Japanese talk nice but you never know what they're truly thinking.
Chinese talk straight and it might not be nice to hear but Chinese say what they mean and do what they say.
There are two faces to Japanese: 1) business face, 2) personal face
We rarely show our personal face, but be sure to know that in business, we say what is needed even if it is hurtful to hear.
In order to be successful in weathering Japanese diplomatic protocol, you need to understand these two faces.
It is part of Japanese culture. And we know very well the Chinese character. We studied Chinese character very well.