Tatemae is the Japanese word for the phenomenon in Japan where one presents oneself to the outer world as is expected by society irrespectively of what one’s true intentions and thoughts are which is called honne. Naturally, tatemae involves polite, nice, helpful behaviour. Now with the introductions out of the way, we got to witness feigned politeness at its best last week when we were at the Nissan factory in Oppama for a little tour. The lady that gave the tour and an informative little presentation spoke with the best honorifics the Japanese language has to offer, making us their honorable guests. What’s more, she wore one of those surgical masks. She said it was for our sakes as to minimize the possibility of infecting us in the unlikely event she herself was infected. Imagine getting a tour and explanation from someone with a mask with the only visible parts of her face being her eyes. Weird? Definitely. The memorable moment however came when we left in a bus they so kindly provided to take us to the station. She waved goodbye as we left the parking lot of the factory. And then she waved some more. And some more. The parking lot was pretty big so it took a while before we left it during which she was still waving. As we hit public road guess what she was doing. At some point we turned around a corner and couldn’t see her anymore. I sometimes wonder how much longer she was standing there…
