Kuuki o yomu

Kuuki o yomu means to read the atmosphere. In other words, you are able to assess the mood of a situation. Performers and public speakers need to be able to do this to assess the mood of their audience so they can change what they are doing if things aren't going well. If you walk into a new or unfamiliar situation, it is good to be able to assess the situation in order to know how you should act or what you should do. You could do this by studying the faces or body language of the people there or seeing how the people are interacting with each other or how they react to you, or just noticing whatever little clues you can in order to get a feel for the situation. You might do this just in talking with someone. If you are really empathizing with that person, you can feel if the person is interested by what you are saying or if they disagree or are even upset by what you are saying.

Recently in Japan the term, "KY" has become popular. "KY" stands for "Kuuki o yomenai," which means, "unable to read the atmosphere." This refers to someone being clueless to the situation around him and acting inappropriately. If someone behaves inappropriately in a certain situation, you might explain his behavior by saying something like, "Kare wa KY no hito dakara ne." "He is a person who can't read the atmosphere." In other words, he can't read the situation in order to know how he should act. He is clueless as to what's going on around him.