Communication in a high context culture like Japan is efficient in many ways, since there’s a lot that’s left unsaid; but unfortunately, that means that if you’re not in the “in group,” you won’t fully understand what’s going on, and coercing a full explanation out of somebody seems worse than pulling teeth.
Some of my favorite posts from the blog This Japanese Life are about the kinds of miscommunication that happens in a high context society. Stories like “On Awkward Acts of Generosity in Japan” or “On Japanese Probability” illustrate the kind of communication breakdown that can happen when people make really broad (or even not-so-broad) assumptions.
Many of the side-effects of living in a high context society aren’t as lighthearted. For expatriates living in Japan attempting to assimilate, or for even Japanese people who live inside the culture, these differences in communication can have far-reaching consequences.
Last year, we wrote about Japanese doctors who fudge the truth in big ways, like neglecting to tell patients that they have cancer. A doctor and patient may think that they have a mutual understanding when, in fact, their interests run at odds with each other.
When the people in a high context society mistakenly think that they share the same assumptions, the results can be catastrophic.