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I am trying to remember if the following sentences have the meaning of "it is
a custom/habit."

(1)「日本では、家に入る前に、靴を脱ぐものです。」  
(2)「日本業界では、自己紹介をする時に、名刺を交換するものです。」  
(3)「日本社会において、３月の１４日に、男は女の子にチョコを上げるものです。」

(1) "Taking one's shoes off before entering a house is something they do in
Japan."  
(2) "In a formal business situation in Japan, people always exchange business
cards when they do their self-introduction."  
(3) "In Japan, on March 14, men give chocolate to women."

I am trying to think of how to say "something is a habit". Has anyone seen
this grammatical structure (verb+ものです。), or something similar, that has my
desired meaning? At the least, I am 97% sure I've heard the sentence
"家に入る前に、靴を脱ぐものです".
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2014-07-08T02:08:32.600
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2014-07-08T05:52:21.470
2014-07-08T02:23:26.173
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question
grammar
"verb+ものです" has an additional meaning?
Yes, this pattern exists, and it is similar to `～べき`, indicating a type of
social or moral obligation/expectation (as opposed to one's own opinion). I
suppose it can have the nuance of something being a habit or custom, but I'd
say only if it's something pretty much accepted by everyone. You wouldn't use
this referring to one's personal habits or customs.

>   * 日本では、家に入る前に、靴を脱ぐものです。 → In Japan, you must/should take off your shoes
> before entering a house.
>   * 日本業界では、自己紹介をする時に、名刺を交換するものです。 → In the Japanese business world, when you
> introduce yourself, you should exchange business cards.
>   * 日本社会において、３月の１４日に、男は女の子にチョコを上げるものです。 → In Japanese society, it's expected
> that men give women chocolates on March 14th.
>

I think you could say "It's customary to ～" in these examples and it would be
appropriate because those are things that every Japanese person does.
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2014-07-08T02:59:25.457
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2014-07-08T02:59:25.457
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answer
These are grammatically correct, but perhaps 「～ものです」 is stronger than you
might think. Especially I think the third example is too strong; it's
something like "Every guy is expected to give chocolates..."

[White Day](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Day) in Japan is not that
obligatory, so I'd recommend 「日本社会では、3月14日に、男性が女性にチョコをプレゼントする（という）習慣があります。」

(BTW, あげる is usually written in hiragana when it means "to give." And giving
chocolates on White Day is rather uncommon.)
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2014-07-08T05:52:21.470
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2014-07-08T05:52:21.470
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answer