I wonder why many Japanese people like telling stingy stories to others. Such behavior must derive from their humility. However, they should hesitate to do that toward foreigners with a different context because it causes misunderstandings. I often feel that tutors think I am always worried about money, and my criteria to decide something is money. I figured out the reasons. Other Japanese are implanting wrong ideas in them. They pretend to be poorer than necessary. On the other hand, Chinese people tend to portray themselves better. That tendency is sometimes annoying but mostly comfortable.

Your example doesn't give stingy images but positive ones because it doesn't involve enduring. Japanese tell others how they endure or are patient by telling stingy stories. For example, they say they are being patient by not getting in a taxi or saving money. Their lamentation is too small-scale. I just remembered a cheap show called "Oshin." The show was top-rated in Japan and some countries. Oshin is the name of a girl born in an impoverished rural family. It is a story of a poor girl who succeeds because of her hard work and patience. That matches Japanese values.

You are right. Patience, hard work, and tenacity are the Japanese core values. Studies have been made to clarify the reasons. Various factors like climate, history, religion, and food have been intersected. Rice farming requires cooperation with others and steady effort. Hard work used to bear fruit quickly. People believe such values, somewhat not luck, led them to success.