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Japan/Anglo-American Cross-Cultural Communication
This chapter presents a study of communication between two groups, speakers of Standard Japanese in Japan and speakers of Standard American English in the United States.1 The long-standing assumption that strong national cultures are expressed in the standard languages of these two countries deserves scrutiny, given strong regional traditions and ethnic diversity in both countries (Shibatani 1990; Wolfram and Ward 2006; Okamoto 2008).
As we begin our discussion of cross-cultural Japanese/American English communication, we must address the issue of Nihonjinron, which refers to theories of the uniqueness of the Japanese culture and conversational patterns. There is not an agreed-upon list of those who subscribe to Nihonjinron, but there has been a long-running controversy about Japanese uniqueness that has resulted in a widespread disavowal of past research. Indeed, anti-Nihonjinron statements are common in current research. For example, Kubota (2008: 343) maintains, “Attributes such as indirectness, inexplicitness, silence, non-logicalness, nonverbal and emotional tendencies, and so on corroborate the discourse of cultural harmony and homogeneity” associated with Japanese language and culture. When contrasted with their opposites in Western languages and cultures, Kubota asserts they reflect “a legacy of colonialism and Orientalism.” Mori and Nakamura (2008: 53) warn against the ...
