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Japan’s disengaged workers

Articles, HR management, Japanese workstyle by Rochelle Kopp

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Japanese HR departments are simply not equipped to learn enough about employees’ skills and interests to match them carefully to positions. As a result, large numbers of Japanese are...

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Feature-packed “koseino” products a hit with shoppers in Japan

Articles, Japanese business keywords, Japanese culture by Rochelle Kopp

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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...

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Why don’t Japanese like training?

Articles, HR management, Japanese business by Rochelle Kopp

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In Japan training is viewed as impractical and not relevant, individually-oriented and thus selfish....

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Lost in translation

Articles, Cross-cultural communication, Travel in Japan, Working with Japanese by Rochelle Kopp

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American clients visiting Japan on business, feel the translations they get are only a fraction of what they know was really said, and it feels like the most important parts...

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Japanese women working abroad

Articles, Diversity, Living globally by Rochelle Kopp

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A terrific personal development opportunity, enabling them to have experiences they would not have in Japan. It gives people in other countries a look at Japanese who do not...

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Japanese executive communication skills

Articles, Cross-cultural communication, Japanese business, Leadership by Rochelle Kopp

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Japanese executives tend to just sit at their desks in their offices. They don’t make the effort to walk around and talk to people. They don’t do anything...

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Dealing with frequent rotations in Japanese companies

Articles, Global management, HR management, Working with Japanese by Rochelle Kopp

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Take matters into your own hands. You may not be able to change the rotation system, but you can change what you yourself do about it. Accept frequent...

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Japanese and interviewing

Articles, Careers, HR management by Rochelle Kopp

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In a typical American-style job interview “selling yourself” and “tooting your own horn” are expected behaviors. Coming from a country where modesty is considered to be an important virtue,...

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Persuading Japanese

Articles, Cross-cultural communication, Working with Japanese by Rochelle Kopp

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There are certain things that Japanese tend to respond to and other things that they tend not to respond to. Knowing some of the dos and don’ts will help...

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Using a “tatakidai” can help improve productivity of meetings

Articles, Japanese business keywords, Meetings by Pernille Rudlin

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A plan that has been beaten up on a tatakidai, until consensus is reached, has a far better chance of success in execution, particularly if the participants are remotely located,...

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