Japanese Business Etiquette

2 Pages 518 Words

Boye De Mente’s article “Japanese Etiquette and Ethics in Business” states how the business world of Japan is and also gives some comparison between Japanese and Western business rituals. Some of the things that Mente describes are the hiring systems, the role that women play in the business world, the role of employees, and the role that entertainment plays in the business industry. Mente concludes his article by giving some examples of what the western should and should not do when conducting business in Japan.
I did not expect some of the things that I learned about the Japanese business industry. I had always assumed that the Japanese would have a very formal business world, because I was taught that they had a very formal educational system. I did not expect so much of the business industry to be based on relationships. I was also a bit surprised by the openness of some of the entertainment customs, like that of the offering of a young women to a business associate. Also the role that alcohol plays surprised me. I found it interesting that it is looked down upon in Japan if one does not drink oneself to a drunken state, because in most Western business industries, it is looked down upon to drink oneself to drunkenness at a business event. It was these social aspects of the Japanese business world that surprised me the most.
I found it very interesting to learn about the company system of shu-shin koyo. I had never heard of a company hiring an employee for “lifetime employment.” Part of me thinks that this way of hiring employees is not very fair. If in order to obtain a job, you must be hired right out of school, what happens to those that did not do so well earlier in life, but eventually realized their ability? When I think about what I have learned about the Japanese culture, I have heard that in Japan most do not “go back to school” later in life, so this system of “hiring for life” definitely ...