Global Business Cultural Analysis: Japan Case Study

Abstract

Limited study has been conducted on Japanese culture and its impacts on businesses. Some of the cultural dimensions that influence business activities in Japan include communication, religion, ethics, and social structure, values, attitudes among others. Nuance and subtlety considerably characterize communication in Japan.

The manner in which an individual communicate, dress and portray oneself greatly affect business negotiations. Normally, the Japanese embrace unity and works hard to avoid competition with their colleagues. Hence, most of the businesses are operated in groups where every member of the group emphasizes on the needs of the other members when executing business duties.

The mores of collectivism contributes to the success of the Japanese business entities. American companies wishing to invest in Japan may adopt this culture to boost their performance. In addition, Japanese have the sense of nationalism. It is the sense of nationalism that leads to consumers being loyal to Japanese products. Japanese are popular for their honesty and loyalty to business organizations.

Whenever a business manages to establish a strong relationship with consumers, it is hard for the business to lose these consumers. To survive in the Japanese market, American investors may capitalize on establishing strong relationship with consumers.

Introduction

Every business organization is a joint creation that comprises of an assortment of people, their attitudes, behavior, and interaction with one another. To achieve any objective, a business demands joint efforts of most of its members. The results, nevertheless, depend on both personal contribution and how well the business is capable of integrating the efforts of its employees.

Hence, the success of any business dwells largely on employees’ attitude, values, habits, and behavior trends (Brockner, 2003). Popularity of the idea of business culture is associated with the need to enhance business efficiency and success, especially regarding the process of change. Business culture may lead to possible resistance or support during changes. The ability to address changes lies on business members’ wish to embrace the goals of the business and the level of the sense of togetherness.

Limited study has been conducted on Japanese culture and its effects on businesses. Japan is one of the countries with a very rich culture and almost every activity in the country is influenced by culture.

Some of the cultural dimensions that influence business activities in Japan include communication, religion, ethics, and social structure, values, attitudes among others (Brockner, 2003). Nuance and subtlety significantly characterize communication in Japan (Brockner, 2003). The manner in which an individual communicate, dress and portray oneself greatly affect business negotiations.

Normally, Japanese embrace homogeneity and tries under all means to avoid competition with their colleagues. Hence, most of the businesses are operated in groups where every member of the group emphasizes on the needs of the other members when executing business duties (Brockner, 2003). Japanese culture is highly contextualized. Hence, in business content, the Japanese not only rely on what is said but also on how the communicator uses other nonverbal cues.

This greatly differs with how the Americans communicate in a business environment. This paper aims at looking at some of the Japanese cultural dimensions and their integration in businesses. Besides, the paper will compare these cultural dimensions with the American cultural dimensions and evaluate their implications on American business operators wishing to invest in Japan.

The major elements and dimensions of culture in Japan

Communication (Peltokorpi, 2007)

Of all the features of relating with the Japanese, communication is the one that causes the biggest dilemma. Japanese communication is characterized by nuance and subtlety, where individual’s appearance, sentiments, and thoughts are significantly isolated. There is often a huge difference between sentiments and thoughts (Peltokorpi, 2007).

At times, the two contradict each other. Relationship development in Japan depends mostly on the ability of the individuals to read the fundamental truth that may support the spoken expression. For people with limited knowledge in the Japanese culture, it is normally hard to steer through these very baffling inconsistencies. In short, such individuals keep on questioning every sentiment in order to have a clear understanding.

One of the reasons why communication is a big challenge in Japanese business environment is that most of the foreigners in the country do not speak Japanese (Peltokorpi, 2007). On the other hand, most of the Japanese have poor command of the English language. In events of stress or tension in a meeting, the Japanese are fond of maintaining silence.

This helps in relieving tension and allows people to divert their attention to other issues thus conserving harmony, which is very crucial in communication as per their culture. When communicating, the Japanese hardly use body language. They are normally very still when communicating and tries as much as possible not to express their emotions.

Social structure (Lin, 2001)

Japan is in most cases portrayed as a society that strive to circumvent conflict by insisting on homogeneity and considering differentness as secondary. The Japanese do not have the view of person as an individual; instead, they feel most contented with others who have compassion (Lin, 2001).

According to them, people have to collaborate in the same situation. This eliminates the chances of Japanese viewing one another as different individuals. This extreme homogeneous social structure in Japan leads to Japanese disregarding individualism as an affirmative norm (Lin, 2001). In fact, the Japanese value group life as the Americans value individualism. Homogeneity is the principle value of society, which significantly leak into all spheres of life and defines other values.

