Behind the Japanese Mask: How to Understand the Japanese Culture - and Work Successfully with it

Behind_the_Japanese_Mask___.pdf......Page 1
Contents......Page 6
Preface......Page 10
About the Author......Page 12
Farnham Castle International Briefing and Conference Centre......Page 13
1 The Japanese Mask......Page 14
Why can't they be more like us?......Page 15
Is it worth trying to understand them?......Page 16
Uchi and soto – insiders and outsiders......Page 17
The virtue of masking true feelings......Page 18
The changing face of Japan......Page 19
The truth behind the mask......Page 23
The geography of Japan......Page 24
Volcanoes and earthquakes......Page 25
Hokkaido......Page 27
Kyushu......Page 29
Honshu......Page 30
Okinawa and other islands......Page 31
An island country......Page 32
The climate of Japan......Page 33
The mythology of Japan......Page 37
Shinto......Page 38
Buddhism......Page 41
Christianity......Page 43
Japanese moral codes......Page 44
The Japanese people......Page 45
The imperial line......Page 47
Centuries of war......Page 50
The rule of the Minamoto clan......Page 51
Japan meets the West......Page 53
The Tokugawa era......Page 56
The coming of the barbarians......Page 60
The road to war......Page 63
The aftermath of war......Page 67
Wa – the harmony of existence......Page 69
Equality versus freedom......Page 71
What Westerners have made of Japanese culture......Page 72
Analysing Japanese culture......Page 75
Leadership and the organisation......Page 85
Harmony in the workplace......Page 87
The thinking behind the words......Page 91
Reading and writing Japanese......Page 92
Don't ask why......Page 98
Pronunciation......Page 100
Levels of politeness......Page 101
Yes and no: no and yes......Page 102
Body language......Page 106
The post-war years......Page 109
Quality circles......Page 110
Keiretsu and zaibatsu......Page 111
The Golden Recession......Page 116
Invest in Japan......Page 120
The Japanese working woman......Page 122
Basic values......Page 125
Typical management systems......Page 128
Business etiquette......Page 135
Business cards......Page 137
Gifts given and received......Page 139
Loss of face......Page 141
Establishing a relationship......Page 143
Binding the roots......Page 146
Ringi......Page 150
Decisiveness is a sin......Page 151
The legal position......Page 153
Your agenda or mine......Page 154
Harmony and the group......Page 156
Leisure time......Page 157
Pinball wizards......Page 158
Sports......Page 159
Drinking to forget......Page 160
Karaoke......Page 162
The Japanese way......Page 163
Don't be surprised......Page 164
Hiragana and Katakana: the Japanese Phonetic Syllabaries......Page 166
Bibliography......Page 168
C......Page 172
H......Page 173
K......Page 174
P......Page 175
S......Page 176
Z......Page 177