My uncle worked in Japan in the aughts. And he told me how his colleagues will do anything to avoid saying "no".
For example he would ask them if they wanted to go to lunch and they would say yes, but still be at their desk working. He asks again after a minute of awkward silence if they're ready to go, and they keep saying "yes one minute" and yet keep working until he gives up and goes away.
People often take 'yes' in conversational Japanese to be an expression of agreement, when a lot of the time it's more of an acknowledgement, as in 'yes, (I heard what you said).'
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My uncle worked in Japan in the aughts. And he told me how his colleagues will do anything to avoid saying "no".
For example he would ask them if they wanted to go to lunch and they would say yes, but still be at their desk working. He asks again after a minute of awkward silence if they're ready to go, and they keep saying "yes one minute" and yet keep working until he gives up and goes away.
People often take 'yes' in conversational Japanese to be an expression of agreement, when a lot of the time it's more of an acknowledgement, as in 'yes, (I heard what you said).'
They should say “ack” instead :)