[3] A related term, gamanzuyoi (我慢強い, gaman-tsuyoi), a compound with tsuyoi (strong), means "suffering the unbearable" or having a high capacity for a kind of stoic endurance.
[11] Gaman has been attributed to the Japanese-Americans and others held in the American internment camps during World War II[12][13] and to those affected by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in northern Japan.
[14] In the internment camps, gaman was misperceived by the non-Japanese as introverted behavior or as a lack of assertiveness or initiative, rather than as a demonstration of strength in the face of difficulty or suffering.
[25] The mentality of gaman seems to be derived from the strong conviction of Japanese way of fatalism,[26] which was reinforced by Buddhism mujo, impermanence,[27][28]nihilism,[29][30] tradition of self destruction,[31] the collective nature of its society,[32] and the forced attitudes of resignation and submission under the Edo feudal period.
The sequence of events of Japanese fatalism seems to be explained as dormant, ceaseless accumulation of self-righteousness,[34] which is justified by accusing other's faults[35][36] rarely explicitly, mainly in their thought, and sudden manifestation of aggression if suppression (gaman) fails.