Current events

August 05, 2010 Managing Japanese Subordinates

A summary of the key cultural issues to be aware of when working with Japanese staff....

June 29, 2010 Japanese take little vacation

According to this CNN article, Japanese take the fewest days vacation....

May 30, 2010 A nemawashi how-to

People who work for or with Japanese firms often hear the term nemawashi. But how exactly do you do it?...

September 15, 2009 Introducing Silver Week (aka “don’t expect to get much work done in late September”)

Do you shake your head every May when all of corporate Japan grinds to a halt with Golden Week? Now there's another set of Japanese holidays to watch out...

August 19, 2009 Feeling foreign in your own country and liberated in other countries

What leads people to settle in another country and do you end up feeling like a foreigner in your home country?...

July 16, 2009 “Vegetarian” Japanese men

There have been quite a few articles in the Japanese media recently about "vegetarian" soshokukei Japanese men...

July 14, 2009 “manner posters” in Tokyo

Tokyo Metro put up posters to remind Japanese travellers of hitherto unspoken etiquette...

June 26, 2006 Rochelle Kopp quoted in June 22nd 2006 issue of The Economist