律儀な
richigi-na adj

律儀
richigi n
 
A friend of mine once asked ”What is Richigi in Ehglish?”.My answer was”nice”,which gave me a feeling that there had to be a better one.This was not wrong,but did not hit the mark either.


So I looked it up,and the answer is…
 
conscientious
 
According to some dictionaries and explanations on the net,I think this is the best one.
 
Words below are alternatives:
 
trustworthy
dutiful
honest
proper
 
Japanese richigi contains many meanings,for me,it seems to have all meanings above.
 
In Japanese,律儀な人 or a conscientious person,is almost 100% compliment.It has more positive connotaion than “good” or “nice”.
 
The reason why I put “almost” is that 律儀な rarely has implications like these:
 
gullible
foolishly honest
honest to a fault
 
But still, these words do not describe one’s character as evil.