However, with time, this social structure is disintegrating as more foreigners settle in Japan. The younger generation is continuously abandoning the culture and becoming more independent. Perhaps, they are now realizing that Japan is not as harmonized as the cultural beliefs posit (Lin, 2001).

Hence, the country is gradually identifying itself based on nationality and not ethnicity. Some of the traditional mores are gradually becoming obsolete as the country internationalize. For instance, most of the Japanese feels that they need to do away with the prevalent communication subtleties that foreigners do not understand.

Despite the move towards individualism, Japanese society still exhibits a group-oriented social structure. Japanese teach their children to be group conscious at a tender age. They consider family as the basic group of the society, and this is where children start learning the culture of collectiveness (Lin, 2001).

As one grows, the membership in groups expands. With time, the group comprises of neighborhood, person’s class in school, and when one becomes an adult it comprises of workplace. In one’s growth course, a person is encouraged to commit his or her energy in the group as well as to forfeit personal gain for the sake of the group (Lin, 2001). Besides, an individual is taught to uphold group harmony. Many of the groups have hierarchies and every member has a designated rank and duties in the group.

Most of the Japanese avoid “direct confrontation and competition with others” (Lin, 2001, p.87). Teaming up with other people demands willpower; nevertheless, teamwork brings about emotional surety, identity and joy of participating in a group, hence adding value. Wa, the belief of harmony in a group, demands an attitude of mutual aid and acknowledgement of social obligations (Lin, 2001).

The Japanese believe that success is achieved only when every member of the group puts forth his or her best personal effort. Decisions are frequently realized after consulting every member of the group and consensus does not mean that all members are contented.

Values

Order and status (Brockner, 2003)

It is hard to figure out a Japanese image of the social order without putting into consideration the effect of Confucianism since before the beginning of Chinese influence; Japan did not have structured culture. Confucianism stresses on concord among nature, heaven and human race that is attained through everyone acknowledging his or her duty and sharing in the social order by appropriate manners (Brockner, 2003).

For the Japanese, hierarchy is inevitable. Relative status disparity characterizes almost all social relations. “Place of employment, education, seniority and gender are some of the conventional differences that guide relations. Japanese may opt not to relate with a stranger, to evade possible error in etiquette. Calling cards or business cards so often exchanged in Japan are essential instruments of social relation since they offer adequate information about another being to assist in normal social interaction” (Brockner, 2003, p.351).

Japanese express status differences through language. Verb endings normally portray relations of dominance and lowliness (Brockner, 2003). They have a wealthy vocabulary of honorific that shows an individual’s status or it may be altered to show what the speaker wish the interaction to be. Some words are associated with manly speech and others with womanly.

Attitude

Desire for perfection (Schepers, 2006)

The Japanese have an exceptional attitude towards work. They apparently dedicate all their life to work and readily give up their personal life for the sake of work. Unlike in United sates where workers stage strikes because of unfavorable working conditions, Japanese are tolerant to such conditions at workplaces. At times, they go to work even when they are sick and turn down any offer to relieve them from work.

According to Schepers (2006) the Japanese feel that taking seek leave may affect their productivity thus affecting organizational performance. To ensure they uphold the culture of teamwork at workplaces, Japanese spend more time socializing with group members after work. This strengthens their ties thus fostering cooperation at workplaces.

Japanese have the attitude of settling on the best in everything they do. They believe that “only the best is good enough”. They take all their assignments seriously and execute them diligently. Employees at all sectors are required to perfect their art and most of them strive at achieving it.

The Japanese portray their desire for perfection through numerous ways (Schepers, 2006). Some of these ways include the manner in which they arrange food in their plates, the way they arrange flowers and how they organize their gardens.

The Japanese poplar tea celebration is one of the best examples that show how they value perfections. The apparatus used during the ceremony and the movement made are accurately spelled and have to be observed by all participants. It is this desire for perfection that contributes to the veneration accorded to education in the country.

Attitude towards women (Schepers, 2006)

In Japan, the role of women is mostly inclined towards domestic chores. Women are supposed to give birth to children and bring them up, virtually single handedly. In most cases, “they spoil their boys and make all the decisions regarding their education with limited consultations with their husbands” (Schepers, 2006, p.27).

The term okusa, which means “Her Indoors”, is used when referring to women. Other responsibilities of women include conducting shopping for the family. Most of the Japanese desire to eat fresh food purchased on daily basis. Besides, their apartments are small leaving no space for stocking huge amount of foodstuffs (Schepers, 2006).

