律儀な
richigi-na adj

律儀
richigi n

Conscientious is most likely

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.

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