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I've noticed that a couple of my Japanese friends, when talking about their
plans, might say something like 「友達に会う」, "I'm meeting a friend", even though
the unnamed "friend" is someone we both know. It's a little jarring when I
know from another conversation exactly who they're meeting, or if I find out
later who they were meeting, and it's a mutual friend.

What I expect from my own experience as an American is, for example, for them
to say something like 「ゆかちゃんに会う」, "I'm meeting Yuka", because to me "friend"
or 「友達」 sounds like someone I'm not expected to know.

The effect is that it ends up feeling like the people they're meeting is being
deliberately kept secret for some reason I can't fathom. But, is it simply
normal to leave out the names even of mutual friends as unnecessary
information?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-18T09:00:39.817
35991
2016-06-29T09:07:13.427
15798
question
nuances idioms
Do Japanese people tend to be vague even when talking about people their listeners know?
It's not uncommon for the Japanese to use the following in the regular
conversation. Mostly they habituated not discussing about their personal
things in more detail with others  
用事があるから早く帰ります。 I will leave early because I have things to do.  
予定/約束があります。 I have appointment/meeting (It can be any type of meeting)  
体調が悪い。Ill/Sick (Does not talk about what kind of ill)
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-29T02:31:38.573
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2016-06-29T02:31:38.573
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answer
It depends on who your friends are. I don't think avoiding mention of the name
of person whom we are meeting is not a general trait nor habbit of Japanese.

As Chocolate said, I don't have any problem in mentioning the name of the
person I have an appointment with to you, if both of I and you know him or her
well, unless it should involve any speciffic demerit by revealing the name,
and we usually tell his or her name to you.

If I'm going to meet a person you don't know, I say "ちょっと、人と約束があって - I've an
appointment with somebody."

However, in case of telling the purpose of your meeting or appointment, you
usually say "ちょっと用事があって - I have something to do," because it's bothersome to
explain what you're going to do to others, or sometimes is a "none-of-your-
business matter."
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-29T06:55:12.823
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2016-06-29T09:07:13.427
2016-06-29T09:07:13.427
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answer