Consequently, the Japanese woman has to go on shopping on daily basis. With time, women have started opposing this attitude and are seeking to share responsibilities with men. A few young women are participating in business and politics. Nevertheless, for a woman to succeed in business or politics, she has to be more enlightened than men are.

Hard work is normal (Brockner, 2003)

Japanese have the attitude that everyone ought to work hard. No one is supposed to be pushed to work harder. All the Japanese commit themselves to working hard. Normally, they do not value leisure time, and in most cases, they sacrifice their free time to either work in their places of work or do some domestic chores. Unlike in the western countries, the Japanese do not take alcohol during the day (Brockner, 2003).

They believe that consuming alcohol during the day might affect one’s performance at workplaces. A study conducted in 2003 indicated that the Japanese worked for longer hours compared to workers from other developed countries. Nevertheless, this attitude is changing with time. Currently, some Japanese are taking leisure time seriously and opting to take a break from working and spend time with friends.

Appearance (Hong, et al., 2000)

There is a clear disparity between reality and appearance in Japan. This aspect “is expected in a community that highly values presentation, appearance, style and politeness, while at the same time trying to observe numerous feudal outlooks in a democratic and contemporary world” (Hong, et al., 2000, p.718).

These old-fashioned outlooks entail strong stances of social status, and involve involuntary submission and allegiance to those above. These deep-seated attitudes tend to contradict with more Western and current perspectives of equality and conventional ones of group unity and in any case some input in decision-making.

To avert potential contradictions and avoid embarrassment, “everybody accept that one ought to maintain a surface appearance even if a different reality is going on underneath” (Hong, et al. 2000, p.719). This makes it hard for individuals to delve through to the underneath reality, especially if they do not understand how the Japanese express themselves during conversations.

Religion (Beasley, 2003)

Japanese religion is exceptional in that most of the Japanese practice more than one religion at the same time. In a way, this religious practice has contributed to the ability by the Japanese to cope with varied complexities that arise in their business world (Beasley, 2003). Their indigenous religion is Shintoism and it concentrate on the pious forces of life and of specific trees, mountains, streams, water bodies and other geographical features associated with religious meaning.

During the middle ages, missionaries originating from Asian mainland introduced Mahayana Buddhism in Japan(Beasley, 2003). This religion spread during the epoch of Japanese segregation into markedly Japanese groups, like Zen.

The Zen brought in the belief in impulsive enlightenment, while Shingon Buddhism brought in the belief that enlightenment is a process that entails the transformation of both body and spirit (Beasley, 2003). It is this belief that influences the manner in which businesses are conducted in Japan. For instance, the Japanese uphold instinctive decision-making as an authentic criterion for response.

The elements and dimensions integrated by locals conducting business in Japan

Collectivism (Faramarz, 1998) (Gambrel, & Cianci, 2003)

Japan is generally a collectivist. Business people try as much as possible to avoid risks and do not give precedence to individual liberty. Work group characterizes the Japanese business world. Normally, Japanese business people appear to be reserved in their conduct and do not accept any not from outsiders.

They are highly relationship focused and they give first priority to their groups (Faramarz, 1998). According to the Japanese, enhancing the efficiency of the group benefits every member. Hence, everyone in the business group is required to share the same set of values and attitudes.

Faramarz (1998) notes, “Teamwork, cooperation, participation, and loyalty are highly emphasized in business settings” (p. 40). In addition, Conflict and open expression are discouraged “as they might lead to shame and embarrassment and embracing these features of work culture generally result in increased employee productivity, commitment to work and a shared liability for decisions and actions” (Gambrel, & Cianci, 2003, p.156).

The culture of collectivism is reflected in the Japanese ring system used in making decisions on matters affecting businesses (Faramarz, 1998). Every member of the group partakes in making decisions on matters affecting the business and share in a common liability for the effects of the decisions made.

Gambrel and Cianci (2003) posit that the Japanese ensure that they appeal to the entire corporation when making decisions on matters affecting the business rather than seeking opinions from a small group of individuals. The lasting relationship established by the collectivism culture used by the Japanese benefits all the participants. The Japanese willingly agree that their work intrude into their private lives. Hence, they do not bother themselves with looking for mechanisms to separate the two (Gambrel, & Cianci, 2003).

