Japanese Business Communication

The business communication in Japan means the act of communicating well with other people when we’re doing business. The business communication in Japan is very unusual compared to other countries. Japanese communication are epitomised by shading and tone. Telephone and e-mail are popular and is accepted as a form of communication among the Japanese business culture. Both courtesy and etiquette are the basic communication when we converse with other people. Even though the technology is very convenient, but Japanese business also emphasis on the face to face communication. When Japanese have a negotiation, the seating place in business meeting are different. The one with the highest status will seat the furthest from the door. On the other side, the lowest status will seat nearer to the door. Apart from this, it will take our time when we work in Japan. This is because the Japanese has a habit of ‘beating around the bush’. Normally on the first meeting, the Japanese will not talk so much about business but instead they will want to know you more. They will talk to you about random stuff to get to know you more. There are many ways to be successful in Japan but only one main way to be successful in negotiations that is to prepare, prepare and prepare. We must not be too spontaneous in Japan. We must speak carefully when we are in trouble. We also shouldn’t be too pushy. This is a very bad behaviour in Japan. When the meeting is in silence, don not worry about that because they are releasing stress from themselves. Besides that, Japanese focuses less on the verbal communication and are more concern on non-verbal communication. The Japanese style of conversing is mostly a‘prejudgement’ because they normally listen to someone and they understand more than what the speaker is trying to tell. In Japan, this is called “ichi ieba ju wakaru”. When we are working with the Japanese, this is an essential to increase our intuition. We will be able to get more messages and will be able improve our ability to read. Communication difficulties are usually often seen in the cross-national meeting. Many businessmen only know how to speak English well and they are always worried about being misunderstood by Japanese businessmen as they only can speak and understand Japanese well. Therefore, we must learn to speak Japanese if we want to deal with Japanese businessman.

Eye Contact


Looking someone straight into the eye is meaning confidence in the other country. But in Japan it brings a different meaning. This  actions  shows  a  sign  of  challenge  and has no etiquette  in  Japan. The Japanese respect each other through their “eye contact” by looking downwards a little as they greet.


Gestures

Japanese  people  avoid  to  showing  their  emotion  and  expression in  public . Japanese are always use smile to conceal their real emotion. There are  accept  to  shaking  hand  and  to  built  a  best relationship  with  others , but  there  are  uncomfortable  with  touching behaviours  such  as  hugging . Hand gestures must be used in suitable times. If  use  in  misunderstanding  of  the  signal ,  it would  be  insulting  to  the  Japanese.

Silence

At  the  moment , Japanese  take  time  to  relax  and  understand what  has  been  said . This  is  because  Japanese  is  so  indirect , their  need  to  know  all  the  information  that  they were saying.