■Japanese Society and Culture
◆ The Japanese and “Face”
◇Saving face is very important in Japanese society.
◇The Japanese believe that refusing someone’s request brings embarrassment and loss of face to the other person.
◇If the request can not be accepted, they will say, “it’s inconvenient” or “it’s under consideration”.
◇Face is a symbol of personal dignity and means having high status with one’s peers.
◇The Japanese will never do anything to lead to loss of face. Therefore, they do not publicly criticize, offend, or put anyone on-the-spot.
◇Face can be lost, taken away, or earned by praise and thanks.
◆ Harmony in Japanese Society
◇Harmony is the core value in Japanese society.
◇Harmony is the guiding principle for the Japanese in family and business meetings and in society as a whole.
◇Japanese children are taught to behave harmoniously and cooperatively with others from the time when they go to pre-school.
◇The Japanese educational system stresses the interdependence of all people, and Japanese children are not taught to be independent but rather to work together.
◇The need for harmonious relationships between people is displayed in much Japanese behavior.
◇They attach great importance to politeness, personal responsibility and working together for the universal, rather than the individual.
◇They demonstrate facts that might be unpleasant in a gentle and indirect way.
◇They view working in harmony as the vital factor for working productively.
◆ Japanese Non-Verbal Communication
◇Since the Japanese pursue harmony and are group-dependent, they depend on facial expression, tone of voice and posture to tell them what someone feels.
◇They often have more faith in non-verbal messages than the spoken words as words can contain several meanings.
◇The meaning of the words is affected by the situation in which something is said. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the context to fully appreciate the reply.