Doing business

in Japan
ANG 22.141 - International /
Cross-Cultural Negotiations

Marie ASLANIAN
Victor BELLINI
Alexis BOUCHUT
Adrien HANNART
Sanae RAKBA
Amine SQALLI

Kedge Business School - Bordeaux

 Table of contents

INTRODUCTION 2

JAPAN: A TRADITIONAL COUNTRY 3

THE JAPANESE BUSINESS HISTORY 3

THE JAPANESE ETIQUETTE 5
PERSONAL BEHAVIOUR: 5
BUSINESS ETIQUETTE: 6
WHEN JAPAN IS DOING BUSINESS ABROAD 8

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN JAPAN AND THE REST OF THE WORLD 10

AVOIDING CLICHÉS WHEN DOING BUSINESS IN JAPAN 10

THE JAPANESE BUSINESS CULTURE 12
FAILURES AND SUCCESS BUSINESS STORIES 16
SUCCESS STORY: UNIQLO 16
FAILURE STORY: CARREFOUR 17

CONCLUSION 19

SOURCES 20

APPENDIX 21

BUSINESS MEALS IN JAPAN 21

Introduction
Since many years, Japan is recognized for being a powerful country, for economic as
much as social reasons. It is also recognized for being one of the best countries in terms
of exportation and importation.

This success is due to numerous international companies that make Japan a renowned
country in business world: Toyota, Honda Motor, Hitachi, Sony, Yoshiba, Canon…
All these companies are known all over the world. But there are also foreign
companies that succeed into the Japanese market. That shows how much Japan
could be a great land of investment.

However, Japan is also a country often seen as a barrier to do business. Indeed, as a

traditional country, it appears difficult to know every aspects of its culture, its principles
and values, its traditions…

In the report, we will see that doing business in Japan is not as hard as it seems to be,
and that the Japanese culture can reveal some benefits.

To be the most accurate possible, we will deal with two main parts:
 Japan: a traditional country
 The relationship between Japan and the rest of the world
We won’t speak about business meals because this theme was approached during
the oral presentation.
Japan: a traditional country

The Japanese business history

We can observe two important periods in the economic history of Japan: the 1800s
after the Meiji Restoration and the expansion after World War 2 (WW2). These two
periods are mostly characterized by a particular social and economic growth and
structural change.

 The first one shows up how Japan became a non-European powerful country. The
economy grew only moderately at first and relied heavily on traditional agriculture
to finance modern industrial infrastructure.

In the 1930s, the Japanese economy suffered less from the Great Depression than most
industrialized nations, expanding at the rapid rate of 5% of GDP per year.

 The second one is explained by a strong recovery from WW2 that allowed Japan
to become the third economy in the world.

WW2 left Japan in terrible conditions: shortages, inflation, currency devaluation,

absence of transport across the country, stopping of industrial production (about 40%
of the nation's industrial plants and infrastructures were destroyed and production
reverted to levels of about fifteen years earlier)...

The economy but also social condition were damaged by the war and Japan had to
do a lot in terms of structural changes to recover.

Then, in order to recover from this shock, Japan launched a massive campaign of
investments to regain its industrial capacity. The main sectors which benefited from
these investments were coal, steel, electric power and chemicals.

This campaign of investments lasted until the 1980’s and this is how Japan could
recover from WW2 and become the power it is today.
Here are the rate of investment in Japan between 1930 and 1990:
DECADE 1930’S 50’S 70’S 90’S

RATE OF
11% 20% 30% 20%
INVESTMENT

In order to develop the industrial capacity, Japanese companies imported the latest
technologies from Europe and USA. In this way, Japan avoided some mistakes that
other countries have made to develop their industrial base. During the 1970’s and
1980’s, Japanese companies improved their industrial assets through technology
licensing, patent purchases… They imitated and even improved many foreign
innovations in order to become stronger. Consequently, in the 1980’s, several
Japanese firms were already well known for their originality and inventiveness.

Since the 1990’s, many companies have decided to export themselves in Japan
because, with years, this country became a very attractive territory for business.

However, since the late 2000’s, the worldwide crisis is unfavourable for the Japanese
economy. In 2008, the country lost 0.7% in real GDP whereas the world growth was
about 3%. In 2009, it was emphasized since Japan lost 5.2% while the world real GDP
was losing only 0.7%.
 The Japanese etiquette

What we call an etiquette is a code of behaviour that delineates expectations for

social behaviour according to contemporary conventional norms within a society,
social class, or group. Of course, here we tend to focus on the business etiquette, but
to fully understand those particular Japanese customs it is crucial to speak about the
etiquette in its entirety.

