Tag Archives: Michiko Yamashima

Understanding Japanese Business Etiquette

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This past Fri­day, I inad­ver­tently observed a key tenet of Japan­ese busi­ness eti­quette – and vio­lated another – as I skid­ded into Michiko Yamashima’s pre­sen­ta­tion on Japan­ese Busi­ness Eti­quette almost twenty min­utes late.  I had sprinted over to the Career Ser­vices office after an exam ran long, and slid into a back row, bend­ing for­ward and inclin­ing my head to duck into a seat. I had per­formed, in essence, a hur­ried form of the Japan­ese indi­ca­tion of respect and sin­cer­ity, the お辞儀, or for­mal bow.  I neglected, how­ever, to appear in full West­ern busi­ness attire, dark suit and con­ser­v­a­tive shoes included.

These ges­tures – for­mal bow­ing, and the obser­vance of appro­pri­ate attire—are but two of sev­eral impor­tant Japan­ese busi­ness cus­toms to be observed in cor­po­rate sit­u­a­tions. Why are these ges­tures nec­es­sary? And why should we Prince­to­ni­ans famil­iar­ize our­selves with their impor­tance? Just as Amer­i­cans expect for­eign­ers to greet us with a firm hand­shake and jovial grin, so too do Japan­ese busi­ness­men and women antic­i­pate com­pli­ance with a few basic cus­toms as a show of mutual respect.

In a busi­ness set­ting, junior employ­ees should take their seats clos­est to the door, and take care to avoid the most com­fort­able chairs. Women take a rel­a­tively sub­servient role, and cus­tom­ar­ily serve alco­holic bev­er­ages and other drinks to their male coun­ter­parts. Resumes intended for use in Japan should include the applicant’s age and passport-sized photo.  If noth­ing else, how­ever, the fol­low­ing three aspects of Japan­ese busi­ness eti­quette should be observed:

  1. Bow­ing is more than a neck exer­cise.  Western-style hand­shakes span the spec­trum from wet fish to bone-crusher; bow­ing, too, requires prac­tice and pre­ci­sion. There are three lev­els of bows, Yamashima explained: the least pro­nounced an infor­mal greet­ing, the mid-level appro­pri­ate for busi­ness meet­ings, and the third, deep­est bow reserved for apolo­gies. When bow­ing to an asso­ciate, keep it slow and mea­sured, and make sure to main­tain eye con­tact at the begin­ning and end of the gesture.
  2. Busi­ness card pre­sen­ta­tion is a form of art. In Japan, busi­ness cards, like credit cards, are treated as exten­sions of peo­ple them­selves. Busi­ness cards are typ­i­cally exchanged between all par­ties present at a meet­ing, and are pre­sented and received with two hands. The recip­i­ent is expected to briefly inspect the busi­ness card, indi­cate admi­ra­tion with a brief nod, and pro­vide their own in return. Trav­el­ers to Japan should arrive fully stocked with busi­ness cards – it is not uncom­mon to hand out 100 cards in a sin­gle week!
  3. Dress for suc­cess – con­ser­v­a­tive, sub­dued suc­cess.  West­ern busi­ness attire is com­mon­place in most Japan­ese cities, and both men and women should dress in dark suits with dark ties, socks, panty­hose, and shoes, as appropriate.

Yamashima’s mes­sage, while most use­ful for those antic­i­pat­ing a career in Japan, is applic­a­ble to all stu­dents seek­ing future employ­ment: do your research, and pay atten­tion to the cus­toms of your workplace.

Learning About Business Etiquette in Japan

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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.