
'Tatemae' and 'Honne' - White Lies and Honesty in Japanese Society - LiveTheDream
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A571565
======
randall
This reminds me of the public / private dichotomy within corporations.
Publicly, a corporate officer might need to say something to not offend
potential partners or investors, but privately they may feel another feeling
which they express to their coworkers.

It's interesting that culturally, the Japanese appear to have identified this
behavior and have given it a name.

------
larrik
Am I the only one who had trouble following this? I read the article and still
have no idea what "Tatemae" and "Honne" actually mean. Is it like "Fine"?

Also, is it really a news flash that spoken words aren't strictly meant to be
taken at face value at all times?

The "I'm fine" "Great" is mostly just a handshake to give the other person a
chance to talk first anyway (for whatever reason). I think there is a great
deal of nuance and interesting parts of the exchange, and this article covers
just about none of them. (And honesty has almost nothing to do with it)

~~~
chc
I think you're having trouble with this because you're looking for the words
to have a meaning in a context where they don't.

 _Tatamae_ is most literally equivalent to the English "putting up a front" —
it's a wall of propriety between yourself and the outside world. It's not
something you _say_ to people; it's the _reason_ you say those things.

 _Honne_ means something like "true thoughts." It's what you really feel.
Exposing your _honne_ in situations that call for _tatamae_ is a bit like
exposing your genitals in a situation that calls for pants — and like pants,
_tatamae_ is what you're expected to put on most of the time.

Of course this kind of behavior exists everywhere to varying degrees, but it's
rarely as formalized (both in practice and in the language available to talk
about it) as it is in Japan.

------
spinchange
I have been trying to remember these two names for AGES. Thank you!

------
varjag
So, Britons still make fun out of French.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
The choice of nationality seemed pretty arbitrary to me. In what way did the
article "make fun out of [the] French"?

