Japanese are often said to be difficult to negotiate with. The reason is that they do not say what they are thinking. So, they tell people something different from what they have in mind. What they are trying to do here is to make their remarks as vague as possible so that the person they are talking to won't get hurt. For example, when a friend shows up with strange hairstyle, Japanese do not say directly that their hairstyle looks awful, but instead they say something like "It is looks unique" or "It is like you"