It has been five months since I came here in Los Angeles and I feel there are some differences between Japan and the U.S. in business style.
First, American people's greeting is so casual regardless of age and a position.
In Japan, we never use casual greeting like "cheese!" to our boss.
Next, there is no custom to exchange their business card before their meeting starts in the U.S. Even if they do this, they don't treat cards politely. Besides they don't bow and they shake hands instead.
In addition, there are some differences in e-mail writing. For instance, Japanese people usually use some phrases of the compliments of the season or acknowledgements before main part, but in the U.S, they skip these phrases.
If people who use greeting phrase too much American people must consider as a person who can't organize the main points.
As you may know, there are a lot of differences in business style between Japan and the U.S.
I think the biggest difference is their diligence.
Generally speaking, Japanese people are hardworking. Basically they work overtime without complaint. Even though after overtime working, Japanese people go out for drink for the sake of their friendship. That's because they have a lot of loyalty to their company. It is no exaggeration to say that Japanese people's diligence made today's Japanese economy developed after W.W.Ⅱ.
They worked hard with slogan "Oitsuke Oikose"(Catch up and then over take) They made a lot of good products with low cost and they exported them to advanced countries.
However, too much hard working caused a lot of negative effect.
To begin with, family ties disappeared at home and it drove Japanese workers into a suicide. The total amount of suicides was 32,000 last year.
After all, GDP ranking rose, but people never felt happy. I wonder why Japanese people work so hard. Thus, I researched about the reason on the internet.
According to internet information, Japanese people didn't work so hard in the Edo Period. Now in Japan, there are a lot of part time workers. So we Japanese think "Part time worker" as new style.
However, it has already existed in Edo period; namely, there were a lot of people who didn't have a regular job, but at the Meiji period, Japanese government imported a western style for increasing productivity.
American government used to use slaves to increase their productivity, but at the Meiji period, it has been prohibited already. Japanese government had to find another way. So finally, they tried to give Japanese people a brain wash by strong education. They used "Hatarakazarumono ku bekarazu" (Don't eat without working) as a catch phrase from the Bible. Consequently, Japanese people completely became diligent.
Opposite to Japanese people, American people aren't diligent. In other words, American people basically prioritize their family than work.
Working overtime too much means totally incompetent.
Finishing work on time is evaluated more highly than working over time.
Besides, they don't have any loyalty to their company. So, American people's unfettered individualism is well known to the world. I think they can't understand why Japanese people work so hard until they have to commit suicide.
However, luckily, we Japanese people realized that working harder never make us happy. According to Yomiuri news paper, 61% Japanese people don't think that Japanese people's diligence will continue. That means they realized what the most important thing for their life is. It is useless to work over time without regarding their family. Also, young people don't think that they want to buy expensive car and home with long term loan.
GDP is not necessary for us. It's only for company and government.
I hope Japanese government and companies will change their mind and take action immediately to improve their law.
Written in 2009 and revised Oct 2012
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