That’s why we decided to divide the Japanese etiquette in two distinctive parts which
are personal behaviour and business. Those categories are only here to clarify the
subject but, of course, all the specificities that are inside those categories are closely
linked.

Personal Behaviour:
This category regroups all the customs that Japanese people apply during their
everyday life, without even noticing it.

 The famous bow when greeting someone. It’s simply a sign of respect.

 Avoiding showing emotions in public. Be it joy or sadness, everything that shows a

too large amount of emotions should stay private. Hugging, yelling, crying... is never
done in public.

 The gift-giving is very ruled. Japanese people often need to make gifts, and it
should be done in a precise way. You always give and receive gifts with both
hands, you always have to diminish the importance of your gift and you should
never offer a gift to only one person if others are present. The gift-giving also have
a business signification and code but we will see that later. In fact the way of giving
the gift is even more important than the gift itself.
 The body language has specific rules too. You have to show some respect to the
personal space of Japanese people, so avoid touching or even standing to close
to them. Avoid starring too. When having a conversation with someone, nodding
is really important to show that you listen and understand the conversation. One
should not be afraid about silence in a conversation; it is considered as a normal
thing for a non-verbal communication. It is rude to beckon with the finger too,
when calling someone you should make it palm down with a little scratching
movement. Generally speaking Japanese people tend to express themselves with
an extreme economy of gesture.

 Avoid using the number 4 at all cost. The number 4 has a death connotation
because the sign for 4 is the same for death in Chinese.

 They are plenty of other tiny details such has avoiding to stand with hands in your
pockets, don’t display an open mouth, remove your shoes before entering a house
or a restaurant, men should sit cross-legged but women should sit on their legs,...

Business etiquette:
A lot of that business etiquette is based on the general etiquette of Japan, but still
there is a lot to know when one wants to do business in Japan. Again as it is very ruled
we will divide the Business etiquette between three categories: the so crucial
Japanese business card, the business dress code and the business meetings.

 Japanese Business Cards: Those are really a must have when doing business in
Japan. The card itself should be of good manufacture and organized in a specific
way but what is the most important about business cards is the way to trade them.
In a meeting you have to give your card to everyone and pick everyone else’s
card. Card giving is submitted to the same rules as gift giving and one should treat
those cards with extreme respect as it is to a certain extend a representation of the
people you’re working with. They must always be placed in a proper carrying,
never in the pocket, you should never throw or give your card with negligence and
above all you should never write on a Japanese business card. Those are kind of
sacred.
 Business dress code: Even if some parts of the etiquette is becoming less and less
formal, business attire is always ruled by the same principles. Men should wear dark
suits from October to April, and grey suits from May to September. The association
of black suit, black tie and white shirt is a funeral attire so try to avoid it. Japanese
businessmen usually have short hairstyle but are not allowed to shave their head or
to grow a beard.
Considering the women etiquette, the same colours than men are desirable.
Women usually wear skirts and low heels but if you don’t want to be associated
with the typical “office-lady”, it is better to wear trouser and a quite short haircut.
For both men and women, you should never forget your business cards.

 Business meetings: Be sure to call one or two hours prior to a meeting to confirm. If
you feel that you will be late to a meeting you need to call at least one hour in
advance to allow the person you are meeting to reschedule if desired. It is better
to arrive ten minutes early to a meeting since punctuality is crucial. Finally it is good
in the Japanese etiquette to take a lot of notes because it indicates interest.

There is a lot more to discover about the Japanese etiquette since it is so wide and
structured but those hints are at least the ones you should know when doing business
in Japan or even travelling there.
 When Japan is doing business abroad

Since the Japanese export Boom in the 90’s, Japan excelled in increasing production,
the quality of the products and boosting competitiveness. Japan was without
ambiguity a model for other countries which had not experienced yet the
benefactions of the export.

However with a strengthening yen, Japan started having difficulties in succeeding in

its exportations. Maintaining and increasing corporate sales in other countries was
sometimes turning into chaos.

Beyond the problem of its currency, Japan was building barriers to itself while other
countries were barely developing their exportations. Japan couldn’t quite understand
the way to managing globalization. In addition, Japanese overseas investments had
to exceed manufacturing so as to globalize logistics, R&D, and also marketing
capabilities.

