Is しかたない a characteristically Japanese response to a question?


It has been suggested in a comment here: [How is しかたない an opinion about a
product feature?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/65544/how-
is-%E3%81%97%E3%81%8B%E3%81%9F%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84-an-opinion-about-a-product-
feature) that しかたない might be a characteristically Japanese response to a
question (that a Western person might never give).

Is this a valid observation? If so, what would a Japanese person mean when
replying in this manner to a market research question about a product?




In the context of your other post, I think that it's not a peculiarly Japanese
response. I would think of it in that context as an expression of the feeling
_"there's nothing I can do about it"_.

However, I also think that in Japanese culture, it's more common than in
English-speaking culture to express feelings of "there's nothing
I/we/you/anyone can do about it".

In English-speaking culture _(please let me know if you agree)_ , a person who
often expresses such feelings of some kind of "helplessness" is likely to be
looked down upon as not being motivated, self-empowered, etc. It seems to me,
in Japanese culture this is not the case and expressions like this are more
likely to elicit understanding, fellow-feeling and respect for a persons
humility.

