Japan has always been known for its unique and outstanding culture. Not only does it relate to the Japanese people’s day-to-day lifestyle, but to their work approaches as well. In our era of globalization, it’s a quite common practice to establish business relations with different countries. However, if you seek success when doing business with Japanese companies, it’s crucial to learn about the peculiarities of the Japanese business etiquette, cultural differences, and accepted behavior patterns. This valuable knowledge will help you demonstrate your respect toward the foreign culture and, therefore, pave the way for establishing effective communication and cooperation.
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Being a representative of Western civilization, we might be impressed and even stumped by the social norms Japanese society sticks to. However, when in Rome, do as Romans do. Keep all your conclusions to yourself, and you might even learn something valuable for yourself to implement in your working approaches. There is a quick overview of what Japan’s work culture implies.
While 72% of Americans consider work-life balance when job-searching as a given priority, the Japanese tend to prioritize work over their personal life and pastime. This is because people in Japan consider their workplace to be their family. The more time and energy you give to it, the more appreciated you are as a worker. Demonstrating disrespect for your co-workers and seniors is even out of the question. Maybe for this reason, over 70 percent of Japanese respondents were not familiar with the term “unconscious bias”, according to a survey conducted in 2022 by Statista on gender equality.
There are several ways to show respect to your colleagues and management. First, it’s bowing. Japanese people will always bow when greeting or apologizing, therefore, demonstrating respect to another person. Second, it’s using polite language no matter what. Interestingly, there are several different levels of politeness in Japanese, and the appropriate level is chosen based on the person’s status and the context of the conversation. Finally, it’s gift-giving. Whether it’s the beginning or end of the year, someone’s birthday, or promotions – giving a gift is a great way to show consideration.
According to the survey conducted in October 2021, around 43.2 percent of employees in Japan felt strongly stressed due to the amount of work required at their workplace. This is all because the Japanese work culture encourages humility, complete loyalty, and dedication in the workplace.
Yes, this might sound toxic for a representative from Western countries, but listening carefully to feedback, even if it’s criticism, and avoiding drawing attention to oneself are common practices in Japanese companies. Hard work is closely linked to the concept of “ganbaru” and the concept of “kodawari”. The first one means to be fully committed to completing the task, and the second one stands for attention to detail and striving for perfection.
There are several principles of group dynamics that Japanese workplaces usually implement. For one, jumping companies is not in favor. Instead, Japanese employees are expected to remain with the same company for their entire careers. Secondly, promotion depends on the length of service rather than individual performance. These two principles create a sense of long-term commitment, loyalty to the group, and superiority of the collective good over individual ambitions.
The next is group decision-making. As we already mentioned earlier, Japanese work culture places accentuates the consensus-building approach. This means that decisions are to be made through discussion and debate with all members of the group involved in the process. Finally, Japanese companies tend to promote a strong sense of group identity and solidarity. Company outings or annual events are mandatory, as they are believed to create a strong sense of belonging among employees.
The approach to setting and achieving goals in the Japanese world is pretty similar to the Western approaches. Anyway, we’ll have a cursory look at them as well.
Short-term goals are identified as those that can be achieved within six months to a year. The sense of progress and achievement in the short term can help individuals stay motivated and focused. Long-term goals usually take several years to achieve and their value is in providing direction and purpose to an individual’s career or personal life. It’s worth mentioning that in Japan, it’s essential to prioritize short- and long-term goals. It’s because it helps individuals keep their eyes on the prize and, therefore, allocate their time and resources reasonably.
The word SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound goals. Let’s have a closer look at each of the concepts.
Networking plays a crucial part in Japanese business culture. A pretty common way to build professional relationships includes after-work events, called “nomikai” or simply a drinking party. They are normally organized by companies and professional associations and give an opportunity to bond and socialize outside of work. It’s also customary to join professional organizations and attend industry events to get acquainted with other professionals in your field. Younger professionals have a great chance to learn from someone who is more experienced by enrolling in a mentorship program.
One may also consider joining a business association, or “keiretsu”. For instance, a horizontal keiretsu is an alliance of several companies which are led by a bank that provides them with finance. A vertical keiretsu is a partnership between manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors to cut expenditures and become more efficient. Both approaches enable people to reinforce information-sharing which leverages employees’ expertise and accelerates the decision-making process.
The thing that foreign workers should learn from their Japanese counterparts is the time-management techniques they apply in their working routine. Let’s dive a bit deeper into the issue.
According to a survey conducted by Statista in 2021, Japan ranked third out of 45 countries in terms of work efficiency. Another survey conducted by Pasona Group Inc. in 2019 showed that over 70% of Japanese employees value being productive during the workday, and over 60% prefer to prioritize finishing their work on time even if it takes extra hours. These are only two examples, however, there are way more that prove how dedicated the Japanese are to accomplishing their tasks timely and qualitatively. Now, let’s find out what exactly helps Japanese workers to keep focus during the day and remain so productive.
The culture of having breaks in many Japanese companies genuinely impresses with it’s diversity and usefulness. Judge for yourself:
There are also several outstanding time-management techniques to pay attention to:
At first sight, Japanese business etiquette may well seem to be limiting individual freedom. People who come from other countries and who consider working in Japan should take it into account before they land a job and get frustrated. On the other hand, the Japanese are already striving to improve their working conditions and let their people fully experience what work-life balance is. At the end of the day, one shouldn’t meddle with their charter in a foreign monastery. We either accept their reality, embrace and respect it, or steer clear from the world we’re not comfortable with.