Many Japanese overseas acquisitions have performed badly, producing little to no

value at all. Many reasons can explain Japanese failure:

 Japanese tend to export Japanese management practices overseas, when other

companies and countries obviously don’t have the same managerial policies and
strategies.

 Japanese also don’t pay enough attention to overseas talent retention that could
help in developing the policies of the company in a foreign country. These talented
employee already know about the managerial techniques working well. The
selection of the employee is very important so as to overcome some managerial
mistakes.

As a result, the problem of mergers and acquisitions is related to the lack of alignment
between Japanese home office and overseas office.
Moreover, many reasons are related to cultural unfamiliarity. Japanese don’t realize
that the successful foreign companies have attended cultural training courses to
adapt itself to new environments.

First, Japanese have a problem with the over dependence on personal relationships.
According to their standards, personal relationships with customers might be the single
most important aspect of the sale process. This criteria is not even taken into account
by other countries, which can create conflicts and misunderstandings.
Japanese also tend to criticize, demean and disparage their own company, products
and this is an unconceivable behaviour by some cultures, as it can destroy brand
image and fame.

Another recurrent fact for Japanese in their business meals or meetings is alcohol
abuse, drinking while negotiating is not badly seen for Japanese, it merely allows to
break the ice and, in a way, accompany the discussion between the teams. This
behaviour is not accepted by other countries, and have to be avoided.

Some Japanese executives who have relocated to another country expect their other
employees to act the same as the Japanese in term of “After hours” activities which
are very common in Japan.

To avoid all these managerial mistakes and the lack of understanding of others’
behaviour, Japanese companies need to be professionally trained in all aspects of
the sales process which contain also the cultural dimension.

They have to integrate while negotiating, and also benefit from the different synergies
between the acquired company and the parent organization in mergers and
acquisitions.
The relationship between Japan and the rest of
the world

Avoiding clichés when doing business in Japan

According to a study realized by Madame Riri asking for “perfect words to describe
Japanese people”, here are the most common adjectives that Westerners chose
when characterizing the people from Japan:

 Polite: Japanese people are known for their bows one of the most popular
Japanese clichés is their traditional greeting with the famous Japanese bow. Even
if the handshakes became common, following the globalization, businessmen
tend to use a bow or two.

 Punctual: Japanese are well known for they punctuality especially in their
management schedules as any wasted minute can blow off a whole system.

 Hard-working: In their culture, working is sacred, your job can even take
precedence over you own family when it is mandatory, it is kind of a duty to earn
your money by hard work and, moreover, to be obedient toward your supervisor.

 Respectful: As I said previously concerning the hard work, Japanese are very
respectful toward their supervisors and especially toward theirs elders or, for the
women, their husbands or big brothers.

 Shy: In the same perspective, Japanese are shy because of the respect toward
others, being shy is being polite and respectful, it is a proof of obedience and
submission.

 Intelligent: As the state-of-art technologies are mainly coming from Japan and
generally from Asian countries, they are world widely known to be very intelligent.
 Grouping: As we can see in the main touristic areas, Japanese are used to travel
in “packs”, in a Japanese class, teachers tend to promote group activities as the
results tend to be higher when they work in groups

 Formal: Talking to your elder, to your boss, or to your wife is not the same for
Japanese. Their communication is much “coded”, the level of formality while
speaking depends on who they’re talking with.

 Clean: There are a lot of broadcasts across the internet, showing Japanese tourists
cleaning up a mess they didn’t even make in streets. For instance, in a weekly
French news, they said that Japanese thinks that the streets are not clean enough
in Paris, in subways they are wearing masks to protect themselves, and sometimes
they are even picking up trashes around the Eiffel tour to throw it in the bins.

Overall, westerns have a pretty good impression concerning the Japanese, even if we
tend to think that they need to enjoy life a bit more and to relax from time to time. We
can see that in their everyday life, they all have goals and they put all their energy to
achieve it. They have no problem staying extra hours at work or at school. The funnier
side is that their hard work doesn’t only concern their jobs but also their hobbies, they
are focused even when they’re doing activities that are supposed to relax time, and
they are constantly “going big” even when they’re supposed to relax.

