This post will help you get her. Sort of.
A recent Japanese-Dutch research project focused on examining the influence of facial and vocal cues in the way people judge emotions has found that when Japanese people judge the emotions of others, they have a strong tendency to automatically pay attention to the tone of voice, whereas the Dutch pay more attention to facial expressions.
Want to know how a Japanese person is feeling? Pay attention to the tone of his voice, not his face. That’s what other Japanese people would do, anyway. A new study examines how Dutch and Japanese people assess others’ emotions and finds that Dutch people pay attention to the facial expression more than Japanese people do.
“I think Japanese people tend to hide their negative emotions by smiling, but it’s more difficult to hide negative emotions in the voice.” Therefore, Japanese people may be used to listening for emotional cues. This could lead to confusion when a Dutch person, who is used to the voice and the face matching, talks with a Japanese person; they may see a smiling face and think everything is fine, while failing to notice the upset tone in the voice. “Our findings can contribute to better communication between different cultures.” (emphasis mine)
The more you know.
