Will Miss #386 - learning (deeply) about Japanese business

OK, no matter how much I understand about Japanese business, I don't know why this video shop is named "Slum."

If you have ever gone into a video rental shop in Japan, you may note that there are often more foreign titles than domestic ones. What fairly obvious conclusion would you reach? If you're like most people (including myself), you would conclude that foreign titles are more popular

Read More

Won't Miss #385 - bait and switch fruit stands

Fruit in Japan is expensive, though not quite as obscenely so as most foreign folks believe. Still, many Japanese people do not routinely eat fruit except for bananas because it's on the dear side and that makes it hard to include as part of their regular diet. Fruit is often a treasured gift, unless it is persimmons that are harvested by the truckload and freely dispensed when in season.

Read More

Won't Miss #378 - status issues

Among the many things I have said which have sparked arguments with other foreign people in Japan was the fact that we regard our bosses in the U.S. as being of relatively equal status to us. Conversely, in Japan, there is the sense that your superiors and those who have seniority have a higher status than you. The issue of status at work is often confused with the issues of power and

Read More

Won't Miss #354 - (almost always) being at a disadvantage

My brother-in-law, who is also American and lives in Japan, recently bought a house in Japan. He had an experience which illustrated the point I'm about to make all too well and that is that foreigners always operate at a disadvantage when conducting business in Japan. Even if you speak Japanese well and have a native along with you to clarify and digest information, there is always wiggle

Read More

Won't Miss #340 - process over outcome

 Click this version to see a larger version which is readable.
One of my students was corresponding with her company's head office in Italy and she wanted to tell them that an error had been made in the paperwork. The ultimate outcome would not be altered by this mistake, but she simply wanted to let them know someone had carelessly entered the wrong data at an initial stage of the process. The

Read More

Will Miss #335 - office lady trot

It's probably not fair to call this "the office lady trot", since women everywhere do it, but it is something that I witnessed early and often among office ladies. We all know what people mean when they say "run like a girl", but I've seen it taken to an all new level in Japan. This is a "run" which has all of the appearances of increased movement without any but the most incidental increase in

Read More

Won't Miss #295 - "fishing"

I continue to do freelance work for my former company and as part of this work I am asked to offer my time in line with a company's request. The company will say they want me to do a job between X and Y time with spans of up to 8 hours between those times, but they will only need two hours of my time. They will not say they want 1 hour in the morning and 1 in the afternoon. They will simply say

Read More

Won't Miss #290 -ignoring the inevitable

When I was working in a Japanese office, my (Australian) boss and I often cautioned the president or our coworkers about certain problems that were inevitably going to come up if we pursued a certain path. We weren't being unnecessarily pessimistic. We were pointing out what would definitely happen. Our concerns were always brushed aside or shrugged off. More often than not, we were told that

Read More

Will Miss #219 - stockholders last

 There are a plethora of ways in which the Japanese do business differently than the rest of the world. This often causes problems for foreign partners, and for the Japanese branches of Western businesses in Japan, but certain choices are better for Japanese people. One of these differences is the order of priority when making decisions. The Japanese place customers first, employees second, and

Read More

Will Miss #187 - soft socialism

Japan has some overt forms of socialism such as the national health insurance scheme. It also has some forms of what I call "soft socialism." This is where pressure is indirectly placed on companies to do what is best for society rather than their bottom line. Large companies in particular will often hire more people than absolutely necessary if they can reasonably manage to do so as a way of

Read More

Won't Miss #187 - consensus that's not

Back in the 80's when Japanese businesses were scooping up high profile real estate in the U.S. and the Japanese were calling Americans lazy and stupid, many books were written about Japanese business style and how it accomplished such great economic success. At that time, people talked about how Japanese made decisions by consensus and how getting everyone on board played a part in making

Read More

Will Miss #174 - local straw goods shop

On the corner leading to the street that comes to my apartment, there's a little shop that sells items made from straw. Mostly, these include brooms, but there are also woven items like baskets. This shop is run by a little old man who was ancient when I arrived 20 years ago, and seems to be little older now. Every time I approach my apartment, I see this little shop, and I wonder how the old man

Read More