Michael Brett
Academic consultant, 28 (Irish)
Yes and no. Yes, because people go out of their way to be polite in public — for example, not talking on the phone on trains — and they are also polite and hospitable in customer service. But those two seem very superficial. Once you know a Japanese person well, it's not there so much. It's like keeping the surface moving smoothly while, on a deeper level, everyone's just human.