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    Understanding Japanese Culture Through American Eyes
    Understanding Japanese Culture Through American Eyes
    Understanding Japanese Culture Through American Eyes
    Ebook174 pages2 hours

    Understanding Japanese Culture Through American Eyes

    By William Drake

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    “Kamo is a type of especially tasty wild duck that makes the thousands of marshes and literally millions of ponds of rural Japan its home every winter, where it feeds on rich wild grains and grasses. It quickly gets very fat and slow to move or fly, and becomes very easy to hunt. In Japanese business circles, a Kamo is someone worth taking advantage of, who is inexperienced, a sucker or pushover, easy prey.


    There is a special type of Kamo, very much appreciated in business as you can imagine, who "brings his own onions" for cooking. Overly friendly Americans, who are trying so hard to be culturally sensitive that they forget they are facing shrewd business people, can find themselves being welcomed to the table as the main course.”


    “The concept of Face, which is Confucian rather than strictly Japanese in origin, is fundamental to understanding and being effective working with Japanese people. Face has been given many different explanations by Westerners trying to understand why it is such a powerful force in Japanese relationships, even among strangers.


    Face has been compared with concepts such as personal dignity, self-esteem and pride, but these concepts are centered on a very Western, and especially American set of ideas. All of these Western analogies are centered on the individual and how they feel and are being affected, whereas for Japanese people Face is all about others.


    Face doesn't "belong" to Japanese individuals in the same way that Americans mean when they refer to "myself". A Japanese individual's Face "belongs" to the people who make up that individual's web of relationships, obligations, and attachments.”

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBill Drake
    Release dateDec 28, 2018
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      Book preview

      Understanding Japanese Culture Through American Eyes - William Drake

      cover-image, JapaneseCultureThroughAmericanEyesTOC

      Table of Contents

      Unique Origins Of A Unique Culture

      Point Of View

      Point Of View

      The Fundamentals of Face

      Key Japanese Cultural Concepts

      Tatae Shakai

      Nagai Tsukiai

      Amae

      Ringi Kessai

      Point Of View

      Aisatsu

      Nintai

      Giri and On – The Twin Faces of Obligation

      The Many Meanings of No

      Origins of Non-verbal Communications

      Tatamae - The Surface Of Meaning

      Core Business Concepts

      Ate-uma

      Banzai

      Bonen-kai

      Bureiko

      Chorei

      Chotto ippai

      Daikoku bashira

      Dochira e?

      Domo

      Gaden insui

      Gaku Batsu

      Goshugi torihiki

      Hai

      Hashigo wo hazusareru

      Hijikake isu

      Hiya meshi kui

      Irasshai mase

      Ishibashi wo tataku

      Jin myaku

      Kaban mochi

      Kare-wa-aku-ga-tsuyoi

      Kasei

      Kaigi

      Kamo

      Kangaete okimasu

      Kayui tokoro ni te ga todoku

      Ki

      Konjo

      Maemukini

      Ma

      Negai

      Nigiri tsubushi

      Ocho wa nomu

      Oisogashii desuka?

      Onaji kama no meshi

      Sekiji

      Senpai

      Shafu

      Shintai-ukagai

      Shitsurei shimasu

      Soko wa nantoka

      Tsumaranai mono

      Tsuru no hitokoe

      Undo-kai

      Yoroshiku

      Zensho shimasu

      Importance of Names & Titles

      Principal Corporate Titles

      What These Titles Mean

      The Central Role of Gifting

      Point Of View

      Midsummer Gifts (O-chugen)

      Year End Gifts (O-seibo)

      Congratulatory Gifts

      Travel Gifts (O-miyage)

      Get Well Gifts (O-mimai)

