Japanese friendships differ to Western friendship - study finds

This story is fascinating. Friends share personal details to strengthen relationships in United States, but not in Japan, study finds I'd like to read the whole study, this is just a newspaper report on the article.

It helps us to understand why people from individualistic cultures like Australia and the US find it hard to build relationships in Japan. It is what I've suspected for a long time - friendships work differently here. And what we consider a good friend; someone with whom we can share intimate details of our lives with; is not what a good friend is here in Japan. Interesting but also frustrating.