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One Sure Way For Foreign Business to Miserably Fail in Japan

Writer's picture: Japan GuruJapan Guru

The minute the Japanese distrust the words you speak, you are over. I mean, you literally disappear from their consciousness.


Conventionally, it is the foreigners that criticize the Japanese for overly praising the trivial things that they are not really impressed with. Like the less-than-stellar products you are promoting, or the cheap old watch you showed off as being from America. To those stuff, the Japanese go "Wow, honto ni sugoi desune".


Hence, the logic goes, the foreigners should not really trust it when the Japanese meet with you for the first time in a business setting and praise your product offerings.


That is both true and wrong. The Japanese praising things in that setting is a culturally mandated act of keeping the business counterpart - their guest - comfortable and at ease. Among the Japanese, the act is naturally recognized as such.


It is only the foreigners that come out of that meeting and say "Wow, they REALLY love our product. We might get a sizable order from them next week." This, I guarantee, you will not get.


You can still trust your Japanese counterparts for their business integrity; but you cannot and must not trust them to literally love your products as much as they say they do.



The Japanese, though, would viciously discount your business integrity if you say one thing on one occasion and other thing on another. I have personally seen many instances, where the foreigner ostensibly agrees to Issue A in exchange for a concession on Issue B, only to revisit Issue A once the Japanese had conceded on Issue B.


To some foreigners, this might just be a normal negotiation tactic called for in competitive capitalism. But to the Japanese, if they see that, however subtle, your words and stated intentions pivot in ways that lead to an unfair bargain, your existence summarily dissolves into absolute irrelevance.


What's important (and, in a sense, scary), the Japanese almost never point that out when you do that. They would still call you awesome and act humbled by your arguments, as an act of hospitality. But in their mind, you are finished.



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From M&A to Actionable Research to Dispute Resolution, I get things done in Japan for all foreigners. Follow me on X for cutting-edge analysis and a unique perspective on everything happening in Japan as the drama unfolds.


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