But, we can also hear from Westerners that Japanese people are:

 Strict
 Too much attached to the hierarchy
 Do not have personal opinion
 Do not know how to say “no”
 Working ALL the time
 Not open-minded
 Chauvinistic
 The Japanese business culture

The Japanese business culture is seen as a complex culture. Indeed, many aspects of
this culture are based on tradition and history, and this is why it could be sometimes
misunderstood. As we said before, there are a lot of clichés and stereotypes on the
Japanese culture that influence our judgment on its business culture. This is why
westerners do not see this culture as they should do. The Japanese business culture is
perceived as something it is not.

In this way, many foreign companies, and mainly from Europe consider entering into
the Japanese market as a real challenge while if they just learned a little bit of their
culture before starting a business in Japan, it would be a lot easier.
There are a lot of European companies that succeed in the Japanese market because
they studied it before going. We can take the glorious examples of BMW, Yahoo!, but
also French companies, mainly coming from the Luxury sector like Chanel, L’Oréal,
Cartier or even Areva.

Certainly, the Japanese business culture is different from the European or the
American one on numerous aspects. We had an insight of that by analysing the
Japanese etiquette. But the differences that exist between these two kinds of culture
should not be seen as a barrier for doing business in Japan but as a real benefit: Japan
is not riskier as another country for doing business.

We talk about the Japanese business culture in general way since the beginning. It is
now the time for describing it more specifically.

What we have to understand about the Japanese business culture is that it is based
on a few principles and key values. These values rule the Japanese culture in general
but have a great influence on the business culture. All these principles / values are
crucial and make the Japanese business culture what it is and assure that it works well.
There are 5 key principles that are really crucial for its good functioning:

 Punctuality: Japanese business men are already known for being really punctual.
Indeed, punctuality is crucial to the Japanese business culture. If a Japanese is late
at a meeting, it is considered as a big lack of respect. And if a business man from
a foreign company is late when he is doing business with Japanese people, it shows
that the foreign company did not take any interest in the Japanese culture. An
example to show how important is this principle in Japan: The subway in Tokyo is
never late, even 1 minute late; and this is because a late on the system could upset
the whole business system.

 Hierarchy: As we have just seen before, Japanese sense of hierarchy is wrongly

perceived. The respect that Japanese people and business men show to their
supervisors is seen as a sign of submissiveness. However, once again, the respect
of the hierarchy in the Japanese business culture is just a great sign of respect for
the traditional aspect of the society: Japanese people are used to respect their
supervisors but also their elders. This sign of respect is shown by the use of numerous
honorific suffixes for addressing or referring to people (-san; -sensei; -senpai).

 Harmony: Another key principle of the Japanese business culture. In the Japanese
etiquette, we explained that the Japanese are considered as always humble. This
characteristic of the Japanese people come from this key value that rules (in part)
the Japanese business culture that is harmony. In japan, you have to be humble
but also non-individualistic. This is why the professional link is really important in
Japan. If an employee makes a mistake that influences the whole company, you
will see the employee apologize in front of everybody, on the knees.

 Empathy: This principle goes with the precedent one. The professional link is crucial
for a Japanese business man because it will affect, as in many countries like
France, his professional future. Relationships in Japan are based on trust (trust
between colleagues but also among the members of a family or friends…) and
sustainability. This is why Japanese business men often keep in touch with former
colleagues. It could help for a potential future business.
 Dignity: The last key principle is dignity, which is complementary to harmony if
Japanese people want the respect of their colleagues and supervisors in business
context. The Japanese business man will want to conserve his dignity and so his
reputation. He will not accept to be ridiculed in public but he also will not ridicule
anyone in a business context: this is why he will avoid any kind of direct conflicts
and criticism, things that could soil his relations with his colleagues.

 The only value that rules the entire business culture in Japan, and that is present
in each principles previously analysed, is respect. Indeed, generally speaking,
the Japanese business culture is based on respect at every level of society:
family, friends, associations, but also especially in business.

We cannot analyse the Japanese business culture without a word on the Japanese
salary man.

The prevalence of salary men in Japanese society has given birth to many depictions
by the media and various cartoons. But, there is a reason for this. These “sararïmen”
are unique in a business context and often caricatured. Their collective attitude is what
defines today's Japanese business culture. To succeed in doing business in Japan, it is
necessary to understand their way of life, their motivation… They have some common
qualities and values that make them a perfect salary man.

