While being politically active and speaking out are both common practices in the United States, people in Japan typically do not engage in political conversations as often. In fact, Japanese people are less direct with communication than American people. For instance, when a person asks if you would like to join them to go out and eat, American people are most likely to let the person know honestly whether they want to or do not want to join. However, Japanese people are more likely to camouflage their honest opinion by stating reasons as to why they cannot join- with an apologetic tone; this is because they want to avoid any unwanted tensions and to appear as polite as they can. Since, engaging in political conversations can get quite heavy and lead to more tensions which they are not quite comfortable with confronting, this is another situation where Japanese people typically do not speak their minds.
While I do believe that we should feel comfortable with engaging in political conversations, I also understand that we should not hold up one perspective as being better than the other. There are several reasons as to why people develop the cultural perspective they do. Typically, a Japanese individual's actions are shaped mainly by how the majority of people in Japanese society think and act based on what they feel is good for the harmony of Japanese society. Similar to the way in which Americans prioritize freedom, Japanese people prioritize harmony.
