Indeed, the behaviors described in the article immediately reminded me of Games People Play [0], a popular psychology book from the 1960's based on transactiona

Indeed, the behaviors described in the article immediately reminded me of Games People Play [0], a popular psychology book from the 1960's based on transactional analysis. The book describes various "games" in which the participants attempt play a certain social role to achieve their desired outcome. The ideas and behaviors here are not uniquely Japanese at all. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Games_People_Play_(book) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Games_People_Play_(book)