[2]: 35 A person's honne may be contrary to what is expected by society or what is required according to one's position and circumstances, and they are often kept hidden, except with one's closest friends.
In many cases, tatemae leads to outright telling of lies in order to avoid exposing the true inward feelings.
[citation needed] Contemporary phenomena such as hikikomori seclusion and parasite singles are seen as examples of late Japanese culture's growing problem of the new generation growing up unable to deal with the complexities of honne–tatemae[citation needed] and pressure of an increasingly consumerist society.
A similar discord between one's true feeling and public appearance is observed in yase-gaman,[5]: 230 a phrase whose meaning literally translates as "starving to [one's] skeleton", referring to being content or pretending to be so.
Nowadays, the phrase is used for two different meanings, expressing the samurai virtue of self-discipline,[3]: 63, 218, 228 silent moral heroism,[7]: 226, 246, 250, 252 or ridiculing stubbornness, face-savingness.