ed
with a view to inferring the real meaning, for the genius of the
language requires him to assume that the real meaning is not on the
surface, and chooses his own language with the same circumspection.
The Occidental extends his hand for a hearty shake--if he wishes to be
friendly--looks his visitor straight in the eye, speaks directly from
his heart, without suspicion or fear of being misunderstood, expresses
his own opinions unreservedly. The Occidental, accustomed to this
direct and open manner, spontaneously doubts the man who lacks it. It
is impossible for the Occidental to feel genuinely acquainted with an
Oriental who does not respond in Occidental style of frank open
intercourse. Furthermore, it is not Japanese custom to open one's
heart, to make friends with everyone who comes along. The
hail-fellow-well-met characteristic of the Occident is a feature of
its individualism, that could not come into being in a feudal
civilization in which every respectable man carried two swords with
which to take instant vengeance on whoever should malign or doubt him.
Universal secretiveness and conventionality, polite forms and veiled
expressions, were the necessary shields of a military feudalism. Both
the social order and the language were fitted to develop to a high
degree the power of attention to minutest details of manner and speech
and of inferring important matters from slight indications. The whole
social order served to develop the intuitional method in human
relations. Reliance was placed more on what was not said than on what
was clearly expressed. A doubting state of mind was the necessary
psychological prerequisite for such an inferential system. And doubt
was directly taught. "Hito wo mireba dorobo to omoye," "when you see a
man, count him a robber," may be an exaggeration, but this ancient
proverb throws much light on the Japanese chronic state of mind.
Mutual suspicion--and especially suspicion of strangers--was the rule
in Old Japan. Among themselves the Japanese make relatively few
intimate friends. They remark on Occidental skill in making friends.

That the foreigner is not admitted to the inner social life of the
Japanese is likewise not difficult of explanation, if we bear in mind
the nature of that social life. Is it possible for one who keeps
concubines, who takes pleasure in geisha, and who visits houses of
prostitution, to converse freely and confidentially with those who
condemn these practices?