<i>I don't see why this would be different in Japan.</i><p>That's exactly what the article is about. People here are a lot less direct and value privacy. One example: on Facebook many people write their relationship status, sometimes even the name of the person they're with. On mixi, you can't. Even in real life it's very hard to guess people's relationship status because they just never mention it, and people don't kiss/hug/touch in public. I've been in a hilarious (in retrospect) situation where I was interested in someone and confided to a good friend about it, only to learn that they had been going out together for a while!<p>Another point is that "the group", the people you associate yourself with, is a very important thing. I think many people would feel embarrassed if other people 'friended' them without being asked to. It's considered rude to say "no", but at the same time people don't want to be "friends" with people they wouldn't assume responsibility for (it's normal in Japan to apologize for something your brother, friend or co-worker did - the whole group is accountable). I know it's happened numerous times to me that someone I vaguely know but don't want on my facebook adds me, and then I must either bear with it or look like a jerk...