74720
I'm currently studying for N4 of the JLPT, and came across this conversation.

```

    山田：「田中さん、そのバッグ、素敵ですね。どこで買いましたか。」
    田中；「日本で作られたものですが、ハワイに行ったときに、買いました。」
    
```

In the above example, 田中 said 「日本で作られたもの」Is there a particular reason why the
passive form is used here? I have made a few guesses, namely it may mean that
it was made by someone else in Japan, or he was just being polite. But I
wanted to ask here to get a more experienced opinion just to be sure.

Also, would the sentence be wrong if just 「日本で作ったもの」is used here?
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-03-01T12:46:52.563
74719
2020-03-01T13:42:59.430
35088
question
passive-voice
Passive form 作られる usage
Your first guess is right. They do not know the creator of the bag. They are
just talking about the origin of the bag. So, this 「られた」means passive tone.

If 田中 says 「日本で作ったもの」, it sounds like "Tanaka made this bag in Japan" because
no other subjects are mentioned in this conversation. But, it would be
logically wrong because 田中 also says 「ハワイに行ったときに、買いました。」.

By the way, 「日本で作られたものですが、ハワイに行ったときに、買いました。」 suggests "A manufacturer produced
the bag in Japan, but it may have been exported to Hawai and 田中 bought one in
a retail store in Hawai".
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-03-01T13:35:14.990
74720
2020-03-01T13:42:59.430
2020-03-01T13:42:59.430
37039
37039
74719
answer