(4) Correct. Although company staff meetings in Japan can include lively discussion, group involvement in projects typically requires lots of consensu-building before formal decisions are made. One is expected to figure out that a "pointless question" or silence means reservations or disagreement. Sometimes a lone dissenter is ignored because he or she has not made the effort to get constructive criticism from workmates before formal statements are made; group approval is often secured by more informal maneuvering prior to the meeting. This process is called NEMAWASHI, an important skill in Japanese society.
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