The sense of being Japanese (Oyserman, Coon, & Kemmelmeier, 2002)

Japanese have a strong feeling of nationalism. It is these feelings that unite them in all their activities. They perceive themselves as better than other cultures thus opting to collaborate with people whom they share a cultural background. They hardly buy goods or seek for services from foreigners regardless of the quality of products or services. This sense of nationalism is reinforced by the fact that all Japanese share a common race.

Most of the Western cultures fail to have a strong sense of nationalism due to racial diversity. Business operators exploit these deep senses of nationalism in enhancing their profitability at the expense of foreigners. For many years, Japanese firms claimed that imported products are normally of lower quality compared to products manufactured in Japan (Oyserman, Coon, & Kemmelmeier, 2002). Besides, the firms posited that imported products do not rhyme with domestic lifestyles and pose dangers to the Japanese health.

This propaganda discouraged many from buying imported products opting to use locally manufactured product. For example, some Japanese shy away from buying imported rice. They believe that “imported rice makes them suffer from indigestion” (Oyserman, Coon, & Kemmelmeier, 2002, p. 35).

Similarly, the sense of nationalism makes most of the consumers purchase Japanese products in spite of them being more expensive than the imported products. This reason has made it hard for foreign companies to venture into the Japanese market.

Commitment to business (Lee, & Yoshihara, 2007)

In Japan, commitment to business activities is a common thing. Companies expect their employees to “sacrifice part of their weekends or evenings to participate in social activities related to the companies or even work for the companies” (Lee, & Yoshihara, 2007, p.19). Barely any employee seems to use all his or her agreed annual holidays.

As a way of showing their commitment to business, employees forfeit some days in their allotted holidays and work for the company. Time allocated to lunchtime is strictly half an hour. In order not to interrupt their performance, employees opt to drink alcohol after working hours.

Apart from commitment to business activities, Japanese always ensure that they deliver the best results in all that they do. They always endeavor for professionalism in all their areas of specialization. Low grade workers shows this by putting on simple uniform like headband. The common believe is that there is absolutely a single way of executing a task correctly and every employee ought to follow it (Lee, & Yoshihara, 2007).

Japanese go a long way in ensuring that they come up with the best models of cars and electronic gadgets. They take extreme care with every detail when producing their products. Education and training are greatly valued in Japan since they facilitate in realization of the desired professionalism. Companies train and retrain their employees in regular basis to make sure that they acquire the desired skills.

Leadership in business (Hong, et al., 2000)

The duality between reality and appearance manifests in numerous areas. The actual holders of influence are frequently invisible (Hong, et al., 2000, p.715). The same happens even in running the nation. In most cases, businesses organize staff meetings to discuss challenges facing them and come up with solutions. Nevertheless, the businesses end up not adopting the decisions made during staff meetings. They have to wait for the leader to come up with the final decision (Hong, et al., 2000).

Japanese business leaders believe that their support staffs can also share opinions that are very crucial for business success. Moreover, they encourage their staffs to come up with no contradictory business objectives. Leaders in Japanese business organizations value work groups and encourage teamwork to curb conflicts at workplaces.

In spite of the business leaders making final decision on matters affecting businesses, they ensure that their decisions are in line with opinion shared by other business employees (Hong, et al., 2000). In other words, the leadership in Japanese businesses is highly participatory with every employee getting a chance to share his or her idea on matters affecting the business.

Unlike in the Western cultures where it is hard for support staffs to communicate direct with top management leaders, in Japan the top business leaders have their offices within the organization.

Besides, the top management team wears uniforms similar to those worn by other workers (Hong, et al., 2000). The rationale behind wearing similar uniforms is to eliminate the sense of superiority that workers may have towards their managers thus approaching them freely whenever they have problems or opinions they wish to share.

This kind of leadership makes it possible for workers to interact freely with their leaders thus updating them on the challenges they face during their daily operations as well as on some of the improvements to implement in the organization (Hong, et al., 2000).

A comparison of Japanese cultural elements with US culture and business

Orientation (Buruma, 2003)

The Americans exhibits short-term orientation. When making decision on matters affecting their businesses, the Americans give precedence to time. They prefer tackling the identified challenges in a sequential manner. The challenges are broken down into smaller segments and decisions made quickly to save time.

On the other hand, the japans exhibit long-term orientation. In making decisions on matters affecting their businesses, they opt for a holistic approach. All members in the group are consulted and the decision reached up has to be in line with the group’s thoughts (Buruma, 2003).

