call a spade a spade

ご無沙汰をしております。みずほ インターナショナル・竹下誠二郎氏の原発事故に関するコメントがありました。

Editor's note: Seijiro Takeshita is director of Mizuho International in London, specializing in structural transformation and organizational behavioral science of Japanese organizations.
(CNN) -- They finally called a spade a spade.
Japanese Parliament's new Fukushima report which stated that "its fundamental causes are to be found in the ingrained conventions of Japanese culture: our reflexive obedience; our reluctance to question authority; our devotion to sticking with the program" exposes perhaps the weakest aspect of the Japanese governance style.
Japanese companies are known to be indecisive, always taking a long time to reach any conclusion. On the other hand, they make the world's best consumer products. How can one explain this paradox?
In the aftermath of the big earthquake last year, there was a group of 40 Japanese stranded in a building. There was no food in a freezing cold night, except for one cup of instant noodle. The 40 people calmly shared that one little cup, without any fight or quarrel. Stories like this coming out of the affected region illustrate the amazing level of collective discipline that Japanese have. It's hard to imagine the same behavior anywhere else.
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/07/06/opinion/takeshita-fukushima-management/index.html?hpt=ias_t2

call a spade a spadeは直訳すると「鋤を鋤と呼ぶ」になりますが、熟語表現で「歯に衣着せぬ発言をする。」(『ジーニアス英和辞典第４版』（大修館）)になります。しかし、spadeはアフリカ系の人々を侮辱する言葉(ethnic slur)でもあるため、使用を避ける場合があるそうです。(Minnesota)