Kizuki #9 | Education × Media × Thinking Habits

Kizuki #9 | Education × Media × Thinking Habits ー How Japanese People Can Strengthen Their “Questioning Skills” in a Global Society by Mineko Arai — Japanese Cross-cultural Communication Specialist

Did you know that Japanese people listen in a way that can feel quite different from what you expect? When I taught British diplomats at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I introduced the Japanese expression “unomi ni suru” — “to swallow information whole.” Their surprise was immediate. For many people in the UK, questioning first is natural. So the idea of “accepting information as it is” felt almost unbelievable.

That moment made something clear to me: Japanese questioning habits are shaped by deep cultural mechanisms — and almost nobody explains this deeper layer.

After 23 years working in Japanese language education and cross-cultural communication, I’ve seen how five cultural forces overlap:

• conformity pressure

• the comfort of saying “yes”

• the avoidance of questions

• the emotion-based structure of Japanese

• the lack of “re-questioning” experiences in education

These forces make “receiving first” more natural than “questioning first.” And this deep structure is exactly what foreigners have always wanted to understand.

In Kizuki #9, I wrote that deeper layer — the part most explanations never reach.

Would it be nice to understand why Japanese people respond the way they do — and feel more confident in your conversations?

If yes, read the full insight in Kizuki #9.

🌸Read the full insight

🔗 Kizuki #9 — How Japanese People Can Strengthen Their “Questioning Skills” in a Global Society

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