Learning the language is not enough if a foreign company wants to enter the Japanese market. Even if you speak well, faux pas slows down your business and harm your credibility.
So, whether you want to create a website, post on social media, or meet professionals, there are a few things to pay attention to. You can read about Japanese business etiquette to know the dos and don’ts when participating in professional meetings.
But here is the general Japanese culture when doing business in Japan!
Colors
Both positive and negative, it represents elegance, sexuality, and wealth as the morning, sadness, or anger. Usually, the combination of white and black are used for mourning or in other sad situations.
It symbolizes purity and is worn during the marriage. The bride ‘takes off’ her family colors to ‘take on’ her new family colors. It is also a synonym for innocence, sacredness, humility, and simplicity.
It represents stability, calm, peace, immortality, loyalty, or depression (it is not associated with men as in Europe or America).
While in the West, it is a synonym for passion and excitement, in Japan it represents happiness, celebration, life or anger, and danger. It is often used by web designers in Japan. Check out what color to make your Japanese website for further details.
It represents bravery, warmth, and love, as opposed to the West where it is associated with harvest and fall.
It represents royalty, optimism, or idealism, not adultery as in the West.
The color of good luck (or misfortune), nature, fertility, youth, jealousy, or envy.
A synonym of wealth, nobility, royalty, spirituality or cruelty, arrogance, and mourning.
It represents femininity, marriage, innocence, children, or flirting.
It can represent mourning, earth, hearth, outdoor, comfort, endurance, or simplicity.
Numbers
It is common knowledge that the numbers 4 and 9 are unlucky in Japan because of their pronunciation being the same as death and suffering/agony respectively. So it is best to avoid using them for prices or the name of your products. Some global companies, however, chose to keep those numbers.
Such as when the PlayStation 4 was released, but people called it the ‘PlayStation Four’ (フォー fou) and not ‘PlayStation Shi’. It is the same for games like Mario Party 4 or Ace Attorney 4.
Gestures and Body Language
Here are some gestures that may differ between where you are from and in Japan:
It is rude or aggressive to stare at someone, even during a conversation. Japanese prefer looking somewhere else, like the person’s neck or the ground.
Unlike in the West, the palm of your hand faces the ground (the hand being above your head) and your fingers move.
There is no physical contact when you say goodbye to someone (except for close friends, usually girls). Just wave at your friend or bow when it is in a professional setting – and offer your business card if you have not done it yet.
For further information about Japanese business cards and bowing, click here!
Clap your hand (once) in front of you and stay like that for one or several seconds.
You start with your thumb closed (1), then the thumb and index closed (2), etc. until all your fingers are closed (5).
Place your hand onto the back of your head and expel hair through your teeth (it is more common for men) or rock your hand back and forth in front of you (more common for women). Your facial expression should show that you are sorry, like regret.
In Japan, even more than elsewhere, you don’t point at something or someone. Use your whole hand and turn your body in the direction you want to indicate.
Do as if you were eating ramen, with a hand grabbing a bowl and the other holding chopsticks. In the same way, grab a fake cup and do it as if you were about to drink. It is better to use it with your friends or colleagues only, not with superiors or customers.
Gestures to Avoid
- As said before, don’t point at someone or something
- Don’t cross your arms during a conversation, especially if you don’t know well the other person. However, you can cross your arms and close your eyes when you think to show that you are trying to figure something out
- When you are in a professional setting, don’t put your hands in your pockets and don’t slouch. Show that you are listening and Genki (vigorous)
- Don’t take more space than you need when you sit on the train or on a bench
To know more about Japanese business etiquette, click here!
We hope that your next visit to Japan or your next meeting will go perfectly well! But the best way to learn a culture is through a trial-and-error process, through experience, so ganbatte kudasai!
