On Fri­day, Michiko Yamashima gave a pre­sen­ta­tion on Japan­ese busi­ness eti­quette. Around thirty peo­ple attended, with many of those being stu­dents who planned on work­ing in Japan.

Yamashima began her pre­sen­ta­tion with an overview of Japan­ese demo­graph­ics and gov­ern­ment. She then moved on to cul­tural norms, such as the Japan­ese empha­sis on cour­tesy and respect.

Bow­ing was a major topic of dis­cus­sion, and Yamashima brought up the fact that bows are often seen as a sign of sub­or­di­na­tion by the United States. To Japan, said Yamashima, a “bow is a gesture…showing respect and sin­cer­ity.” There are three lev­els of bows, with the deep­est being for apolo­gies and the least pro­nounced being a casual ges­ture. All bows are from the waist; nod­ding, Yamashima said, “is not a bow; this is neck exer­cise.” Other eti­quette for bows includes the speed (slow is prefer­able to fast) and eye con­tact (at the begin­ning and end but not dur­ing a bow).

Yamashima cov­ered other ele­ments of Japan­ese busi­ness eti­quette as well, such as the proper attire (dark suits with white shirts, and white socks are too casual) and the han­dling of busi­ness cards, which should be given and received with two hands. Respect for busi­ness cards is very impor­tant. “The busi­ness card is the per­son him­self,” Yamashima said.

Most ele­ments of Japan­ese busi­ness eti­quette empha­size humil­ity and respect. A junior employee should seat him­self near the door of a tatami room and in the least com­fort­able posi­tion in a car. A junior employee should also use hum­ble expres­sions when describ­ing him­self and his com­pany, but may use hon­orific expres­sions when describ­ing his supe­rior or his client.

Mis­cel­la­neous items cov­ered were Japan­ese resumes (should include age, busi­ness pic­ture and dates in the Japan­ese era), com­pul­sive retire­ment in Japan, and rules for serv­ing alco­hol (females should serve males, and junior employ­ees should serve seniors before seniors serve them).

This is Career Ser­vices’ third year host­ing the Japan­ese busi­ness eti­quette sem­i­nar, and even for those not con­sid­er­ing jobs in Japan, it proved a fas­ci­nat­ing topic.