Concerns about privacy are minimal in a country where people are accustomed to living in houses with
paper walls between rooms, and where it s considered bad form for
people to make personal phone calls
during the workday. Japanese are
good at being physically close to others without being intrusive-keeping
their voices down and not being a
distraction. In fact, non-Japanese working in Japan often unintentionally create friction with their
Japanese colleagues by not being able to fit into the expected norms of
Japanese office behavior, and calling
too much attention to themselves.
For example, in my case, when I was working at a Japanese company in Tokyo there was a notable contretemps over than fact that my shoes were too noisy, which was deemed to show a lack of concern for my colleagues.