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One of the things that makes it a bit harder to enjoy life in a foreign country is difficulty understanding cross-cultural context. Japan is generally considered a high-context culture, meaning people communicate based on inherent understanding. The United States, on the other hand, is considered a low-context culture, relying largely on explicit verbal explanations to keep everyone on the same page.
The verbal and nonverbal cues of low vs. high-context communication can be challenging in their own right. In high-context cultures, they’re even more so because you cannot just ask people what to do, expect them to tell you, or even count on it to be enough if you simply pay attention.
In the US, for example, a dress code might be explicitly stated at orientation. If not, you can ask your office about the appropriate dress code at work, and your boss might talk to you directly if you step out of line. In Japanese work culture, you’re expected to know that your coworker commenting on the size of your earrings (even if it sounds like a compliment) is a cue to rethink the jewelry.
If you don’t get this hidden meaning in Japan’s high-context culture, you might be considered KY (kuki yomenai), literally meaning you “can’t read the air.”
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2 Premises to Decipher a High-Context Culture
The benefits of cultural diversity will never come without intercultural communication. To hack the social settings (and ranges) of a high-context culture like Japan, you can try exercises like making a culture map. Even for that, however, there are two fundamental skills you’ll need.
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Observation
The use of observation in a high-context culture is not just about watching other people. It’s about actively observing all nonverbal communication details, such as facial expressions and gestures. These communication styles might seem universal, but something as simple as a smile could have many layers in a given culture.
Inference
Inference, as defined by Dictionary.com, is “the process of deriving the strict logical consequences of assumed premises.” Any given Japanese interaction relies heavily on a few of these assumed premises.
First is the ethical doctrine that human nature is fundamentally good. Even with no external influence or threat of punishment (fines, imprisonment, etc.), Japanese culture dictates that people voluntarily demonstrate generosity.
Second is the commitment to empathy as a good and desirable human behavior. To gain a sense of empathy, you must consider yourself and others not as separate entities, but as one connected entity. That is to say, putting yourself in others’ shoes is considered a praiseworthy act.
These assumed premises are the source of orderly Japanese behavior.
Take queuing, for example. Japanese people, on the whole, will queue for things without cutting in line because there is a generally assumed premise of respect, even among strangers. This might sound familiar—it resembles the Golden Rule in Western culture of treating others as you want to be treated. And just like the Golden Rule, assumed premises inform both simple and complex behaviors in high-context cultures.
How to Enjoy a Beer in a High-Context Culture
Here’s a classic high-context culture example from Japan: When ordering the first drink at a nomikai (drinking party), one tends to order the same drink as everyone else. Why?
On the surface, certainly, this behavior shows conformity with others in your party. Look deeper, however, and you can see that the act is also selfless: It saves time for the waiters preparing drinks and saves the people in your group from having to wait for the toast. If one person orders a cocktail when everyone else gets beer, the cocktail will likely come last, leaving everyone else waiting, beer in hand.
Those assumed premises fit in here in two key ways:
- You, as a well-behaved (good) customer, don’t want to make other people in your party wait because of your personal preference.
- You, as a person with empathy, know that the waiter will do his best to prepare the drinks as fast as possible, and you don’t want to put undue pressure on them by ordering something different.
In such a situation, everyone is reading the air. Everyone is putting themselves in everyone else’s shoes. And no one says a word about it.
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Adjusting Long-Term to a High-Context Culture
If you live in Japan long enough and keep a close eye on these assumptions, you’ll find that many of the Japanese behaviors that seemed mysterious reveal themselves to be, ultimately, very logical. This isn’t to say that understanding high-context behavior patterns is easy. It takes time and critical observation. But things should be a little easier if you consider the assumed premises of human nature and empathy.
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Luckily, it’s easy to practice. Try going to a park and observing how parents teach their children how to behave. Put your detective hat on and infer the premises behind each act of discipline.
In this Technovate era, one can, of course, also use technology. G-Mode created a game called “Kuukiyomi” (available for Nintendo and Sony platforms) to help people examine social situations. Players face simulations in which they need to read the air, and the game scores how well they do so. It’s easy training to understand the hidden assumptions within Japanese culture.
Whether you’re observing kids at the park or in a simulation at home, developing the skill to understand the underlying assumptions of Japan’s high-context culture will earn you strong cultural skills to behave in appropriate ways, gain respect from others, and live happily ever after in Japan.
At least socially.
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