As a Brit living in Japan, it’s great to read your take on this. Many foreigners in Japan talk about receiving a ‘chotto…’ to a difficult request, thinking it means ‘maybe’ and only discovering later (when it’s too late) that actually it meant no. Sometimes, as a foreigner, it frustrates me, because I come from a culture where being straight up about something is admired. But I understand how in Japan subtly is admired.