Wary --- I would be wary of simply criticizing the Japanese way based on our Western way of thinking and judging things. Indeed, to us it might seem like Japanese students can never criticize their sensei and therefore never engage in debates, which in the West are considered an essential part of learning. However, there is a whole "face" culture in Japan, where this public critique would be seen as extremely negative and as a personal challenge to the teacher. However, I am certain that they have other methods of engaging, a quiet, more meditative way, in which someone´s view can indirectly be brought to the attention of a superior without causing loss of face. They have ways of signaling disagreement without it having to be a public show down. And debates between peers, people considered of the same level (classmates in the case of students) are quite common, from what I have gathered. So, what seems like a negative in one culture, is actually a positive in another, and the job still gets done, because Japan still has excellent doctors and engineers...

Source author: Christian Peter Clay Mendoza cclay@sre.gob.mx