Communication Problems of Overseas Japanese Corporations
Introduction My six years of work experience in China allowed me to observe the Japanese culture objectively. I noticed that one common problem causes many business failures, namely, our communication style; it is proving to be an obstacle in the way of Japanese globalization. Reality of Japanese Traditional Companies English is indeed used as a communication language all over the world, but I suspect that the Japanese might not fully or correctly utilize English due to the cultural differences. In China, I saw surprisingly few Japanese people who could compete with English or Chinese speakers in business. Since I have also suffered communication gaps, I explored their reasons and solutions. Consequently, I came to realize that Japanese people’s clumsy ambiguous communication negatively influence business management and market development. Problems in Global Communication As the business environment has globalized, Japanese workers have to communicate regularly across cultures. However, their communication abilities do not meet international levels. The complexity of business communication is based on a focal interest point, which is different from ordinal conversations. To reach a consensus between multiple parties, a rigorous process is followed: identifying differences, overcoming conflicts of opinions, and solving problems. On the contrary, the peaceful Japanese people do not like aggressive communication. This produces negative results in most cases. The expectation is not only to speak English, but also to create a mutually beneficial relationship with potential partners. I have seen many Japanese people missing this ability even if they speak fluent English. From my linguistic point of view, the ‘Co’ of communication was originally a prefix meaning ‘inter’ or ‘together’, but most people in Japan are not used to exchanging thoughts or ideas in an equal position. Most notably, Japanese people are...