This calls for more time and patience from all the group members. It is difficult for Japanese groups to arrive at a common decision within a short period. According to them, they have to come up with a decision that fits all the group members. This is not the same with the Americans where a small number of organization’s members may make decision for the entire business.

Specific/Diffuse (Cleary, 2000)

The Americans are normally direct in speech, first debating on the issue at hand and moving outwards to those issues that are not very important to the business. When discussing matters affecting organizations, the Americans opt to follow established guidelines that apply to varied contexts.

In other words, they are very rigid in making decision on matters affecting their businesses and opt to use universalistic rules (Cleary, 2000). On the other hand, the Japanese emphasize on the group and work to establish a common beneficial relationship. Hence, they establish rules that more particularistic in bid to give room for continually changing social contexts. By adopting the universalistic rules, the Americans evade facing direct criticism if the decisions made fail to yield the expected results.

The Japanese employ a diffuse strategy when addressing challenges facing their organizations. They first look at the background of the problem affecting the business and gradually move towards addressing the main problem. The supremacy of the group over the individual is reflected in such discussions. Japanese show greater consideration of others during discussions and try as much as possible to shun direct criticism (Cleary, 2000).

Cleary (2000) associate this with the Japanese notion of inside (“ura”) and outside (“omote”) that is stumbled upon in all phases of Japanese life. The Japanese believe that the outside criticism may damage the inside of the group thus affecting group performance. It is this belief that leads to participants avoiding to criticize others directly.

Confucian dynamism (Hofstede, & Bond, 2001)

According to Hofstede and Bond (2001), the Japanese practice Confucian system of education. This system of education advocates for respect to unequal relationship and insists on focusing on the needs of the group. This system leads to the existence of hierarchies and collectivist actions in all the meetings organized in business organizations.

On the other hand, the Americans also exhibit some level of Confucian dynamism when dealing with matters affecting their businesses. For instance, all negotiations tend to follow a formal channel where business leaders consult other staffs prior to making final decision.

Nevertheless, the Americans believe on the biblical teaching on hard work. The book of Ruth 2:12 states that “May the Lord reward your work, and your wages be full from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge” (Hofstede, & Bond, 2001).

Hence, the Americans believe that it is only through trusting in God and working hard that an individual is rewarded. Trusting in God alone does not bear any fruit. To determine if they are working hard, they at times opt to work individually and this explains why there are limited groups in most of the American businesses. They find is difficult to determine individual contribution to the business when working in groups.

Contexting and face-saving (De Mente, 2001) (Victor, 2000)

The Japanese culture is regarded as a “high context” (De Mente, 2001). According to De Mente (2001), Japanese culture is one of the most highly contexted among the developed cultures. In handy terms, this implies that the Japanese are prone to reading the context surrounding any dialogue just as they are prone to relying on the spoken words. Consequently, most of the Japanese do not rely entirely on what is said during a conversation (De Mente, 2001).

This indirect mode of communication greatly differs with business communication employed in the United States and other western countries. To some level, the United States culture has instances where “white lies” are used to safeguard an individual’s feelings. Nevertheless, the contrast comes in the magnitude to which the Japanese and the Americans use the lies. The Japanese are prone to using such lies than the Americans (De Mente, 2001).

Business people from the United States may not be able to understand these “white lies”. To them, they may perceive them as dishonesty in the business environment. Nevertheless, the Japanese are able to interpret the lies based on the context. Even though they may seem to say one thing when implying something else, the Japanese are always honest in business dealings.

The context of the dialogue clearly reflects what an individual actually intends to put across. Hence, where an American may refuse to submit to a request by saying “no”, most of the Japanese might respond to the same request by claiming that the request poses some challenges. Besides, others may say “yes” to the request by respond in a manner that sends a negative message (De Mente, 2001).

The face is a vital component in the Japanese business environment. Unlike the Americans, the Japanese always try to hide their anger when negotiating for business deal. While most of the Americans opt to do the honorable thing and safeguard their names, the Japanese try as much as possible to safeguard their face and that of their counterparts from public humiliation (Victor, 2000).

In an attempt to safeguard their faces, the Japanese are always confronted by the dilemma of not sacrificing business commitments because of personal intentions. At times, they end up giving up their personal intentions to maintain their public image in the business environment (Victor, 2000).

The implications for US businesses that wish to conduct business in Japan

Nationalism and its influence on US Businesses (Oyserman, Coon, & Kemmelmeier, 2002)

The culture of nationalism exhibited by the Japanese is likely to have adverse effects on American business operating in Japan. The perception that all imported products are inferior to those manufactured in Japan may lead to consumers not purchasing from American businesses.

