While some may take issue with the bureaucratic dealings and "do as the manual says" methods of some service systems, the sense of hospitality one can find in Japan is almost universally praised. This kindness towards a customer or guest, known as omotenashi, often manifests itself in subtle pleasantries such as a clerk escorting you out of the store and bowing to you, or free green tea in certain taxi cabs. Other times it may come across to foreign visitors as totally surprising, such as emergency toilet-paper stashes or the frequency with which lost wallets are returned to their owners untouched. Then their are the extreme cases, such as a Tokyo Railway apologizing for a 20-second early departure of a train.

Reddit user Amesco may have stumbled upon one of the most particular examples of uniquely Japanese hospitality, however, by posting this apology a Tokyo hotel issued for a one minute internet stoppage at 4:00 in the morning.

You might think that issuing a profuse apology, even one in advance, for a one minute inconvenience at a time many are happy to be wrapped up in their hotel bed blanket to be a mix of trivial and excessive, but the Palace Hotel Tokyo has extra incentive to show the utmost consideration for its guests, even when it comes to something as mundane at internet usage in the wee hours of the morning.

The prestigious 5-star hotel, located in Marunouchi, one of Tokyo's most renowned commercial and business districts, has a reputation for hosting international guests. While someone Skyping their friends or family back home at the time of the maintenance may not mind a minute-long interruption, CEOs and VIPs (who are frequent guests of the hotel) who need to hold conference calls or international dealings at odd hours are likely to be more sensitive to even the briefest of trouble. It makes sense that the hotel would go to the extreme in looking after any and all concerns of their guests, who can sometimes be of high profile.

Nevertheless, it wouldn't be unfair to say that this practice is rooted in the hospitality that's come to be expected between proprietor and customer in the Japanese service industry--although we imagine many Japanese people would be surprised (and touched) by the gesture as well.