Tips for a Japanese office

You may find it difficult to communicate with your Japanese colleagues. Most cases it is a just misunderstanding based on the different social cultures or customs. People usually take actions based on their social expectations.

People understand the contents of conversations from the point of view of their home countries' customs or general rules, and are subconsciously affected by their social norms.


<In the office>

When you enter the office you need to say "Ohayo gozaimasu" (Good morning) and when you leave office "Osakini shitsureishimasu" (I'm leaving before you).  If you are staying at the office and a colleague is going home you say "Otsukaresamadeshita" (Thank you for your hard work) otherwise people feel you are being rude.

You should also use a persons family name plus "san" which means something like Mr or Ms. For example, Mr Tanaka is "Tanaka-san" and Ms Suzuki is "Suzuki-san". "San" is gender free.


<In the meeting>

Many foreigner often say that Japanese are pessimistic. When you bring up a new idea, Japanese colleagues may research risks and disadvantages first, not the benefits. They try to understand what could happen in the worst scenario and plan around those dangers to prevent failure.

Making plans tends to be very important for Japanese. Japanese business culture does not take the "proceed and fix things as you go along" approach. But once they set the plan in motion things move forward smoothly.


During the meeting, you may feel that your Japanese colleagues are very quiet as if they don't have any opinions of their own. They tend to wait for the speaker to finish talking and then move on to next person. Some people are shy or not confident their ideas so they may wait until their turns. It is consider polite to wait to end of someone's speach and not interrupt with questions or comments.

<At the restaurant>

To me it appears that Japanese people are not strong for alcohol but they (especially men) like going out to drink after work and getting drunk on a weekly basis.  If you are with a group of Japanese colleagues at a restaurant, don't pour your own drink, allow someone else to do it for you and return the favour if you see someone else's glass is empty.

When you use chopstick well, Japanese people will appear amazed and say you are good at it every time you eat Japanese food with them but don't be angry or upset.  People just want to talk to you and are looking for some easier topics to start a conversation with you.


<In public space>
It is well known that Japanese people fall asleep on the train. I personally think that Japanese are not good at getting up in early morning (I'm definitely not good at getting up early!). Some women are putting full makeup on the train or in the toilet an the office in the morning. Japanese girls tend to feel embarrassed to meet people they know without makeup. You may feel it is strange but please don't stare at them.

Japanese people rarely entertain guests in their homes.  If you are invited to the home of your Japanese colleague or boss, consider it a great honour.  When you visit, you should take a small gift, such a cake or wine.

<Consider unlucky in Japan>

Don't write someone's name in red ink.  When I was a child, I was told that red ink is used to write the name of the deceased so it is considered bad luck in Japan.

Also the numbers "4" and "9" are considered unlucky in Japan.  The number four is "shi" in Japanese, which can also mean "death", and nine is "ku" which can also mean hardship.

Wearing shoes indoors is also consider unlucky in Japan because it used to be that only the deceased were allowed to wear shoes inside the house.

I hope these tips will help you work in a Japanese office.