Cultural Norms in Japan: Business Memorandum

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This business memorandum aims to describe cultural norms established in contemporary Japanese society. The key purpose of this paper is to offer guidelines for the employees, who may not be familiar with this environment. Overall, such a concept as “cultural norms” includes the following components: behavioral patterns, beliefs, values, body language and so forth (Gardenswartz & Rowe, 1994). This knowledge can be of great assistance in business interactions and other areas. Despite the fact that over recent decades Japanese culture has been significantly influenced by the western tradition, it has many distractive peculiarities which may become a significant barrier in cross-cultural communication. This is why it is vital to know at least some of them.

The first thing that a new-comer should remember is that the majority of the Japanese population practice Buddhism and Shinto, which are immensely different from Judeo-Christian tradition (Varley, 2000). These religions imply certain views on soul¹, the place of human being in nature, different ethical values etc. It should be borne in mind that the rituals in Japanese religions are entirely unique and its takes a considerable amount of time to learn and understand them. As for the moral code of Japanese people, one should pay careful attention to moderation and modesty. This nation does not accept excessiveness or luxury; they prefer minimalism (Ikemoto, 1996, unpaged). This can be observed in dress code, interior design, and even technology. Therefore, foreigners, who try to establish partnerships in this country, should not constantly emphasize their achievements. Such behavior can be regarded as self-praise, which is seldom tolerated in Japan. Europeans and American often stress on the profitability of their firm. If they do it continuously, they may simply lose the respect of their partners. This is one of those pitfalls which our employees should avoid.

Another factor that might considerably impact the relations between foreigners and Japanese people is the sense of duty and responsibility to the public, to co-workers and to the company (Kemoto, 1996, unpaged; Varley; 2000, p 208). Arguably, this peculiarity takes its origins in samurai tradition. To some extent, this shapes the policies of Japanese firms; corporate social responsibility (CSR) is one of the topmost priorities for them. Additionally, we need to say that people, living in this area, hold deep respect to other cultures, literature, traditions, etc. This feature can immensely facilitate business negotiations. Certainly, this information gives just a generalized view, but these facts appear to be most important.

The relationships between business partners in Japan are primarily based on extreme punctuality. Any deviation from one’s promise might be taken as a sign of unreliability and even disrespect. It should be pointed out that Japanese people take a slightly different attitude toward workplace interactions. A Japanese worker is always extremely concerned with the reputation of his or her company. The point is that this attitude is not imposed from outside, for example, by management as it is sometimes done in the US corporations. On the contrary, the individual usually takes such decisions independently without any prompt.

New-comers also need to remember about non-verbal communication in Japanese culture. For instance, such a gesture as a traditional handshake is not always appropriate. Bowing is believed to be more common courtesy especially in business circles. Naturally, contemporary Japanese people can shake hands with one another, but this is not done very often especially among colleagues or partners (Matsumoto, p 2002). Naturally, this may appear to be just a minor detail but the knowledge of such details lays the foundations for future success.

It seems that people, who intend to travel to Japan, should be familiarized with its eating habits of this nation. First, eating is not a necessity but a social experience or ritual, to be more exact. In this respect, we need to focus on the use of chopsticks (Varley, 2000). In fact, many Europeans as well Americans find it rather hard to cope with them. When interacting with Japanese people, foreigners should not forget about the significance of home visits. In fact, an invitation to the house is a great sign of great respect and rejection of this offer may be taken as an insult

Provided that employees of our firm have a sufficient amount of time, they should become acquainted with Japanese theatre, literature, cinematography and so forth. It has to be admitted that they will not be able to get in-depth insights, but they should at least know such names as Murasaki Shikkibu, Yoshiro Michima, Arira Kurasawa et al. The thing is that Japanese people can make allusions to their works. Undoubtedly, this is a very daunting task but people who want to work in Japan, should at least try to cope with it.

Hopefully, the information presented in this memorandum will be of some assistance to the employees of our company. It may help them to avoid many pitfalls in relations with Japanese people. This is just a brief overview of Japanese culture, but this seems to be sufficient at least at this stage.

Reference List

Gardenswartz. L. & Rowe. (1994). The managing diversity survival guide: a complete collection of checklists, activities, and tips. Irwin Professional Pub.

Ikemoto T (1996). Moral Education in Japan; Implications for American Schools. Web.

Matsumoto. D.R (2002). The new Japan: debunking seven cultural stereotypes. Intercultural Press.

Varley H. P. (2000). Japanese culture. University of Hawaii Press.

Footnotes

In particular the belief in endless reincarnation of human soul

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Cultural Norms in Japan: Business Memorandum

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