export-japan.com's newsletter 12th July 2004 edition

Contents

Letter from the Editor

As promised in the last issue, we are going to point out some cultural 'gotchas' that may save you some confusion and embarrassment when dealing with Japanese companies.

We also take a look at the fireworks season in Japan and sneak a peek at Century Corporation, one of Japan's largest Used PC suppliers.

Fireworks Season
Fireworks

Umi-no-hi (Marine Day) is on Monday 19th and is the first public holiday of the summer season. It is the day for people to express gratitude for the gifts from the seas and to pray for the prosperity of Japan as a maritime nation. It also marks the start of the summer fireworks displays.

Fireworks have had a long tradition in Japan, with records showing the introduction of fireworks in 1612. One of the first large scale public displays was held in Sumida, Tokyo in 1733. It was a memorial to the 900,000 people who died in the famine the year before. To this day, there is a Sumida display every year with around 20,000 fireworks launched.

This however is tiny compared to with the largest annual display in the world called the PL fireworks where 120,000 fireworks are launched. The grande finale itself consists of over 7000 fireworks launched simultaneously. The event is held in Tondabayashi City in Kansai.

As a side note, some Japanese Business Holidays have been moved over recent years. This is because the Japanese government wants the working population to enjoy a few more long weekends off, some holidays have been moved to the closest Monday. Umi-no-hi is one such holiday that has been moved. To help you keep track of all the holidays export-japan.com has compiled a calendar of the Japanese Business Holidays in 2004. Click on any of the dates to get more information about the holiday.

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Featured Site: Century Used PCs
Century Used PCs

Century Corporation is one of the biggest suppliers of bulk quality checked used PCs from Japan. They recently launched their new web site that allows buyers from overseas to easily check their current inventory and place orders.

To find out more about Century Corporation and how they prepare and quality-check the PCs they supply for resale check out their web site.

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Who are export-japan.com?

At export-japan.com we help build successful business relationships between Japanese companies and like-minded companies all over the world. We can help you do business with Japanese companies.

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Most people know that being successful in business is dependant on building relationships. Companies with strong relationships are better equipped to cope with lean times and the better prepared for the upturns. Subscribing to the newsletter you can get vital info. Being a full member you can go one step further and start using this info to build partnerships. After you sign up you can post your company information and business offers to the Japanese side of the site. Japanese companies regularly check and search this information for companies they can do business with. We already have close to 4000 members, one of those could be your next partner helping you grow or enter into a previously inaccessible market.

And the process to become a full member is simple. It is free and will take you less than 5 minutes. Become a member, Start making partnerships, enjoy the success. Join Now

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Cultural Gotchas

As a major International bank emphasised in their recent advertising campaign, understanding a country's unique culture can be beneficial in doing business there. While we can't possibly give you a complete rundown of Japanese culture we will present a few cultural 'gotchas' that trip up even those who are experienced with dealing with Japanese companies.

  • When Japanese are listening to you talking, they might be nodding throughout what you are saying. However never assume that they are agreeing with you, most Japanese nod to show that they are listening attentively.
  • Japanese prefer to be indirect, so instead of saying no to a request they might reply "We'll consider it".
  • The flip-side of this is that they are also unaccustomed to hearing direct refusals from business partners. You might sound overly blunt if you give a straight no, so copy their way of hinting the refusal.
  • "san" is an honorific suffix which you put on other's names but never your own. Mr Tanaka would be Tanaka-san. Japanese business people usually use family names so unless you are familiar with the person you are dealing with don't invite them you use your first name as in "Just call me Bob". And even if they do they might affix -san to it. They might call you Bob-san even if they are aware that Bob that is not your family name.
  • 13 is not an unlucky number in Japanese culture, but 4 (because it sounds like death) and 9 (because it sounds like suffering) are. So if you can avoid it don't give presents that are 4 or 9 in number.
  • Gifts are usually opened in private, this is to avoid embarrassment if the present doesn't suit or is inappropriate. You should also avoid asking if you can open presents as the giver would feel obliged to say yes. However this applies more to business dealings than personal relationships.

Those are some of the major gotchas, hopefully we have helped you avoid being tripped up by them when you deal with Japanese companies and businesses.

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Share your thoughts

We hope you enjoyed this edition of the newsletter, we are continually striving to improve this resource and so we always welcome any feedback. This issue we have a few specific questions. If you have the time, please share your thoughts with us via the contact form.

Q1. Length of the content. Too Long? Too Short? About Right?

Q2. Is the info interesting? Yes, No, Average

Q3. Is there any special topic you would like to see covered in a future edition of the newsletter?

And as a final note, one of the improvements suggested by our readers was to add a link to the on-line archives in the newsletter. This we have done, you can find it in the top right hand corner of each newsletter.

Until next time, sayonara!

Ian Cheung

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