Intercultural communication skills: What Japanese businesses today need

International Journal of Intercultural Relations 37 (2013) 72–85

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International Journal of Intercultural Relations

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Intercultural communication skills: What Japanese businesses todayneed�

Tomoko Yoshidaa,∗, Kyoko Yashirob, Yuka Suzukic

a Keio University, 4-1-1 Hiyoshi, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama-shi 223-8521, Japanb Reitaku University, 2-1-1 Hikarigaoka, Kashiwa-shi 277-8686, Chiba-ken, Japanc Reitaku University, Japan

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:Accepted 17 April 2012

Keywords:Intercultural communication trainingJapanFocus groupsBusiness

a b s t r a c t

Globalization and the prolonged economic recession in Japan have changed the context inwhich intercultural communication takes place. To better understand what kind of inter-cultural communication skills Japanese businesses require, we conducted five focus groupsin 2006. A total of 27 business people (males = 11; females = 16), from various types of com-panies participated. The interviews were videotaped and complete transcripts were made.During the first phase of analyses, the three researchers watched the recordings of the inter-views together, followed by a discussion. During the second phase, the researchers codedthe transcripts using the software Atlas ti.

There were four major findings from the focus group interviews. The first was that theparticipants’ examples of intercultural communication included more domestic examplesrather than international ones. Secondly, in response to our question regarding who shouldreceive intercultural communication training, our participants were unanimous in say-ing that everyone should be trained—bosses, people in the personnel department andoverseas departments were considered first priority. Our third major finding was thatthe participants’ responses seemed to fit into the model posited by Brislin and Yoshida(1994)—awareness, knowledge, emotions, and skills—with the addition of “Attitudes” as anoverarching theme. Our final major finding was that many of the skills the participants feltwere important to succeed in intercultural communication were a combination of whathas been considered traditionally “Japanese” [e.g., sasshi (figuring out the other person’sneeds), situation-specific adjustment] and “Western” (e.g., verbalizing thoughts, taking theinitiative).

© 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

The field of intercultural communication (IC) in Japan has its roots in the West with many of its theories and methods com-ing from the USA and Europe (Rogers, Hart, & Miike, 2002). Although some scholars have introduced concepts and approaches
unique to the Japanese, such as the importance of wa (Midooka, 1990), enryo & sasshi (Ishii, 1984), haragei (Matsumoto, 1988),analog & digital perceptions (Hayashi, 1994) and O & M organizations (Hayashi, 1994), as most researchers were trainedin the USA and Europe, many of the core theories and concepts (e.g., Hall, 1959; Hampden-Turner & Trompenaars, 1998;Hofstede, 2003; Kluckhohn & Strodtbeck, 1961) were imported from American and European textbooks (Kitao, 1987). This
� The paper was reviewed and accepted by the prior Editor-in-Chief, Dan Landis.∗ Corresponding author.

E-mail addresses: [email protected] (T. Yoshida), [email protected] (K. Yashiro), [email protected] (Y. Suzuki).

0147-1767/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2012.04.013

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T. Yoshida et al. / International Journal of Intercultural Relations 37 (2013) 72–85 73

eaves us to question whether what is taught in IC classes at colleges and universities indeed meet the needs of Japaneseompanies today.

At the same time, Japanese companies have faced major changes during the past twenty years (Okubo, 2006). Due toprolonged recession, Japanese companies have changed their management styles including a decrease in the lifetime

mployment system and seniority, and an increase in the number of contract workers (Oguro, 2003). These changes areikely to affect the intercultural communication skills required by companies.

This study seeks to better understand what kinds of intercultural skills are required by Japanese companies today bynterviewing individuals from various Japanese corporations. First, we will begin with a brief review of theories and conceptsaught in intercultural communication classes. Next, we will describe the methodology and present results. This will beollowed by a discussion and then finally, we will discuss ramifications for theory, research, and practice before concludinghe paper.

. Theories and concepts

According to an international survey of 53 Intercultural Communication classes (countries surveyed: US (38), Japan6), Canada (1), England (1), Mexico (1), the Netherlands (1), Nigeria (1), Pakistan (1), South Africa (1), and Switzerland1)) conducted by Fantini (1997), no single textbook was most frequently cited. However, there were common courseomponents: ICC theory/models/concepts/definitions of culture (23 respondents), preparation for an ICC experience or re-ntry/culture shock (18), understanding self and other culture (12), and attitudes, beliefs and values (10) (see Fantini, 1997,. 132 for a comprehensive list).