      Gifts of Sympathy

      Corporate Gifts

      Gift Wrapping

      Dressing For Business In Japan

      The Culture Of Business Meetings

      Keys to Effective Communication In Japan

      Japanese & American Cultural Sticking Points

      Point Of View

      American Professional Women in Japan

      Point Of View

      Women In Business: Socializing Issues & Concerns

      Point Of View

      The Japanese Decision-Making Environment

      The Japanese Seniority System

      Relations Between Superiors & Subordinates

      Involvement In Employee’s Lives

      Differences In Thinking & Reasoning Styles

      Cultural Dimensions: America & Japan

      The Power Distance Dimension

      The Individualism-Collectivism Dimension

      Point Of View

      Point Of View

      The Uncertainty Avoidance Dimension

      The Task-Relational Dimension

      Cultural Differences Affecting Negotiations

      Typical Sources of Verbal Misunderstanding

      Japanese Negotiating Strategies & Tactics

      The Basic Style

      Opening Moves

      Making Concessions

      End Game

      Sincerity in Negotiations

      Avoidance of Conflict

      General Distrust of Lawyers

      Preparation for Negotiations

      Developing The Negotiating Relationship

      Adaptability Is The Key

      Guidelines For Negotiators

      1. Be well prepared

      2. Use U.S. Data

      3. Patience is Required

      4. Know the Japanese Language

      5. Identify key decision-makers

      6. Maintain Firm, Consistent Positions

      7. Developing a Relationship is Important

      8. Threats Don't Work

      9. Trade-offs Are Hard

      10. Taking it to the Top Rarely Works

      11. Give and Take is the Best Negotiating Strategy

      Unique Origins Of A Unique Culture

      Japanese society and culture have evolved under arguably the most unique set of circumstances in human history. Few other People have done so much, starting from so little.

      The Japanese were originally part of a massive migration of people arising somewhere in southwestern Asia/southeastern Caucasus region perhaps 20,000 years ago and lasting many generations. Many scientists, including linguists and anthropologists, feel that this movement corresponded with the withdrawal of the great ice packs of the Ice Age, and that large hunting clans followed the animal herds that followed the rapidly melting glaciers.

      As this migration came to today's northern China the ancestors of today's Han Chinese people - the tall, thin people of Northern China - came to rest, while the remainder of the migrating peoples moved on to the Korean peninsula, where many diverse but related clans settled, and both the people and the clans remain in today's Korea.

      Finally, the last of these migrating peoples came across the sea, away from the Asian mainland forever, and settled on the mountainous, forested, harsh, beautiful islands of Japan. The Japanese origin myth says that the Sun God created the Japanese homeland first on earth, hurling molten rock down from the skies to cool in the sea and ultimately to become the home of the Japanese. It isn’t beyond imagination to envision a group of very early people gathered on the shores of mainland Asia watching the glow of the towering Fuji volcano on the horizon and ultimately setting out to explore those islands beyond the horizon, their hidden location revealed by great fires in the Eastern sky.

      The Japanese people lived in virtual isolation for many centuries, and their immense energy, intelligence and creativity had to find outlets. Restricted by geography and choice to a resource-poor environment, generations of Japanese focused on meticulous study and mastery of the most intricate techniques for working with available materials to developing strict codes every kind and every level of personal and social behavior. The core beliefs, values and

      Understanding how the Japanese came to be the Japanese, and what it has come to mean to be Japanese, and the sense of communal uniqueness that being Japanese carries with it - all are keys to working effectively alongside and becoming true colleagues of Japanese people. For those who make the effort, the rewards are very special.

      Japanese society developed in almost complete isolation from all other nations and cultures for more than 2,000 years. During this long period of inward-facing development, the Japanese watched and evaluated what was going on in the rest of the world and concluded each time that they were special and superior.

      They were able to resist the only serious attempt to conquer them, an invasion by Kublai Khan which was thwarted by a divine wind, or Kamikaze, which blew away the great Khan's ships and armies. From the deepest beginnings of their society the Japanese were never successfully invaded or defeated in war until America did so in 1945 after the Japanese military’s ill-conceived attempt at empire.

      Because of their history of isolation, the Japanese were up until very recently almost entirely uniform as a race of people, with almost no outside genetic influences. Those foreigners who have been allowed or, in some cases forced to live in Japan have rarely if ever married Japanese, and Japanese society is normally extremely unkind to people of mixed Japanese-foreign heritage.

      Japanese think of their national identity as the IE or family, and in a real sense they are almost all biologically related, much like an actual, huge family. They tend to see the world in terms of them and us and make distinctions between how outsiders and family members are treated. Members of this family, like many families, seem to be able to know what is on the other person's mind, almost without overt communication, much like in our own families. The extended family is the basic model of Japanese social and economic organization, whereas the nuclear family and the individual is the basic model for American organization.

      This has profound consequences in the way business and technological processes have developed, since cultures tend very strongly to model such organizations and processes on their culture's particular ideas about family structure and function. The Japanese style of managing human relationships draws upon deeply held understandings which are quite natural to Japanese, but the purpose and value of many of these highly evolved behaviors and processes can be difficult to see clearly for many non-Japanese.

      Point Of View

      When French ski manufacturers first tried to export skis to Japan… the Japanese government declared the skis unsuitable for the special and unique Japanese snow….when American beef producers were trying to open the Japanese market the agricultural ministry argued that only Japanese beef was suitable for the special and unique digestive system of the Japanese people.

      Insight Guides Japan

      The Japanese homeland is notoriously poor in natural resources, including land itself. One hundred forty million Japanese live in a land area the size of California, but only 30 percent is habitable, making for very crowded level areas. These areas are prone to destructive earthquakes.

      The remaining 70 percent of Japan is mountainous and unfit for living and most kinds of agriculture. There are

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