Meiwaku is a Japanese word that has a nebulous definition. It
approaches the English word 'inconvenience' in meaning but it
encompasses a much greater range of ideas. Most simply put, it's
anything that causes trouble or shame for other members of the
groups you belong to. Each person has the right to take pride in
the reputation of their group but at the same time has a
responsibility to maintain that reputation. The core of meiwaku
is the idea of group membership. Everyone is defined by the
groups they are a part of: the neighborhood you live in, the
school you graduated from, and even the company you work for. If
you bring dishonor to or hurt the reputation of the groups
you're in, it reflects on the whole group. Because of this,
there's a huge amount of self-policing and peer pressure within
groups to conform to the standards of the group and of society.
Meiwaku range from walking in late to a meeting to executives
embezzling funds from their company or accepting bribes to car
crashes. The only way to ato