Japan’s culture is strongly group-oriented. Individual preferences are less important than having asense of belonging to a group, conforming to its norms, and maintaining harmony among its members,who are expected to develop an intense loyalty to the group as a whole. Building lasting andtrusting personal relationships is therefore critically important. While members of other culturesmay expect this to happen gradually over the course of a business engagement, most Japanese expectto establish strong relationships prior to closing any deals. Your local partner wants to knowthat you and your company are strongly committ ed to this relationship and that they can depend onyou. Proceed with serious business negotiations only aft er your counterparts have become comfortablewith you. Since people are generally suspicious of foreigners, gaining their trust and establishinggood will is going to take time.Once you have reached that point, the Japanese may still prefer to keep the initial engagement smalland low-risk. They view this as an opportunity for you to prove yourself. Larger-scale business engagementsrequire time to build. Since the Japanese are very long-term oriented, they usually preferthis slow approach. It is very important to emphasize frequently the long-term benefi ts and yourcommitment to them and to the business relationship you are seeking to build. Keep in touch on aregular basis throughout all stages of your business engagement, but realize that the strength of a
relationship in this country depends much less on whether someone likes you than on whether they
consider you trustworthy and dependable.
Business relationships in Japan may exist both at the individual and at the company level. However,
the former weighs more strongly. You need to build corporate relationships at all levels of the
organization, not just at the top. It is critically important for most Japanese to deal with others they
know, respect, and trust. However, if your company replaces you with someone else over the course
of a negotiation, it may be somewhat easier for your replacement to take things over from where
you left them if your company is already considered dependable. To ease the transition, the person
who enjoys your Japanese counterparts’ strongest trust must endorse the new team member as an
infl uential and dependable person.
In Japan, the concept of face is possibly even more important than in other Asian societies. Reputation
and social standing strongly depend on a person’s ability to control emotions and preserve
group harmony. The importance of diplomatic restraint and tact cannot be overestimated. Always
keep your cool and never lose your composure. Causing embarrassment to another person may
cause a loss of face for all parties involved and can be disastrous for business negotiations. If you have
to bring up an unpleasant personal topic with someone, never do so in public and always convey
your message in ways that maintain the other’s self-respect
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