The businesses may be stocking Japanese products but the fact that the Americans manage them may lead to consumers perceiving that all the businesses stock imported products only (Oyserman, Coon, & Kemmelmeier, 2002). Besides, some companies, especially those selling food products may incur huge loss since most of the Japanese may fear buying their products.

The culture of nationalism practiced by the Japanese dictates on the products that Americans wishing to invest in Japan ought to stock. It is hard for Japanese to purchase food products from non-Japanese shops. Hence, any American selling food products in the country may go for a long time without making substantial sales.

The belief that foreign products pose health threats to the Japanese may lead to them not buying food products stocked by foreign businesses (Oyserman, Coon, & Kemmelmeier, 2002). To shun this, the Americans may be compelled to relinquish their management to local people and only manage the businesses from the periphery to win the trust of the Japanese. Moreover, American investors would have to spend most of their time trying to convince the Japanese that their products are of high quality and pose no danger at all.

Loyalty and its influence on American businesses (Paulus, & Yang, 2000)

The loyalty exhibited by the Japanese in businesses and products may have both adverse and productive effects on the American businesses operating in Japan. There is a perception that the Japanese business culture is impenetrable to foreign companies. Nevertheless, American investors wishing to Invest in Japan may reap heavily from this culture.

For instance, American investors may benefit from the stable lasting relationship, which emanates from the conservative sense of loyalty exhibited by the Japanese (Paulus, & Yang, 2000).

To benefits from the Japanese culture, American investors ought to have a clear understanding of the culture and to monitor it regularly to identify upcoming changes. In short, foreign investors only need to resonate with the cultural changes rather than opposing them. By doing this, they would win trust of the Japanese consumers thus doing well in the country.

Collectivism and its influence on American businesses (Wagner, 1995)

The culture of collectivism portrayed by the Japanese may have numerous benefits to American companies wishing to invest in Japan. Firstly, Collectivistic orientation promotes cooperation and shuns social loafing in organizations (Wagner, 1995). The individualistic culture observed by the American companies discourages cooperation between employees.

In return, the companies suffer from reduced employee productivity since employees do not feel as part of the organization. By embracing collectivism, American businesses wishing to invest in Japan would benefit from increased employee productivity and cooperation. Collectivism leads to all group members working together for the good of the entire group. In return, it promotes teamwork and cooperation thus enhancing employee productivity.

Conclusion

Numerous cultural dimensions influence business activities in Japan. The dimensions range from social structure, communication, values, attitude, to appearance. The way an individual conducts oneself during business negotiations determines the success of the negotiation. Japanese value homogeneity and avoid competing among themselves. They highly embrace the culture of collectivism, where people work as groups and every member of the group is valued.

The culture of collectivism contributes to the success of the Japanese business entities. Every member of the group feels valued thus striving at enhancing group performance. American companies wishing to invest in Japan may adopt this culture to boost their performance. Besides, the Japanese have the sense of nationalism.

It is the sense of nationalism that leads to consumers being loyal to Japanese products. They consider imported products as inferior and to cause health challenges to their users. Because of this belief, it would be hard for the American business operators to do well in the Japanese market.

The face is a vital component in the Japanese business environment. Japanese always try to hide their fury when negotiating for business deal. While most of the Americans opt to do the honorable thing and safeguard their names, the Japanese try as much as possible to safeguard their face and that of their counterparts from public humiliation. Japanese culture is highly contextualized. Hence, in business content, the Japanese not only rely on what is said but also on how the communicator uses other nonverbal cues.

This greatly differs with how the Americans communicate in a business environment. In United States, lies are considered as dishonesty in a business context. On the other hand, the Japanese evaluate the context in which the lies are used to understand what the communicator actually meant. Consequently, Japanese may say “yes” during a conversation when he or she actually means “no”. His or her subsequent actions are what reflect what one implied.

Japanese are popular for their honesty and loyalty to business organizations. Whenever a business manages to establish a strong relationship with consumers, it is hard for the business to lose these consumers. In order to survive in the Japanese market, American investors may capitalize on establishing strong relationship with consumers.

They can achieve this by monitoring cultural changes and aligning their business operations with these changes rather than opposing the changes. Aligning a business with cultural changes would reduce chances of the Japanese perceiving the business as inclined to foreign cultural practices thus continuing associating with it. Japanese only need to realize that the business values their cultural beliefs to relate with it.

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