So, I don’t know if you’ve ever interacted with a Japanese person before and have experienced these concepts called honne and tatemae. But in case you do, here’s a heads-up so you know what to expect and how you should converse with someone from the land of the rising sun.

Communication - Western vs. Eastern

Honne (本音) means ‘real intention’ or ‘motive’. Basically, it refers to a person’s true emotions and desires. What a person feels in private or ‘on the inside’ may be contradictory to what society expects. It may also be inappropriate for one’s situation or circumstances in life or relationships. Therefore, one’s honne is (for the most part) kept hidden from everyone except for their closest friends and family. This is so that the wa or ‘harmony’ in society and personal relationships are not disturbed. Remember, Asian cultures are all about harmony and the group trumps the individual. The function and prosperity of the collective group matters most in life.

Tatemae (建前), on the other hand, means pretext or literally ‘facade’. It is the behavior and opinions one displays in public. Tatemae may or may not match your honne (true feelings, right) and is described as what is expected of someone out in society. Tatemae protects the wa, allows for pleasant interaction, and ensures no one will be offended. Basically, you act and think a certain way in front of people even if you don’t feel like it (i.e. a hard job situation).

These concepts are often hard for Westerners to understand and seen as two-faced and ‘white lying’. But for some examples of the lack of tatemae and too much honne in the West:

 

 

“I want my life back.”

 

“Yo Taylor, I’m really happy for you…I’ll let you finish. But Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time! One of the best videos of all time!”

“Matt, Matt, you don’t even — you’re glib. You don’t even know what Ritalin is.”

“The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.”

Here’s a good, simple quote:

“People in Japan are implicitly taught from a young age how to use honne and tatemae properly, and these concepts are important in maintaining face and not hurting the feelings of others; therefore, what a speaker says in not always what he or she really means. Conversation is not comfortable in Japan unless honne and tatemae are properly employed, and those who cannot use these concepts effectively are not considered to be good communicators, because they may hurt others or make a conversation unpleasant by revealing honne at the wrong moment. People have to be careful about situations in which honne should be hidden and tatemae used, and in order to do this, they need experience and sensitivity.”

-Roger J. Davies & Osamu Ikeno; The Japanese Mind: Understanding Contemporary Japanese Culture

 

Also, these guys at I Speak Japanese put together this interesting video discussing honne & tatemae

Subcultures wouldn’t be subcultures if they weren’t a bit…inaccessible. Here’s the first post in a series to give you a taste of some of the undercurrents (past & present) in Japanese society.

Subculture #1 - Dekotora

This group of folks loves to dress up their cars, in the spirit of Pimp My Ride, but with a tad more Vegas-esque/Transformers vibe. This movement to make one’s semi-truck look like a slot-machine-on-wheels began in the 70’s and apparently it’s still rolling today (no pun intended).

he looks comfy…

 

I guess it’s popular enough these days to get a Wii video game made about it.

 

 

70’s clip that makes you anxious to see if the Road Warrior, Johnny Cash, or afro’s & bellbottoms will appear throughout it.

Tetsuya Ishida was a Japanese painter who painted scenes of ordinary Japanese life, but he often inserted himself into the paintings as one who was trapped in machinery or as a cog-in-the-wheel of society. He was killed in 2005 by being hit by a train (possibly suicide).  

His work is really stunning and communicates the loneliness, isolation and despair that a lot of Japanese men feel in the workforce. His gallery is definitely worth checking out.

          

Confucius Lives Next Door: What Living In The East Teaches Us About Living In The West

I’ve been reading this book lately (recommended by a friend) and I’m almost done with it. It’s fascinating and really helps explain the complexity and the beauty of Eastern thinking and living. T.R. Reid, an NPR journalist and author, was offered a job to live in Tokyo, Japan to work at a newspaper and this book is about his (and his family’s) experience. 

Anyway, Reid’s basic thesis seems bold even to himself:

“It’s an audacious argument: East Asians act the way they do at the dawn of the twenty-first century because of a few basic precepts laid down by a Chinese sage who lived at the end of the fifth century B.C….Confucius.”

Although it is a huge generalization and blanket statement to suggest that every Asian person and society is shaped by the teachings of Confucius, Reid’s book makes a very convincing case about how Asian culture and societies have developed because of the teachings, moral values and social structures put forth by this ancient sage. He posits that this is why Asians still are able to maintain their core values in a global market today - especially in Japan. 

          

The book, however, is hilarious, witty, insightful, and full of compelling anecdotes.  I’ll be sharing excerpts out of this for the next couple of weeks just to give you glimpses into the mystery that East Asia often appears to be to Americans. And, who knows, maybe you’ll even gain some insight about living in the West as well. 

You can see more of T.R. Reid’s stuff at his website.

That is what Toshihiko Kudo said Japan is doing in a recent New York Times Article. Kudo is a board member of Ashinaga, a nonprofit group based in Tokyo that helps poor children and orphans.

Photo by NY Times - Ko Sasaki

Satomi Sato, a 51-year-old widow, delivering newspapers, one of her two jobs. She is raising a teenage daughter on less than $17,000 a year.

Some great excerpts from the article below:

“Poverty is still a very unfamiliar word in Japan”…“The government knew about the poverty problem, but was hiding it,” said Makoto Yuasa, head of the nonprofit Antipoverty Network. “It was afraid to face reality.”

Many Japanese, who cling to the popular myth that their nation is uniformly middle class, were further shocked to see that Japan’s poverty rate, at 15.7 percent, was close to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s figure of 17.1 percent in the United States, whose glaring social inequalities have long been viewed with scorn and pity here.

Poverty experts call Ms. Sato’s case typical. They say more than 80 percent of those living in poverty in Japan are part of the so-called working poor, holding low-wage, temporary jobs with no security and few benefits. They usually have enough money to eat, but not to take part in normal activities, like eating out with friends or seeing a movie. “Poverty in a prosperous society usually does not mean living in rags on a dirt floor,” said Masami Iwata, a social welfare professor at Japan Women’s University in Tokyo. “These are people with cellphones and cars, but they are cut off from the rest of society.”

Mrs. Sato’s closing remarks remind us of why we can’t wait to go to Japan and see the alienation and isolation of so many Japanese people redeemed: 

“In bed at night, I think: ‘How did I fall so far? How did I get so isolated?’ ” Ms. Sato said. “But usually, I try not to think about it.”

We can’t wait to love these people, not just spiritually, but in every way - physically, psychologically, emotionally, socially, etc.  We want them to know the love of Christ in the gospel, but we also want them to have the tools, skills, & opportunities to flourish and prosper in this world. Because the gospel is about restoring broken and alienated people in every way - with God, with human beings, with themselves, and with all of creation.  

Click the photo to go to the rest of this article I found on Tofugu.com.  It’s pretty interesting…well, at least to me since I’ll be interacting with this problem hopefully while I’m in Japan.  The stats might have changed since this post was from January of this year.

Quote from Tofugu.com:

Japan’s jobless rate is currently at 5.2%, which is a record high (way better than America’s, but still). There is a 15.7% poverty rate, one of the highest amongst industrialized nations. 15,800 people live on the streets of Japan (according to the government – in reality this number is probably higher with 10,000+ in Tokyo alone). To sum things up, things aren’t all that great, and the recession is hitting Japan pretty hard as well. If you are poor in Japan, however, there are a couple of interesting options for you.