Last Updated: 12 Jul 2020 Gifts, Favors and Obligations in Japanese Business Culture
While exchange of favors and mutual aid are common to all cultures, there are some differences in the way Japanese and Americans view these things....
Japanese culture
Last Updated: 12 Jul 2020 Same Words, Different Meanings in Japan, Mexico and the U.S.
Learning a new language is only the beginning—then we have to figure out what people mean by the words they say in that other culture, and it isn’t always easy....
Last Updated: 15 Jul 2020 Are Americans always making excuses?
Japanese take very seriously the concept of personal responsibility. When westerners refuse to apologize and instead dwell on all the extenuating circumstances that caused the problem, Japanese view this...
Last Updated: 15 Jul 2020 Overcoming Japanese risk-adverseness
When risk-averse people like the Japanese feel that they need more information, they tend to stall…Thus, many Americans who work with Japanese firms wonder, how can we get the company...
Last Updated: 31 May 2025 Oseibo winter gift-giving in Japan — a fading tradition?
Oseibo is one of Japan's two traditional gift-giving seasons. Has it been supplanted by Christmas?...
Last Updated: 31 May 2025 Noise pollution in Tokyo
Masses of people are everywhere in Japan, and even though the Japanese tend to be quieter than Americans, when you get a lot of them together it can’t help but...
Last Updated: 16 Jul 2020 Feature-packed “koseino” products a hit with shoppers in Japan
Japanese customers prefer products that are “high-performance.” This tendency explains, for example, why Japanese consumer electronics products are often so complex. The various extra features are a delight...
Last Updated: 18 Jul 2020 Modesty: the talented hawk does not show its claws
Modesty is a virtue in Japanese business and social settings...
Last Updated: 18 Jul 2020 Long Working Hours in Japanese Companies
There is a disucssion in the Japan Intercultural Consulting Group on the problem of long working hours in Japanese companies both at home and abroad. Here is the historical...
Last Updated: 11 Jul 2020 In Japanese restaurants, the customer is not always king
Special orders do upset us, if you’re a restaurant in Japan...