A study sought to determine differences in politeness strategies used in requests by American college students (N=80), Japanese students in the United States (N=34), and Japanese students in Japan (N=103). Subjects rated 61 requests in four different situations (differing in terms of addressee level and interrogative, declarative, and imperative forms) according to their level of politeness and frequency of occurrence in natural situations. In all situations, the size of the request was small and the familiarity was low. Requests varied linguistically in the use of verb forms, models, tenses, moods, and tags. Results indicated that the perceptions of all subjects were generally similar. However, Japanese students in the United States perceived requests as being more polite than did Japanese students in Japan. The politeness ratings of Americans and Japanese students in Japan showed the greatest difference, and Americans and Japanese participants in the United States were the most similar. Detailed analysis of findings is presented and 16 hypotheses are tested in terms of situations and politeness, interrogatives, declaratives, imperatives, tense, requests with modals, positively and negatively worded requests, negative politeness, and frequency of use of requests. (Author/CB)