When conducting face-to-face research in Japan, be it focus groups, in-depth interviews or quantitative surveys, there is a uniquely Japanese social phenomenon that you'd best be aware of. The key words are "honne" and "tatemae" and these could be the difference between generating a set of robust insights and something that sends you off on completely the wrong path!

Maintaining harmony: inside and out

In order satisfy the innate Japanese need to preserve social harmony, it is quite normal that individuals in Japan present a certain face to the world. This is called tatemae, literally meaning façade, and is the behavior that one displays in public.

	Stay away from my honne!

tatemae is what is expected by society and required according to one's position and circumstances. In many ways it reflects the fact that Japanese people are more heavily influenced by the need to observe "obligation" and "duty" when compared with more individualistic Western cultures.

tatemae are essentially the harmless 'little white lies' that are used to grease the wheels of conversation and keep everyone happy. Except that they're happening all the time, everywhere!

But behind the tatemae lurks the honne...

honne refers to a person's true feelings and desires. These of course may be contrary to what is expected by society or what is required according to one's position and circumstances They are often kept hidden, except with ones closest friends.

The honne/tatemae divide is considered to be of tantamount importance in Japanese culture. The very fact that Japanese has specific words for this leads some Japan specialists to see this conceptualization as evidence of greater Japanese complexity and rigidity in etiquette and culture.

So market researchers best be prepared!

Getting to the truth in Japan

Special care needs to be taken when conducting research in Japan to ensure accurate and relevant results are arrived at. This is especially true for focus groups, where respondents may answer contrary to their own feelings (i.e. tatemae) if they perceive that their own opinions are out of line with those of the group.

Here are a few tips that can help:

1. Reduce the number of participants in the focus groups compared to other countries; the pressure to conform to group opinion increases relative to the size of the group. Indeed certain clients these days favor doing triads only in Japan.


2. Ensure that the name of the end client is not revealed, until after the research (or not at all!). If participants feel that a person from the client company is watching, they may be more positive towards that company or its products.


3. Involve a skilled local moderator who is specialized in working with the target group and who can interpret their responses. A typical conversation in a group can follow this pattern:
   
   Participant A: I like the color red.
   Participant B: I also like the color red - its very nice. And blue is good too.
   
   .... this may actually mean that participant B is disagreeing with participant A on the color red. So it's vital to have someone who can read between the lines and probe in a sensitive way for the honne when responses like this arise.

Japan is a fascinating country for market researchers to study, due to these very unique differences in its culture. But at the same time the differences can represent something of a challenge to the uninitiated. At JMI we're always happy to help you get past the tatemae and bring you to the honne!