Models or frameworks most often cited were: Hall’s (1976) high/low context cultures (23), various communication models20), Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck’s (1961) Value Orientations (18), Bennett’s (1993) Developmental Model of Interculturalensitivity (18), Maslow’s (1943) Hierarchy of Needs (16), and Hofstede’s (2003) Cultural Dimensions (16) (see Fantini, 1997,. 133 for a comprehensive list). Milhouse’s (1996) survey of 260 college courses and training programs found that most ofhe courses and programs used the culture-general approach, specifically covering topics such as “cultural similarities andifferences; racism, prejudice, and discrimination; and cross-cultural variability in nonverbal behavior, values, and beliefystems” (p. 85).

Intercultural communication in Japan started in the 1970s (Condon & Saito, 1974, 1976), focusing on concepts relatedo individualism and collectivism (e.g., Doi, 1973), high-context and low-context cultures (Hall, 1976), and self-disclosuree.g., Barnlund, 1975) (Rogers et al., 2002).

Rogers et al. (2002) point out that Japanese intercultural research, like early intercultural research in the USA, did not payuch attention to “domestic” intercultural relations, focusing primarily on Japan and the English-speaking world, mainly

he USA. Very little attention was given to minorities in Japan and to countries or cultures that were considered “low-ncome” (Rogers et al., 2002). Rogers et al. (2002) suggest that “this problematic vertical sense of intercultural relations is aong-standing problem which needs to be solved in order to truly internationalize Japanese society” (p. 18).

To better understand the needs of Japanese companies today, this study seeks to explore the following research questions.

Research Question #1: What kinds of intercultural experiences should we prepare students for?Research Question #2: What kinds of content should we include in our university curricula?Research Question #3: What kinds of methods should university faculty use?

. Methods

.1. Focus groups as a method

As the goal of this study was to better understand what kinds of intercultural communication skills Japanese corpora-ions valued, a qualitative study using focus groups was adopted. According to Morgan (1997), “focus groups may have andvantage for topics that are either habit-ridden or not thought out in detail” (p. 11). Because intercultural communicationkills are somewhat abstract, participants might not know what to say in individual interviews. By bringing a group together,articipants could feed off of each other’s ideas and opinions while also agreeing or disagreeing with each other. A focusroup is when a researcher gathers a group together and provides them with a topic (or a focus) and asks them to discuss thatopic. Focus groups can range from unstructured to structured. Because we wanted to leave some leeway for spontaneousiscussion, we employed a semi-structured approach in which we prepared questions but were willing to let conversationsigress as necessary (Morgan, 1997).

.2. Procedures

Between October and December of 2006, we conducted five focus groups, each with 4–9 participants. Participants wereelected using a combination of convenience sampling and purposive sampling (Fraenkel & Wallen, 2000)—researchersnlisted business people they knew who were preferably in the personnel department of Japanese companies and MNCs.

74 T. Yoshida et al. / International Journal of Intercultural Relations 37 (2013) 72–85

From there a snowball sampling method (Goodman, 1961) was used in which participants recommended others for futureinterviews.

As homogeneous groups are believed to be more conducive to discussion (Morgan, 1997) we had separate groups forthose who worked in Japanese companies and those who worked in multinational companies. Three groups consisted ofparticipants primarily from Japanese companies while the remaining two consisted of participants mostly from multinationalcompanies. According to Morgan (1997) the rule of thumb for the number of focus groups is three to five or until “saturation”(Glasser & Strauss, 1967) is reached. Researchers felt that they had reached “saturation” point after five focus groups—similarthemes continued to emerge without adding new insights.

Three focus groups were conducted in a private room inside the Faculty Dining Room at Keio University’s Hiyoshi campuswhile two were conducted in a facility owned by Reitaku University, near Shinjuku station. To help the participants feel atease with each other prior to the interview, we provided a light meal beforehand (Krueger & Casey, 2000). This “icebreaker”was essential for Japanese participants as many do not feel comfortable opening up to strangers. The meals and the interviewstogether took from 90 to 120 min.

The interview was conducted in Japanese and the following questions were asked. For the purpose of this article, thequestions are listed below in English.

Q1: What are some situations in which you experienced cultural differences?Q2: What are skills helpful when communicating across cultures?Q3: What kinds of people do you think need training in such skills?Q4: What kind of education do you think universities should provide for their students to acquire these skills?Q5: What kinds of methods are most effective in teaching these skills?

