Debito Arudou ("The costly fallout of tatemae and Japan's culture of deceit," Nov. 1) paints with indefensibly broad strokes, completely failing to establish how tatemae culture — essentially a social mechanism to prevent hurt feelings on the part of the listener — somehow translates into Japan being a vast sea of lies.
He trots out a number of recent news events and finds deceptions by their players, but this is something one could do easily with news stories from any country in the world. He demonstrates nothing uniquely Japanese or linked to tatemae.
Worse, he misrepresents some of the stories. At Olympus, Michael C. Woodford was indeed fired as CEO for being a "whistle blower" but the subsequent resignation (and probable indictment) of their top manager, not mentioned by Arudou, reveals that it's the truth that is being valued more highly.
He also sees lies where there aren't any; his radiation obsession clouds his understanding of Tepco's "cover-up" of reactor meltdowns in Fukushima. It bears repeating that nuclear reactors don't have "meltdown sensors" and even today, we don't know for sure, empirically, that the fuel did melt since the reactor vessels cannot yet be safely opened yet. It's simply an analysis of temperature and pressure data that has led to this openly disclosed conclusion.
Miscreants the world over always have and always will continue to lie. If there's anything unique about Japan, it's the country's culture of trying to smooth out the social bumps that naked honesty can so brutally cause.
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.