Here is a description of the perfect Japanese salary man:

 Loyal, he is dedicated to his company. He has a great respect for his supervisors
and the hierarchy in general.
 He is consistent, he doesn’t show any sign of tiredness in front of his supervisor or
colleagues because…
 He is motivated and wants to conserve his reputation.
 Because (or thanks) to his loyalty, he never makes any criticism towards his
company, colleague or supervisor.
 If he is faced to family problem and company duty in the same time, he will deal
with the company duty first without any doubt. This goes with his dedication to his
company.
 His is obsessed with details, he is perfectionist and this because he doesn’t accept
botched job. However…
 …He is always efficient.
 He considers all options of a matter, in order to choose the best one, the one that
fixes the matter.
 He conforms, to what the company says.

If you want to do business in Japan, be sure to show these qualities when you are
negotiating with the Japanese business men; and this especially if you are French,
because French people don’t have the same conception of the business and don’t
have the relation with their company.

A last word on the signification of the most known honorific suffixes in Japan:

HONORIFIC SIGNIFICATION
SUFFIX
Similar to "Mr.", "Ms.",
-SAN "Mrs.”. San is also used when talking about entities such as companies.
Is informal and mostly used for males, such as boys or juniors at work. It is
-KUN used by superiors to inferiors and by males of the same age.
Is a form of san used to refer to children and female family members,
-CHAN close friends and lovers. It is rarely used in business context.
Senpai is used by students to refer to or address senior students in an
-SENPAI AND - academic or other learning environment and also in business settings to
KOHAI
refer to those in more senior positions. Kōhai is the reverse of this. It is used
to refer to or address juniors.
Sensei is used to refer to or address teachers, doctors, lawyers, politicians.
-SENSEI It is also used to show respect to someone who has achieved a certain
level of mastery in some skill.
Is the formal version of -san. It's used in addressing persons higher in rank
-SAMA than oneself, and in commercial and business settings to address and
refer to customers.
 Failures and success business stories

Success Story: Uniqlo

Uniqlo, which stands for “Unique Clothing Warehouse”, is a Japanese clothing

company and was the 4th clothing retailer in the world in 2012, with more than 800
shops across the world. It is Asia’s biggest retailer.

Uniqlo’s products are affordable basic and casual clothes. All those clothes are
available in numerous colours, which made the success of the company.
Uniqlo was born in Hiroshima in 1984. That is when the first shop opened. At first things
went well, but it was not a major success straight forward. At the beginning of the
1990s, the economic situation in Japan was going through a crisis and the Japanese
wanted some good clothes for a cheap price. That is when Uniqlo became popular,
since its products were affordable, quite qualitative, simple and available in many
colours.

As a consequence, in 1994, ten years after the first store opening, there were 100
Uniqlos, mainly in the Japanese suburbs.

However, after that, the profit and sails went down. Fortunately, Uniqlo was able to
react and make the changes needed. There was a company reorganization, and
Uniqlo decided to focus more on its women line, and on larger stores. By doing this,
they showed their understanding of what was going wrong and found efficient
solutions.

Uniqlo also faced difficulties when expanding overseas. Indeed, the number of shops
they opened at first was too high and they had to close some of them to focus better
and the other ones, and to develop the brand image. For instance, in the UK, there
was 21 stores in 2002, and only 8 still in operation by 2006. They learned from that
mistake and took better decisions after that experience.
Nowadays, Uniqlo is present in Japan, but also in the USA, Singapore, Malaysia, China,
Taiwan and France, among others. The strength of Uniqlo are mainly its ability to react
and to adapt to the situation. They are making the most of the globalization that allows
them to sell products that are quite similar in different places.
They are however able to understand the different ways to sell those products,
depending on the cultural habits of their customers.

Failure Story: Carrefour

Carrefour, which is one of the biggest supermarket company in the World, which went
public a long time ago (1970) tried to establish supermarkets in Japan in 2000, but it
was a failure, and Carrefour does not exist in Japan anymore.

It is in December 2000 that the first Carrefour opened in Japan, in the suburbs of Tokyo.
In 2001, several other Carrefour supermarkets opened near Tokyo and Osaka. In the
beginning, it went really well, and the shops were full of new customers. But after a few
months, the Japanese were disappointed and they stopped going to Carrefour.

In 2005, AEON, a big retail firm in Japan decided to buy Carrefour Japanese division
and its supermarkets, whose name was changed, but they were still operated by
Carrefour. Eventually, in 2010, when the license expired, Carrefour simply withdrew
from Japan, accepting its failure.

