Blogs and Articles from Third Way Forum Membrs

・TAG Feedback is often used in the West. (T=Tell what you like, A=Ask questions, G=Give suggestions)

・Quite often foreigners experience in Japan that they sense something off but the Japanese do not tell them.

・Many Japanese often hesitate to correct mistakes of others or give any negative feedback out of fear of damaging relationship and out of consideration to save face of others.

・Many Japanese also often hesitate to give good feedback out of shyness. Especially they hardly praise those who are close to them such as their own spouses etc.

・Kuuki Yomu (Reading the Air) is the way the Japanese describe their somewhat telepathic communication style without explicit words.

・Although many Japanese people are proud of this Kuuki Yomu culture of Japan, in reality there are a lot of miscommunications and frustrations among the Japanese as well. The Japanese may be able to read the air with more heightened awareness but different people could still interpret it differently.

・It may be the case that the Japanese people may be a bit over-confident about this Kuuki Yomu communication style. Especially now in the new normal world with remote online working, it is getting more difficult and unrealistic to understand each other just by reading the air which they do not even share any more.

・In Japan, when it comes to feeback at work, it seems critically important to have a proper relationship or an official set-up that justifies the two people to give and receive feedback. With this mutually understood relation, the Japanese can give or receive feedback openly with psychological safety.

・Based on the level of relationship and mutual trust, giving and receiving feedback could be very challenging or very smooth. In Japan, therefore, a good relationship building effort should come first if you would like to build a good feedback culture.