Beyond Words: Rethinking the Cultural Meaning of Silence in Japanese Communication

Abstract

Silence holds a distinctive place in Japanese communication, and it has drawn significant interest from researchers. That said, existing understanding remains fragmented across different fields-including high-context communication theory, pragmatics, and studies of interpersonal relationships. This separation has kept us from fully seeing silence as a meaningful, socially accepted way of interacting. The purpose of this study is to synthesize the conceptualization of the cultural meaning of silence in key studies on Japanese communication. Using an affirmative qualitative literature review, the analysis addressed core research on high-context communication, silence as a communicative behavior, and relational theory (amae and wakimae). Thematic analysis of the study has uncovered three interrelated cultural aspects of silence: relational practice, cultural negotiation, and shared meaning. This reveals that silence is not just the absence of words, but a meaningful cultural way to maintain bonds, harmony, and shared understanding. The present study integrates existing theories into a coherent cultural interpretation of silence in Japanese communication rather than dealing with them separately. The results of this study contribute to Japanese communication research by providing a more holistic conceptual understanding of silence and a theoretical framework for further studies of intercultural communication and culturally embedded communicative practices.