Let us focus on the reasons of this failure. Indeed, there was a lack of adaptation from
Carrefour, which did not seemed important at the beginning since the Japanese were
curious, but this “new effect” did not last long.

First of all, the competition in Japan was hard to deal with since there are many
supermarkets firms in Japan, including AEON, Ito Yokado, and Ikari. Those
supermarkets are well established in Japan and customers know what to expect. Here
is a mistake that Carrefour made: they thought that the customers in Japan would
want the same thing as the customers in France for example, but the Japanese
wanted a strong French touch in the product selection, the decoration and the
service. They did not get that and were disappointed. As a consequence, they went
back to the supermarkets they were used to.
Also, Japanese did not assimilated well the concept of self-service and wanted a
better service, especially with the reputation that the Frenchs have in Japan. The
service was not good enough for them and once again, the customers were
disappointed. In other words, Carrefour did not studied enough the expectations of
the Japanese, who were interested and curious at first, but quickly became
disappointed.

On the opposite, in the way it was doing business, Carrefour had too much of a
“French touch”... They were imposing too many things, acting as the bosses and not
treating their suppliers and employees well. They were forcing the business instead of
doing it the Japanese way, which implies trust and loyalty. Therefore, the Japanese
collaborators of Carrefour were upset of this relationship and decided not to work with
them anymore, or at least made the collaboration difficult.

In conclusion, Carrefour failed to establish in Japan for the following reasons:

 They did not study the market well

 They did not adapt to the local type of negotiation and collaboration
 They did not understand the expectations of the customers and the way to treat
them.
Conclusion

Japan has a total different way to conceive Business than most of countries.
In Europe, USA…, this country is often seen as a strange country, with weird traditions
and principles used in the extreme. This is why a lot of foreign companies like Carrefour
in France did not succeed in implanting itself into the Japanese market.
But these companies did not succeed because of the Japanese culture, they failed
because of their lack of understanding and knowledge of the Japanese culture.

As we have seen in the report, “Doing business in Japan” is not impossible. It is even
easier than in many countries. Actually, the principles and values that rule the
Japanese business culture can be a real benefit to do business in Japan. However, we
have to admit that a little bit of research is necessary before going over there to do
business.

The best piece of advice we can give to someone who is doing business in Japan for
the first time is to bring an adviser, a specialist of the Japanese Culture before going
on the Island. He will be able to help you on understanding most of the aspect of the
Japanese culture, and therefore, help you to succeed in “Doing business in Japan”.
Sources

http://www.ediplomat.com/

http://globalinx.co.jp/

http://www.japantoday.com/

http://www.madameriri.com/

http://www.doingbusiness.org/

http://www.venturejapan.com/

http://www.gaylecotton.com/

http://www.sljfaq.org/

http://prezi.com/
Appendix

Business Meals in Japan

During a business meal in Japan, there are a few rules to respect if you want the
negotiations to be successful. But you really have to respect these rules because if you
don’t, you will show a big lack of respect towards your Japanese host.
Here are a few rules, codes and traditions to respect, in a restaurant for example:
 When you arrive at a business meal in Japan, it would be more polite if you bow.
Careful, don’t join hands when you say hello in Japan, this is a classical stereotype,
just bow, respectfully.
 In Japan, during a meal, and most of all during a business meal, respect the food,
the host and the guests. This respect is shown with a toast. You will have other toasts
during the meal and at the end of it.
 It’s not because westerners use the chopsticks in a certain way that this way is the
good one. The use of the chopsticks is really important in Japan and a bad one
could be perceived as a sign of rudeness. So if you use your chopsticks, use it with
respect (Do not lick or suck your chopsticks, do not stick them upright into your
bowl…).
 As in many countries, Japanese salary men talk about their salary without any
shame. So don’t be offended if the question of wages is tackled.
 When the glass of one of your colleague is empty, in Japan, you have to fill it. In
any case, always wait for your host to fill your glass as it is considered as an honour.
 When invited to a business meal in Japan, you let your host invite you. In return,
expect that the next meal will be paid by the one who was invited last time.
Another sign of disrespect is the fact of showing money in public. Don’t do that in
public.

Restaurant entertaining is crucial to business. A person is judged by his/her behaviour

during and after business hours. Keep in mind that the purpose of a business meal in
Japan is not to really discuss business, bur more to share a moment of complicity to
establish trust relations.