3.3 Case Study: Cultural Clashes in Japanese Story

Word List

As the trend of globalization deepens, it is more and more common for people to engage in political, commercial, or personal contact with foreigners. In the previous sections, we have studied some of the need-to-knows when it comes to intercultural communication and we are going to look at a case study to see what possible effects it may produce if one fails to address the issue of intercultural communication competence in this part.The case is a video clip from the 2003 film Japanese Story in which an American woman met a Japanese businessperson for the first time. In less than three minutes after picking the man up, the woman committed numerous cultural faux pas, which nearly ruined the business relationship between the two parties.

Now please watch the video clip and try to see if you can find out these mistakes.

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The first mistake the woman made is being late for the pickup. Japanese and Germans are famous for their punctuality. Lateness in formal occasions could be interpreted as disrespect to the other party that may lead to negative first impressions. The woman's way of greeting—shaking the man's hand—only made the impression even worse. Why? Remember we have learned in section 3.1 that, Japan is what we call a low-contact country, which means certain distance needs to be maintained during communication to avoid discomfort and show respect. As a result, the Japanese prefer bowing to shaking hands which is typical in America but too intimate for the Japanese. Since the man already bowed, it is better to follow through with the same greeting manner by bowing back. Another point worth paying attention to is how the woman received the business card with a single hand before slapping it twice and putting it casually in her pants' pocket. It could well be said that business cards represent a person's face in business contact that should be put in special business card holders, portfolios, handbags, or the inner pockets of suits or jackets for convenience's sake rather than pants' pockets.

Apart from verbal communication, the woman also appeared to be unprepared for the verbal contact either. She misunderstood the Japanese way of saying yes “はい(hai)” to be the English way of greeting “hi, ” which shows that she did not make the effort to learn any Japanese at all. As a result, when the Japanese man answered her question about whether it was hot enough for him later, she wrongly assumed that the man could not understand English before turning up the air conditioner, which is exactly the opposite of what the man wanted. It is impossible for people to learn the language of another country on a short notice, however one should at least try to learn some common phrases like yes, no, bye, and thanks which could help to avoid common mistakes and make the other party feel respected and quite at home.

Group Work

After knowing each other, the woman opened the car door and waited while the man stood there puzzled. Eventually, the woman put the man's luggage in the car with a despising face. Try to discuss with your partners why the woman thought the man should move the luggage while the man thought otherwise.

The reason that both of them thought that the other person should carry the luggage is that Americans and Japanese people perceive status very differently. In Western countries like America and Britain, it is considered very gentleman for a man to be polite and considerate to women on public occasions which includes to open doors for ladies and carry the weight of heavy bags off the other sex. However, in Japan where professionalism is attached great importance to, one of lower rank or staff in the servicing industry such as valeting should observe their job codes despite gender differences. Therefore, the woman thought the man should demonstrate his chivalry spirit by helping her with the luggage on to the car while the man believed that the woman should embrace the “craftsman spirit” and do her own job well.

In Japan, the word “Shokunin” means “artisan” or “craftsman.” “Shokunin Kishitshu”means “craftsman spirit.” “Craftsman” is one who is devoted to make things with perfection, precision, concentration, patience, and persistence. One key element of the “craftsman spirit”is to take pride in whatever you are currently doing; believing that the way you do it will make a difference. For example, Ono Jiro, an 89-year-old sushi maker, known as the master of sushi, who believes in the spirit of the craftsman, or professional spirit which makes his sushi restaurant the best in Japan. For more information on this topic, you can read the article by Liu Wei and Ma Danning “Spirit of the Craftsman Needed to Produce Better Products.”

At the end of the movie, the woman and the man fell in love with each other and lived happily ever after. However, such negligence can only result in business failure under normal circumstances in real life. Watch the video clip to see how to start a business relationship with a foreigner properly.

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Futher Reading

Exercises

Finish the following tasks with your own understanding.

1) Conduct an interview with one of your foreign teachers to find out what are the key factors that may cause misunderstanding in intercultural communication. Combine that with your own experience and research results and list the top five factors before sharing that with your class.

2) Try to offer some suggestions to avoid such misunderstandings.