曖昧

Ambiguity: A Japansese Norm

Group 11 Date: 00/00/2021

CONTENTS 1. Introducing Aimai
2. Historical Approach
3. Sakoku
4. Geographical and other Determinants
5. Consequences
6. Japanese Yes & No
7. Ambiguity to Japanese in General
8. Literary views (Haiku, Yugen)
9. Ambiguousness (Examples)
10.Demerits
11.Solution
12.Closure
Kenzaburo Oe,
Japan's 2nd Nobel Laureate in Literature

- Aimai
Reading the air is the invisible rule that
keeps Japan running.
Japan is a collectivist society,
therefore they appear
as harmonious as they could get.

• Social rules focus on promoting selflessness and

putting community needs ahead of individual
needs.
• Working as a group and supporting others is
essential.
• People are encouraged to do what's best for
society.
• Families and communities have a central role.
• There is a greater emphasis on common goals
over individual pursuits.
Historical Approach

Tokugawa Shogunate
Regime

• Edo Period
• Final period of traditional Japan
• Internal peace
• Political stability
• Economic growth

• Cultural Intrusion
• Contaminated religious beliefs

• Christianity Banned
Sakoku

• Edicts of 1633-1639
• Isolationist Foreign Policy
• Large vessels were banned

• Trade with Korea, China and Netherlands

• A single port for limited trades Tokugawa Iemitsu
• Securing culture and religion
• Effective isolation
Determinants

Geography

• Treacherous Sea
• For communication: Vessles only

• Unpredictable journey
Determinants

Geography

• Mostly mountainous Lands

• Less Arable Lands
• Even less Inhabitable
Lands
Determinants

Geography

• Limited cultivable land

• Self-reliant Countrymen
• Set out for the Higest porduction
• Cooperative community memeber
• Harmonious Group task
Harmony-和
A Virtue
HIGH
C OSociety
NTEXT
Ambiguous Approach in Speech:

In agreement-

Politely responses with positive undertone.

In disagreement-

Silence.
A remarkably polite opinion with slightly (hesitating)
negative undertone.
THE JAPANESE "YES"

 はい

 うん (commonly used)- an eqivaent

to nod in agreement.

 I’m listening
 I understand
THE JAPANESE "NO"

 To avoid confrontation, they barely use

direct ‘No’.

 "I'll try my best."

 "Until next time."
 "I'll think about it."
 "little..."
 "It's difficult."
 -Not familiar with the
Invite a friend on an outing culture

-Saturday ... it’s little ... • You might ask several

-I’ll think about it times, offer other days as
-Silence a possibilities.
• While it’s normal to the
other cultures, a
You have been refused! Japanese will most likely
list you as ‘someone
incapable of reading the
air’(空気読めない).
• Kousuke: “Can we meet up this Saturday?”
Shin-Ae: “I will think about that”

• Hansuke: “Can we meet up this Saturday?”

Yu-Jing: “Perhaps it is fine”

• “I really do not know”

“I know but I cannot decide if I will go or not”
Some wish not to answer at all and others understand
the silence.

• From the simplest question to the most complex one-

Japanese tend to deliver vague massages.
Western Japanese
shy, timid,
Assertiveness double-faced,
Honesty cautious,
Clarity untrustworthy
 HAI K U

The spring kimono,

Unfastening the cords
around me
One by one.

Hisajo Sugita
1890 - 1946
 e
Hisajo Sugita s
Meiji Poet
s
e
n
Denotation of the Haiku: A sensuous c
Image e

Connotative meaning: o
f
Chord(s)= Social shakles

The space between the lines: Grief and h

frustration of a woman whose gifts have a
gone unrecognized i
k
u
 幽玄 - Yugen
Japanese Aesthetics

beauty in the hidden, in the mysterious

 Demerits

• Administrating international affairs

• Too much silence cause offense
• Incemprehensive and poor communication abilities
• Continuous ambiguious remarks encourage bad impression at times of
international conduct
 Balanced cultural approach

Requirement(s) for Japanese: Paying

heed to others’ understandings and
appeaing somewhat so.

Requirement(s) for outsiders:

Endeavouring to recognize the depth in
Japanese culture, tolerant of
idiosyncrasies existing, or at least
appear so.
 Group No. 11

Tabassum Md. Arafat

Tahmina Md. Musa
Akter Akter Islam
Islam
Nishe Ridoyan

Department of
Japanese Studies

Sociology of Japanese History

JS 203
Thank You