Japanese Communications

Japanese communications are no more complicated than another country’s methods of communicating, however they are bound by culture and therefore take a lot of exploring to fully understand.

Communicating in Japanese is an essential part of relationships in Japanese society, especially those revolving around the art world, where the teacher-student relationship is so heavily valued.

Here is a list of some of the various forms of Japanese Communications:

Japanese Silence: Ishin Denshin and the Art of Communicating
Non Verbal Communication in Japan and Art

While I was studying for a year in Japan during my junior year at Kansai Gaikokugo Daigaku (Kansai Foreign Language Univ.), I realized for the first time the many small differences in the way Japanese and westerners communicate. I had studied Japanese language in college and had read many books and articles on Japan so I had the basic idea that the two countries were different. However, it wasn’t until I had stepped off the plane at Kansai International Airport in Osaka that I started to understand first hand the small differences that many people take for granted.

Many of the problems that arise between Japan and the outside world are due to a lack of sufficient communication. One of the main reasons Japanese and Americans misunderstand each other is that their goals in communicating are different.

The Message

Defining and analyzing the message that has been communicated is an American goal, while the goal of Japanese communications are to see that messages remain implicit and understood by the group. Although each group has an ultimate goal in communicating, it doesn’t mean that Americans never implicitly communicate or Japanese explicitly communicate; nor does it mean that Japanese never individually interact with each other or that Americans never work in groups.

The difference is that Americans and Japanese use and explain communication differently to understand it in their own groups, but this often gets inadequately presented to another group.

Who’s Responsibility

Communication is a receiver phenomenon, which means that communication takes place only when the information is transmitted and comprehended by the receiver. Within the sender-message-receiver model, the responsibility of communicating falls on the person sending the message and the determination of whether communication has actually taken place relies on the receiver.

No matter what area of Japan you are interested in, whether it’s Japanese Gardens or Japanese Pottery, it is the observer’s job to interpret how they feel about a work as well as try to understand what the designer what trying to say.

This abstract form of Japanese communications is obviously left up to interpretation, however a study of Japanese culture and the artists situation may bring you closer to the intended meaning.

In an ideal situation the receiver will take into account the senders intention rather than any mistake the sender may have made in the message that was sent. It is the sender’s responsibility to encode the message in a way that he or she feels will be easily decoded by the receiver. Hopefully the receiver will decode the message keeping in mind the intentions of the sender.

An American Company

Let’s consider, for example, that an American company has sent four beautiful yellow and white chrysanthemums as a small thank you to one of its partner companies in Japan. The sender has just broken several social rules, even though the intentions were good.

In Japan, the arrangement of flowers is a complex art in which every flower has a legend behind it. Yellow and white flowers are traditionally used for funeral arrangements. Similarly, giving four of anything in Japan is not a good idea, because the pronunciation of the Japanese word for “four” and the word for “death” is very similar, so bad associations are made with things containing four.

Also, flowers are usually given only at funerals, during courtship and as get-well gifts. From this example, you can see to what extent Japanese communications affects different but connected areas such as the arts, general society, and business as well.

Although the intentions of the American company may have been good, that may not always be enough. It would be up to the Japanese receiver to determine if this was an honest mistake or if they had been familiar enough with Japan to realize their traditions. In all likelihood, the Japanese would refrain from criticizing, so as not to embarrass the American colleagues.

A Study of Culture

Japanese communications between different companies as well as a teacher and a student of a traditional Japanese art often take place under the surface. This is something that often takes time, but is far more rewarding than what would be gained by bluntly stating the obvious. There is so much in music and art that cannot be expressed verbally and attempts to only hinder the receiver from getting to the true meaning.

Japanese communications involve so much more than merely trying to learn the language. Language is built around cultures, so I have always found it extremely important to study the detailed nuances of culture as well as the language and words that are needed to express oneself.

Ma: The Japanese Aesthetic of Space in Art
Non Verbal Communications in Japan
The Art of Silent Communications

Here is a website with charts and other information for learning the Japanese language.

Japanese Language at "Japanese Beauties"