Working in Japan can be really challenging, especially at the very beginning.
I had never been interested in Japanese culture before starting to work in Japan. I had therefore no expectations and I was totally unprepared. I made so many mistakes, which made my life harder at the beginning.
I wish someone had given me the advice that I’m about to give you. There is a lot of Japanese culture embedded into the workplace that should not be overlooked.
It could take a long time before you figure out the rules and start to blend into the Japanese workplace. In the following I will try to give some advice to help you speed up your integration, based on my own experience and the experience of foreigners around me.
- Introduce yourself
Before coming to Japan, I was used to being introduced and I wasn’t familiar to the concept of introducing myself. Of course, apart from saying “Hi, my name is Sarah. Nice to meet you”. From my point of view, saying more than that was kind of bragging. However, from my understanding it is a sign of humbleness and respect in the Japanese culture. It almost like a rule that new comers must follow when joining any kind of group.
If you are in a team, ask to give a short presentation at the first meeting. Introduce your country, your culture and don’t forget to mention what you were doing before. If you already have a particular role in your new organization or team, mention it without too much detail or emphasis.
- Avoid using the word “NO”!
At first, I found it difficult to understand what was going on when I asked a closed-ended question and got an answer like: “It’s difficult”. I learned later that that means “NO!” But at first, I found this answer unclear and continued to push, which in turn made the other person even grumpier. I just thought they didn’t want to answer my questions.
“NO” can sound aggressive to a Japanese ear. So instead of saying no, explain the cause. They will understand. Or, just say “hmmm it’s difficult”.
When I got more familiar with the language, I realized that in Japanese there is an equivalent to a straight “NO”, considered inappropriate or too casual at work. This word is “i-ya” or “i-ya-da”, which literally means “I dislike”. It could imply “I dislike what you are doing, so you should stop!” Somehow, the focus is the speaker’s own feelings instead of on confrontation to the other person.
I found this subtle difference in the Japanese language in many contexts. I will on this elaborate more in a future blog post.
- Be patient
One of the first things foreigners notice is long moments of silence in meetings. It can last as long as several minutes. This is extremely disturbing especially for westerners, where every second is used for talking and exchanging ideas.
I notice that people are much more cautious and usually take a long time to think about the most appropriate way to voice their opinion. These silent moments are not there because people have nothing to say but because they are actually thinking or waiting for someone else to say what they don’t want to say.
I also noticed that I get more information if I wait longer in a conversation with Japanese colleagues. I had to tame my instinct of wanting to fill every silent moment. The key point is to leave some space in the conversation to get the most of it.
- Don’t be too direct
In Japan people are usually non-confrontational, especial if you have a higher position in the hierarchy. If there is a problem usually people wouldn’t usually address you directly, they would go to the next level. Then your supervisor would tell you the problem and possible solutions.
The same applies to you, if there is a problem with someone at the same level or in a higher position, it is more likely to get solved if you address the next level of hierarchy instead of trying solve it by speaking directly with the people who are causing you issue.
It may seem dishonest or passive aggressive, especially to westerners. But actually, it is not disrespectful at all in Japan, because people dread confrontation.
- Sarcasm doesn’t work
I found it very hard to make my Japanese colleagues laugh at my jokes. I could see that it makes them confused and sometimes worried. So now I avoid sarcasm or any kind of jokes, but if I try, I would explicitly say “It’s a joke!”.
I still haven’t discovered the Japanese sense of humor and I am unable to tell you how to connect at this level.
- Keep a low profile
Stay in the background, especially at first. This is very difficult to do, especially for people who just arrived and want to be accepted. We have this idea that we have to show that we are useful right away.
From my experience, it can be threatening to others. You need to gain the trust of the team before you can start contributing. Introducing yourself is one of the ways to gain trust at first. However, you will need more time before you can be trusted and make people listen to your opinion.
In the Japanese work culture, the most important is not the individual but the group. Each new member is a potential disturbance to the group harmony. So better to stay in the shadow at first and gain your team’s trust.
What’s next for you?
In future blog posts I will walk you through the steps you will need to gain the trust of your colleagues in the Japanese workplace. However, before taking these steps you will need to understand important aspects of Japanese work culture.
In the next few blog posts I will address these aspects and build on each aspect the related step that will help you gain the trust of your colleagues. In each blog post, I will clarify one aspect of the Japanese workplace, then explain how you can gain trust in this context.
# You can subscribe to get blog posts directly in your inbox. I don’t sell ads on this website so you will receive the full article in your inbox and can read it without coming back here.
Please share in the comments below if you have experienced any situation associated with these 6 pieces of advice.