time. Since it looks like Ruth pretty much covered everything that is happening in our lives (really, there is not much to tell), I thought I'd talk a little bit about a major difference I've noticed between American and Japanese culture (a difference that has caused me no small amount of grief and anxiety).
The difference I am referring to centers around cultural attitudes toward excuses. Or, to be more precise, the difference between a reason and an excuse. I think that the idea of making excuses has a bad wrap in just about any culture, as well it should as the idea of an excuse connotes a certain air of shadiness and illegitimacy. That said, in American culture I think there is a subtle but important line drawn between an excuse and a reason. That is to say that, in America, if you do something that requires explanation, it is acceptable to give a legitimate reason for what you have done. If that reason seems unacceptable, then it becomes something less savory, an excuse. In Japan, however, the line between excuse and reason does not exist in the same way. This might seem unbelievable, so to illustrate my point I believe a brief Japanese lesson is in order. In Japanese the word for reason is wake (pronounced wah-kay). This is commonly used in such phrases as sou iu wake de, which means "for that reason". The word for excuse, on the other hand, is iiwake (ee-wah-kay), which, if translated literally, means "a reason that you say out loud". Therefore, there is really no such thing as the reason/excuse distinction one finds in American culture; in Japan, no matter what the situation, a reason becomes an "excuse" the moment it is given.
As a world-class excuse maker (or I prefer to think "reason giver") myself, navigating this prickly cultural thorn bush has been no easy task. I always find myself biting my tongue whenever I want to give what I see as a reason for something, knowing that it will be interpreted as an excuse. With that in mind, I've been trying hard to keep my wake to myself, afraid that they'll come rolling off my tongue in the hideous form of iiwake. Who knows, not being able to make an excuse for two years just might make me a better person (although I wouldn't count on it).