# Opinion on Asian Customs **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 16, 2020, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinion-on-asian-customs/925652 "2020-11-16T01:27:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 9
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2020, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinion-on-asian-customs/925652/9 "2020-11-16T12:03:09Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > In China, people will blatantly cut in line, or not stand in line at all. In Japan, people are great at queueing. This. Not just about waiting off to the side for elevators and trains to empty, but actively elbowing one’s way to the front of a well-defined queue for a cash register. It’s one of the reasons that tourists from mainland China have a bad reputation in Japan. > [@cultures in which people don't line up](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultures-in-which-people-dont-line-up/705165): > > After some recent experiences with Chinese tourists who didn’t seem to understand or care about the concept of waiting in line to receive service, a brief web search turned up a lot of articles about exactly that thing. [Here’s one example,](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-h-wu/why-wont-the-chinese-line_b_5387959.html) in which the author suggests that the behavior arose during the mid-1900’s, when regular and widespread food shortages meant that if you didn’t elbow your way to the front of the crowd before supplies ran out, you were gonna go hungry that night. Presumably… > [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > - more reluctance to speak the truth Japan has concepts of “tatemae” and “honne”: > **[Honne and tatemae](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honne_and_tatemae)** > > In Japan, honne and tatemae are Japanese terms relating to a person's feelings and outward behaviors. Honne refers to a person's true feelings and desires (本音, hon'ne, "true sound"), and tatemae refers contrastingly to the behavior and opinions one displays in public (建前, tatemae, "built in front", "façade"). This distinction began to be made in the post-war era.: 35  > A person's honne may be contrary to what is expected by society or what is required according to one's position and circumstances... I recall reading once about a related concept in Chinese culture. It was described humorously with an example of a social group trying to decide which restaurant to visit; no individual in the group wants to suggest a place they like, lest they be seen as self-serving - so the only satisfactory solution is for the group to visit a restaurant that nobody likes. I want to say that this social concept was “qi” or “chi,” but I know those names refer to other things, so I just don’t know. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinion-on-asian-customs/925652)._