The virtue Japanese culture actually rewards. Unglamorous and well respected.

What a Japanese person actually thinks
Earnest and slightly school-ish — it's on classroom posters and in every sports-manga training arc. But it's genuinely admired: Japan values 努力 over talent, and saying so about yourself reads as humble rather than boastful.

Meaning

Literally: exert + power
Actually: Effort, sustained hard work.

Scores

Naturalness●●●●●

Extremely common word.

Coolness●●●●●

Plain characters, plain word. Its virtue is sincerity, not style.

Watch out

Nothing embarrassing lurking in here.

百折不撓 hyakusetsu futō
unbowed by a hundred setbacks

Same value, four-character idiom, far more striking as a tattoo.

On skin

努力

Orientation: vertical

Mincho.

The virtue Japanese culture actually rewards. Unglamorous and well respected.

Meaning

Scores

Watch out

You might also like

On skin