Quote:
Originally Posted by akv
I wonder how anyone could know this, or pragmatically why the Japanese who are often polite to the point of saying no with a yes, would suddenly in moment of extreme western candor reveal their actual inner thoughts to an American veteran, they just met at Pearl Harbor, while visiting Hawaii?
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I suppose it would be fairly easy for an American, veteran or not, who speaks and reads Japanese. I suppose it would be as easy for a Japanese to feel they were safe to say anything they choose in their own language as they might believe, as you seem to, that Americans are too ignorant to understand them. Probably why a Japanese in Osaka smilingly insulted me while he handed me the bowl of noodles I'd ordered in English.
Say your in Italy talking on the train, you aren't meeting and greeting but the locals are listening to you talking to your friends. More than a few Europeans speak English.
By the way, my understanding is the Japanese were very polite to Secretary of State Cordell Hull, and bowed as they left his office December 7th.