Once, during our more than 20 year stay in the same apartment, we completely blanked out on paying our rent and were more than a week late in paying it. Unlike most people these days, we still pay our rent in cash and in person to the landlord. When we failed to pay, instead of the landlord or his wife charging over and saying we were late and needed to pay, she came trotting over and said, "we're never home, so you couldn't pay us." On occasion, I've also heard her ringing various neighbors' doorbells and offering up this same spiel.
This is a Japanese way of sparing you the embarrassment of your mistakes rather than confronting you about screwing up, and I'll very much miss it.
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