Almost everyone knows Sony’s Aibo “robot dog”, whose revival in 2018 marked not only a technological milestone but also a significant cultural touchstone. Designed to replicate the experience of pet ownership, Aibo has found a special place in the hearts of its owners, especially in Japan. The introduction of Sony’s “foster service” program has added…
(Click here for Japanese version) Communicating across cultures is always a challenging task especially if you are sent to another country or are communicating frequently with colleagues overseas. Before we look at a few useful tips on how to ensure effective communication let us play a little game. Please read this sentence in English: “I…
With 2022 coming to a close very soon, we would like to use this opportunity to talk about some of the important Japanese customs that come with transitioning over to the new year. On the evening of the 31st many families will go to a Shinto shrine, or even Buddhist temple, for hatsumōde, the first…
(by Nikolaus Mach-Hour, Head of JCO Germany / VP global strategy) I have been working with Japanese colleagues, clients and partners for over 30 years and, in this article series, I would like to show in what form I have observed the on-going change within Japanese companies in recent years. For decades, Japanese companies have…
In this article we are going to tackle a comment by an experienced participant to an open seminar. “I have been working at a Japanese company for quite some time now. So, I am used to being given targets that are often very high or even unrealistic. But last time we were asked to achieve…
In our previous post, we looked into the reasons why it is not easy for Japanese people to speak and understand English. Once you have realized that it is simply as difficult for Japanese people to speak English as it would be for you to speak Japanese, you will be ready to adapt. In this…
Many articles, research papers, and books have been written on the Japanese way of communication. Some authors go a bit overboard by referring to Far Eastern myths of “telepathy in the land of the rising sun”. As a trainer, I cover this topic in almost all training courses, workshops, or coaching sessions too. And yet…
In keeping with the holiday season, this time we want to delve into the role of religion in Japan and explain whether and how Christmas is celebrated in Japan. Religion in Japan Christianity is not a major religion in Japan”, so most holidays and rituals are connected to Japanese religions such Zen-Buddhism and the Shinto…
The coronavirus COVID-19 has shaken up the way we work. We now know more about Zoom or MS Team applications than we did a few months ago and have all been invited to an “online apero” at this point. As managing director of a company specialized in multi-cultural training to improve business efficiency when working…
Let´s start with a short question on the use of emoji. Like many things that surround us, emoji originated in Japan and can be translated as 絵, e = “picture” plus 文字, moji = “letter”. They were developed for mobile messaging at the end of the 1990ies. (here is a comparison of how they looked…
