Oki o tsukete!

JAPAN

MANAGING CULTURAL DIVERSITY

DON MINDSAY

2010-2011

CONTENTS

I. Introduction

II. Analysis of the Japanese culture

A. Japan context

B. Society culture

C. Work culture

III. Implications and practical recommendations

IV. Conclusion

V. Bibliography

VI. Exhibits

I.
Introduction

You are going to work in a Japanese company. You should know that it will be quite different working in Japan than in France. Our goal is to make your expatriation agreeable

« Sakoku » means «country closure ». This name was given to an isolationist politic, which had been put in place between 1641 and 1853.

In the 16th century, some great trading nations from Western Europe (more precisely from Portugal, Netherlands, England and Spain) disembarked in Japan with Christian missionaries. Japan was afraid of a probable conquest from European countries, so it ended any worldwide contact except with China and Netherlands.

At the end of this isolationist period, which had run for more than 200 years, France and Japan established a great partnership from the military, economic and artistic standpoint.

Nowadays, France is commercially implicated with Japan, in particular since a policy brought about by former President Jacques Chirac. The aim was to develop export to Japan. From 1993 to 2003, trade between these two nations had increased by 50%. During this period, Japan has become the France 9th best client, and France, Japan 3rd best.

Lately, France and Japan have collaborated on various fields. From the humanitarian point of view, these two countries have worked together to fight AIDS and to tackle the problem of African underdevelopment.
Furthermore, a partnership was signed in 2005 for the reconstruction of the French embassy in Japan.

Trade between Japan and France does not comprise only financial and information flows, but also human flow. More and more French expatriates live in