Polite
Fictions is the result of observations by Nancy Sakamoto, an
American woman who married a Japanese man. It is published in
Japan, for Japanese, but is written mostly in English. The premise
is that a culture's interpersonal communications a dependant on the
cultural values, in that communication is designed to make the other
person look good in the light of those values. These values are
the "polite fictions", because the communication patterns assume that
each person is adhering to these values, whether or not they actually
are and regardless of the person's opinion of the other.
The first section of the book lays out the fundamental values of
American culture: all people are equals, we want to be close
friends with everyone, being relaxed regardless of the (possibly
stressful) circumstances is best, and we are independent of each
other. Of course, these values are very contradictory to Japanese
values: all people are
not
equals, we are only close to those we know, vigorous work shows we
understand the gravity of the task, and we are dependant on each
other. The social ramifications of these values are a logical
extension of the values. Americans expect to treat and be treated
equally, whereas Japanese assume inferiority in conversation. To
Americans it seems that the Japanese have no self-worth. To
Japanese, the Americans seem presumptuous. Similarly, Americans
try to be relaxed because it shows that they are in control of the
situation. By contrast, the Japanese rarely appear relaxed because
that would show that they do not place any importance on the task to be
done.
Having outlined the polite fictions of cultural conversation with
copious examples, Sakamoto discusses some of the secondary values
resulting from the culture's primary values. Americans expect to
be treated as individuals and value originality because it shows your
individuality. The Japanese are primarily members of a group, so
they act in harmony with the group as much as possible. A
corollary of this is that Americans are fairly direct in their
conversation, as it is the idea that is important. The outward
form is much more important for Japanese. A particularly revealing
example comes in the form of a television drama where the daily
newspaper reveals that a girl in a television drama who had been
struggling with illness will die in the upcoming episode. To
Americans this is unthinkable because it is the plot, or storytelling
idea, that is important, but to the Japanese the event is less important
than how the characters in the drama react to it.
Sakamoto closes the book with a sort of how-to of certain cultural
communications. Because Americans are value information, they ask
a lot of questions, both for information and to show that they are
interested. Unfortunately, since the Japanese are dependant on
each other, questions are not lightly asked, as it will likely trouble
the receiver to find an answer (or initiate an action), so the
American's questions will be a source of some stress. Similarly
troublesome is the issue of apologies. Americans defend their
opinions until they are no longer tenable, so when someone does not
defend themselves but issues an apology, they are admitting that they
are wrong. In Japan, apologies are a social lubricant and are not
admission of guilt. Thus Americans find it hard to make the
necessary apologies if they feel they have done no wrong but the
Japanese will unwittingly (and incorrectly) admit their guilt in
the eyes of Americans.
The discussion on conversation is a good illustration of the cultural
values at work. American conversation aims to find new ideas and
so the conversationalists will challenge each other until a clear and
hopefully new picture has emerged. Japanese conversation has none
of this disruptive competition; in an orderly fashion each person
gets their turn to speak, and everyone speaks on the same topic,
although presumably with a slightly different angle.
Sakamoto has written down some excellent observations of the cultural
values of America and Japan. Unfortunately, she never quite
recognizes the cultural values themselves, only the "polite fictions"
that cultural interactions must maintain, which precludes some
interesting discussions. In particular, the issue of discovering
truth is fairly essential to American eyes. But truth tends to
disturb group harmony and it appears to be less important in Sakamoto's
discussion of Japanese values. Yet covering up truth leads to
problems. So is the American value more "right" or is there a
compensating Japanese value? Regardless, though, the insights that
Sakamoto has are invaluable and are illustrated with concrete
examples. Definitely a must read by any American interacting with
the Japanese (and, of course, vice-versa).
Review: 9.5
Very readable, well-chosen examples,
and very coherent. The material is cogent yet concise and contains
an unusual insight. However, a lack of discussion of the
underlying social values limits the scope of the book and does not give
the reader tools to discover further polite fictions. Still, the
book is very practical and eminently useful.