Gaman Quotes

“Gaman. I've fought my whole life against it, but looking back, it's all I know how to do. I used gammon when I saw that first text to Dad when I was twelve. I used gammon with Trish when she got popular and made all those new, popular friends. I used gaman when I had a crush on her. I thought I'd changed when we moved to California and I finally made real friends, finally kissed Jamie, finally started to live a little. I thought I was done with gaman. But I was wrong. I tried to do something about Dad, and I failed. I tried to tell Mom the truth about me, and I chickened out. I tried to take action when I thought Jamie might leave me, and I screwed up. So I've resigned myself to my fate like a good Japanese girl, and I'm doing my best to pull myself together, squelch the complaints, and endure, endure, endure. Gaman. This is what Mom has been training me for since I was born, and it's clearly what I'm best at.”
― Misa Sugiura, It's Not Like It's a Secret

“Yuriko a Japanese student who left Japan in search of a dream, new skills, improved English and a new qualification to start a new career. The documentary was recorded over four years in Australia and Japan, it provides a holistic cultural profile of the journey of a Japanese international student”
― Peter Hanami, Gaman A Japanese Students Four Year Study Journey Australia

“Gaman is one of those special words in Japanese that doesn't have an English equivalent. It is the art of perseverance through tough times. It is a part of duty. A sign of growing up. Maturity.”
― Emiko Jean, Tokyo Dreaming

“When Japanese people did gamman and tried to endure that which cannot be endured, they were harming themselves. "It is better," Maruko said, "to speak up and to express oneself. We must learn to do this in Japan.”
― Marie Mutsuki Mockett, Where the Dead Pause, and the Japanese Say Goodbye: A Journey