Pernille Rudlin - Business Etiquette Japan

By Pernille Rudlin and Rochelle Kopp

Why is etiquette particularly important to the Japanese?

Indirectness, vagueness, and silence.

Tips to make your email communication with the Japanese smooth and successful

What to bring, what to wear, gift-giving, and information to send ahead of time

Business card exchange, bowing, and how to address the Japanese

Consensus-building, nemawashi, and protocol

Adjusting how you communicate, ensuring understanding, using translators correctly

Coping with Japanese food, chopstick etiquette, drinking etiquette, what to talk about, karaoke, golf, and hot springs

Behavior that is sure to irritate the Japanese, taboos in Japanese culture

Making the Japanese feel welcome when they travel to see you

Special tips for women

A few key things you can do (or should avoid doing!) to ensure your success working with the Japanese

A few things youll want to be able to say in Japanese

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to Business Etiquette Japan. In an easy to use Q&A format, were going to give you the lowdown on how to do business with the Japanese, using cultural and social know-how to get the best results.

This isnt a tourist guide and its not an explanation of how Japan came to play such a prominent role in the world economy. Its a quick-and-easy teach-in for people who are doing business with the Japanese and who want to build successful working relationships with them.

Although well include some cultural and historical background, our main focus will be the practical things you need to know what to do, and what to avoid doing. There are some important rules to follow in order to avoid causing offense and to ensure that things go smoothly. Despite what some would have you believe, theres nothing particularly mysterious or complicated about doing business with the Japanese. However, there are some differences from western protocol and some sensitivities that you need to be aware of.

First well talk about Japanese communication style and how the Japanese build relationships. This is really the foundation for understanding whats important to the Japanese when working with others. Well answer questions such as How do I tell if a yes is a yes? and How do I disagree without offending?

Well discuss how to prepare for your trip to Japan what to bring, what to wear, and what to do ahead of time.

Well also discuss how to handle those important first few moments when you meet the Japanese for the first time, so that you make a good first impression. This will include information about the important business card exchange ritual.

Meetings and decision-making are key places where Japanese business behavior is quite different from the west, so well talk about what to expect there.

Youre likely to be doing a lot of socializing with the Japanese people you do business with, so well talk about how to handle social situations such as meals, golf, and karaoke. Well also cover taboos and other things to avoid.

Your interaction with the Japanese is not necessarily going to be when you visit Japan, so well talk about how to host Japanese visitors at your office, and how to ensure that your email correspondence is as effective as possible.

Finally well touch on some questions that western women working with the Japanese often have, cover some Dos and Donts, and introduce some key phrases in Japanese that youll want to know.

Lets begin.

PART 1: A BIT OF BACKGROUND

Youve probably heard that the Japanese are very particular about etiquette and indeed, thats true. By why is it that etiquette is so important to them?

It starts with the native Japanese religion, Shinto, which places an emphasis on purity and ritual. The Japanese language itself also emphasizes ritualized ways of speaking in certain situations. Then, as Japanese society evolved, a complex set of rules evolved that governed how people should interact with each other and breaking those rules could even result in death (from a samurais sword, or through the obligation to commit ritual suicide).

This was in part due to the influence of Confucianism, which emphasizes the proper display of respect between people of different ranks. Today, proper etiquette, as well as the general idea that there is a right way to do everything, is emphasized in the Japanese educational system. And when fresh graduates join Japanese companies, their orientation typically features intensive etiquette training on how to behave in business situations.

All in all, this leads to a lot of consciousness among the Japanese of the need to do things properly!

Q: Yes, Ive heard that Japan is one of those countries where you have to be very careful about etiquette. Is it really so easy to cause offence?

A: Etiquette is important to Japanese people, but actually, as a foreigner, you do have a Get Out of Jail Free card. Theyre not expecting you to get everything right and if you behave the way that you would if you were trying to be polite in your own culture in general, just being modest, restrained and sincere youll do fine. Dont be nervous; try to relax and show them that you are a genuine and trustworthy person. This is the most important thing, ultimately, when trying to do business with Japanese people.

Q: But there must be some things that you really should avoid doing or try to do, right?

A: Yes and we will cover those, dont worry. First of all though, we need to go through some of the fundamentals of Japanese culture the why of why the Japanese pay so much attention to etiquette the Confucian roots in Japanese society, the need for harmony and the strong focus on relationship building and the group.

Q: OK, so why is etiquette particularly important to Japanese people?

A: Well, I mentioned Confucianism which might be a bit confusing, because Confucius was Chinese, not Japanese. But Confucian thought was introduced to Japan nearly 2000 years ago, and was heavily pushed from the 17th to 19th centuries by the Tokugawa Shoguns as a way of trying to pacify and unite the country

Confucianism isnt a religion its more of a philosophy, and one of the key elements of it is the idea that societies are fundamentally unequal and that theres not much you can do to change that. However, you can make life more harmonious and pleasant for everyone if each person behaves appropriately according to their status. Basically, the person with superior status should be benevolent and the subordinate should be obedient. If both parties do this, it works on a reciprocal basis: its easy to be obedient to someone whos kind to you and its easy to be kind to someone whos loyal to you. So it helped the Tokugawa Shogunate maintain their feudal social order, and enforce loyalty.

Q: That sounds as if it was quite an oppressive society. Is Japan still like that now?

A: Its not that Confucianism is taught in schools, but the idea that there are set rituals in everyday behavior which should be observed, and the belief that you owe loyalty, obedience and respect to superiors, is still very strong. And yes, some Japanese people do find this a bit oppressive and may well enjoy interacting with you because they dont have to worry so much about following the correct protocol, the way they would need to with other Japanese people.

Q: So I dont have to worry too much, and should just be myself?

A: Like I said, its best not to get too stressed and start behaving artificially, because then Japanese people wont feel comfortable with you, or confident that they can trust you. However, knowing some of the etiquette and the ways that Japanese people prefer to communicate will help with the relationship building, because if they see that you get it, they will feel able to treat you more like an insider and less like somebody outside the group. Its probably one of the most obvious things you can sayabout Japanese society: that it is very group oriented.