"a Japanese student who pointed out that, because Japan is so culturally homogenous, in many situations a Japanese person need say almost nothing,"Japanese can be thought of as a &qepu;teltgraohic" language. In English, if we were writing or speaking we would say, "I left the keys on the desk. I'll be back on Friday. I'll try to call you tomorrow." but if sending a telegram, we would write, "Left keys on desk. Back on Friday. Try to call tomorrow." and be perfectly understood. In Japanese, telegraphic sentences are the norm in everyday speech.