Participants’ responses were noted on a Flip Chart and for questions 1, 2, and 5, we asked the participants to catego-rize their answers and then vote for the top three they felt were most important. These were used by the facilitator towrite summaries after each focus group session. All focus groups were also videotaped and then complete transcripts werecreated.

3.3. Participants

27 business people from the Tokyo area (males = 11; females = 16) in their twenties to fifties were interviewed. Most hadexperience in the Personnel Department. All but one was Japanese; one was an American who was fluent in Japaneseand had worked in Japan for many years. 15 (3 owned companies) worked for Japanese corporations, 11 worked formultinational corporations, and 1 was a freelancer. Participants represented various types of companies (i.e., consult-ing (2), manufacturing (8), finance (2), publishing (2), trading (2), travel industry (2), sales (1), construction (1)). Only3 of the 27 had no experience changing jobs. 18 of the 27 held executive-level positions, of which 3 were ownerCEOs.

4. Analyses

The data were analyzed in two stages. In the first stage, the three researchers watched video-taped interviews, indepen-dently took notes, and came up with themes. For each focus group interview, the three researchers discussed their notes untilthey came to an agreement and constant comparison (Glasser & Strauss, 1967) was used between the data sets. Results fromthis stage can be found elsewhere (Suzuki, Yashiro, &Yoshida, 2007). In the second stage, complete transcripts were madeand the software Atlas ti was used to code the data. Although some basic codes were created initially based on the results ofthe first stage of analyses, we followed Strauss’s (1987) Grounded Theory and allowed the codes to emerge from the data.As new codes emerged, researchers recoded the transcripts and multiple iterations were completed until no more codesappeared. Three criteria were used to determine which themes defined the data: frequency, extensiveness, and intensity(Krueger, 1998, p. 35).

5. Results

Overall, our participants felt that intercultural communication training was necessary for everyone but when pressedfurther, they felt that bosses, people in the personnel department and those in the overseas departments needed it the most.We organized the themes that emerged from the study in Fig. 1. After briefly describing Fig. 1, we will explain in detail eachof the dominant themes and illustrate them with representative quotes.

As “Changing Times” seemed to be an overarching theme that influenced all other themes in Fig. 1 we placed it at the top.Directly below it are “international communication” and “intranational communication.” “International communication”
refers to interactions between people from different countries. Although we anticipated many examples of “internationalcommunication” we were surprised to find considerably more examples of “intranational communication,” which refersto domestic examples of intercultural communication. For this reason, “intranational communication” is placed in a largercell than “intercultural communication.” These themes were reflected in participants’ opinion about content and methods


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Fig. 1. Summary of results.

egarding university classes and corporate training. The content areas identified were similar to the scheme introduced byrislin and Yoshida (1994) with the addition of attitude as the overarching theme that influences: awareness, knowledge,motions, and skills.

.1. Overall background: changing times

A recurring theme was that Japan was changing. The fact that a majority of our respondents (24 of 27) had workedor more than one company at least once suggested that things were changing—Japanese were no longer staying withne company their entire lives. Although our sample was small and not random, we still believed that had we con-ucted our study twenty years ago, very few would have changed jobs. In fact, one of our respondents had recentlyeen laid off due to restructuring in his company, and two respondents were in companies that recently merged withnother.

This is consistent with findings from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (2012) that companies werelso changing their employment system by hiring less seishain who have lifetime employment privileges and more hi-seiki-hain who can be hired and fired more easily. In fact, in 1984, 84.7% of employees were seishain, while in 2010 only 65.6%ere sei-shain.

Participants cited examples of how communication has changed. For example, one mentioned that in the past, it wasonsidered part of work to have informal chats with colleagues during work hours. Although not directly related to work,hese conversations were considered to have a positive influence on work. Today, because of the poor economy and thehreat of restructuring there is less time for such informal talks. “People used to say, 60% work, 40% informal chats but nowt is down to 0% informal chats in many places” [Male, early 50s, Japanese company, Manufacturing industry, Personnelepartment, Manager]. Another participant mentioned that previously not everything had to be said in words, but now

hings had to be verbalized more because of the lack of context shared by different people. “Back then we could rely on auno kokyu to get things done” [Female, 42, Japanese company, Manufacturing industry, General Affairs Department, Manager].un no kokyu refers to two people with behaviors so harmonized that even their breathing is synchronized. Although onef the key features of Japanese management style has been to set long-term goals, one of our participants mentioned thatue to the rapid changes within the company, setting long-term goals sometimes did not work.

