[noodle]

I've always wondered this and felt it's too rude for me to ask the Japanese I know. In your experience, with Japanese in Japan and abroad (for short periods, maximum a couple of months on an exchange program of some sort), do you think they keep the same etiquettes etc?

The reason I ask is because a lot of the descriptions about Japanese I see on this forum are not what I experience with Japanese exchange students... One of which is this apology thing. I agree that they never try to make an excuse and they never try to explain, but NEVER, in the past four years of helping out the exchange students have I heard someone say something along the lines of what Nyoronin just put! So, do you guys know if they follow the principle of "when in Rome, do as the Romans"? or do they still act as though they're in Japan? or is it simply a new generation thing (all the students are never older than 23)?