Compare the business culture of the UK

with that of Japan.

How would business negotiations

between delegations from the two countries be affected,

and how would you advise a UK team

to prepare for the negotiations?

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From Eve to Izanami -

How learning the Truth and the Way can help Westerners understand Japanese culture, as well as their own

Introduction

“Nihonjinron”, literally “the Theory of the Japanese”, has been of fascination for both Japanese and foreigners alike, and the industrialised world seems acutely aware that the Japanese are very different to Westerners, in ideology, religion, and business strategies. There are countless books, articles and websites which attempt to teach people how to communicate with the Japanese in business negotiations. However, these sources can cause further alienation, where the numerous rituals we have to memorise make the Japanese seem obsessively pernickety or just plain difficult. This may be because we naturally interpret these behaviours through the lens of a Western Christian culture and remain relatively unaware of the religion and history of the Japanese. This essay will examine how UK delegations can better understand and negotiate with the Japanese by learning about both the Japanese and their own national culture and history through literature, folktales and religion. Through this preparation a UK team can discover commonalties between the two cultures, which can help to strengthen the relationship, as well as identify differences that need to be discussed. The following paper is split into three sections, with the first considering the literature to be discussed, including Morrison et al. (1994), who examine UK and Japanese business cultures and the resulting behaviours. Hofstede (1993) and Trompenaars (1993) observe to varying degrees how business culture is closely tied to national culture using a set of bipolar scales, while Hofstede and Bond (1988) begin to