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Business manners
I have some business meetings in Japan and I was wondering what I should know. Is there anything special I should know?
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kamiza
If you have a guess to your office you should let them sit on the side of the table which is farthest from the door (in other words the side of the table that is deepest inside the room). This is supposed to be the safest part of the room and you should never take it yourself. Japanese people can take this very seriously. However, if you are a foreigner ... just in Japan for a few days people will be very understanding.
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kamiza II
Our yeah ... obviously under kamiza your company sits on one side of the room and your guess on the other. It is not common to sit in a random distribution which sometimes happens in the US.
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Business attire
Japanese tend to dress much more formally. I think this is well known. In almost every situation you should wear a suit and tie. You will also notice that there is a lot of black here. You may feel more comfortable in a black suit.
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There are other rules about where to sit.
Sometimes the top guy sits closest to the head of the table closest to the door. If you are a guess they will show you wear to sit. If they don't you can sit in the kamiza position.
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red ink
Never write someone's name in red ink.
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paying the tab
If you do go out for dinner, keep in mind that spliting the bil is not normal in Japan. (in business .. it is very common among friends) If you're the buyer, you'll likely be get a free evening of entertainment. If you're the seller you would normally pay. But if you are a guest in Japan ... people might try to pay for you.
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Invasive questions
Japanese might liable to ask you questions that make you uncomfortable, such as your age.
Some other culture shock might make you made. Stay cool in all situations. Conflict is not welcome.
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it might be obvious but
Always use SAN with a Japanese person's name . Always use the last name. I have seen that some foreigners use the proper form for the first few days. When they feel that they have gotten to know people they feel they can drop the formalities. This is a mistake!
Even if you know someone very well continue with the last name-SAN form. Its much safer.
If you are much more senior then the person and they work for the same company you may be able to drop formalities. If the person is in a different company or more senior than you (in years or position) it is dangerous to drop it.
The person may feel very offended ... although they will understand that you are a foreigner and just made a mistake. But at very least you will not seem very educated :).
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some random rules
Here are some random stuffs that come to mind:
- Never pour a drink yourself and when someone pours your drink lift it with two hands.
- say itadakimasu before eating a meal
- after the meal say gochisou sama deshita to your host (thanks for treating me)
- sumimasen is a very useful word. It means excuse me but is often used the same way as the english "thank you"
- Japanese give and receive business cards with both hands. Place them respectfully on the table in front of you during a meeting.
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