Honne-Tatemae

Honne means ‘informal, personal reality in disregard of social parameters.’ Tatemae means ‘official, public and socially required or politically correct.’

Honne means an opinion or an action motivated by one’s true inner feelings and Tatemae is an opinion or an action influenced by social norms. These two words are often considered a dichotomy contrasting genuinely held personal feelings and opinions from those that are socially controlled.

Honne is one’s deep motive or intention while Tatemae refers to motives or intentions that are socially tuned, those that are shaped, encouraged, or suppressed by majority norms. Another dimension of this dichotomy is that Honne is expressed privately while Tatemae may be openly professed. Observing the formalities of a business meeting, a person tends to follow protocol.

Later, while enjoying conversation with his colleagues over a glass of beer or sake (rice wine), the same person will frankly express his Honne regarding the issues raised at the meeting. Aiming at peace and harmony, the public self avoids confrontation, whereas the private self tends toward sincere self-expression.

In trying to understand Honne and Tatemae and how these contrasting concepts function in Japan, it is important to examine certain cultural characteristics such as a dislike of direct expression and the importance of harmony and ceremony in a straightforward manner for fear that it might hurt the feelings of others. So they are usually careful about what they say and they often use Tatemae in order to get along well with others.

For example, when a person is visiting someone’s house in Japan and it becomes time for supper, people will often say, “Won’t you dine with us?” But this is not really an invitation; rather it is a subtle hint that it is time to go home. To those from other countries this may sound confusing, but for the Japanese it is a natural way to interact socially. So the correct response to, “Won’t you dine with us?” is “Thank you very much, but I am not hungry.” This type of behavior is formulaic in Japanese society (Roger J. Davies & Osamu Ikedo, 2002).