Because it is a company, we have to set goals. . .like 3-year goals or 5-year goals. Each section has its goals and if it is a bigcompany, then there is competition between sections. So if a Director decides on a goal, the only way for one to be evaluatedwell by that director is to work toward that goal. But then after two years, if that director leaves and a new one comes inthen the goals change. . . [Male, 41 years old, Japanese company, Financial Industry, Chief, Accounting Department].

One mentioned that change was taking place not only at work but in society, in general. For example, he mentioned thatf a man wanted to date a woman, in the past, he had to call the house phone and talk to the father before he could talk toer but now he could simply call her cell phone or text her directly. “When I wanted to date a girl, I had to go to a telephoneooth and the father would answer and ask me how I know his daughter. I would have to clear this hurdle first. . .now, I can

ust text the girl and ask her ‘Do you want to meet for a cup of tea?’ and if she doesn’t want to, she doesn’t even have toeply” (Male, 38, Japanese company, Trading company, CSR division).

Fig. 2 summarizes the effects of changing times on the organization and intercultural communication. Basically, there
re two important societal variables—the prolonged recession and the growing aging population. These influence the orga-ization in various ways which subsequently affect how people communicate.


Impact on Organization Impact on InterculturalCommunication

Changing Times

1. Changing jobs - Japanese are no longer staying with one company their entire lives. 2. Restructuring, mergers, etc.

Setting long term goals becomes less important. More older workers.3. Ageing population Younger managers managing old workers.

a. Communication style differences (e.g. sms, email, facebook etc.)

b. Communication between old and young

Fig. 2. Effect of changing times on the organization and intercultural communication.

5.2. International communication

As anticipated by the researchers, many participants mentioned interactions with people from other countries whendescribing intercultural encounters they experienced. Some took place abroad while others took place within Japan. Althoughsome of the examples were about interactions with Americans, many national groups were mentioned such as the Chineseor individuals from the Middle East or Europe. The quote below describes a participant’s initial shock as he entered a foreignculture for the first time.

I was in the Middle East for awhile. It was the first time I went abroad. I arrived at the airport and saw many differentthings by the time I arrived in my hotel room. That’s when I realized that there was no such word as a ‘promise’ and reallyexperienced culture shock. I’m not saying that this is good or bad because it is part of their culture. I thought, ‘So this is whatit’s like to encounter a different culture.’ For example, if I said, ‘Please come and pick me up at 8:00 am at my hotel.’ Theywould say, ‘Sure, no problem’ but then they wouldn’t show up. If I asked them, ‘Why didn’t you come?’ they would say, ‘AfterI talked to you, I made a promise to see a friend.’ Things that you wouldn’t be able to imagine in Japan occurred all the time[Male, 40s, MNC, Testing Laboratory & Scientific Research, Technical Headquarters, Manager].

Some mentioned the conflict caused by the Japanese tendency not to speak up.

According to Japanese cultural rules, “kyochosei” (being able to adjust to others) is valued, but in a multinational company,foreign bosses want us to speak up. Sometimes they are very adamant about this and it starts to feel like it is a bad thing notto say my opinion. I think that is a good thing but for me, it can sometimes be very stressful [Female, 20s, MNC, HeadhuntingCompany].

While the respondent above felt that she needed to change and become more assertive, the quote below shows thenegative light in which “assertion” can be perceived in Japan.

When we have meetings with 40 to 50 people, “pure Japanese” try not to say anything, but foreigners or those with someforeign blood in them strive hard to stand out and look good. They’ll say stuff that makes you think “What are you saying whenyou don’t understand anything?” This is when I feel there are clear cultural differences [Female, 29, MNC, ManufacturingIndustry, Marketing and Customer Solutions].

These examples showed how differences in values, common sense, and communication can influence how business isdone across cultures.

5.3. Intranational communication

What we did not anticipate was that the participants would cite so many examples of communication gaps within Japan.This was especially surprising because of the longstanding belief in Japanese homogeneity (Weiner, 1997) and the lack offocus within the field on domestic examples of intercultural communication (Rogers et al., 2002). In fact, there were so many

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hat we created six subcategories: (a) intergenerational communication, (b) work perception differences, (c) difference inast work experience, (d) corporate management style difference, (e) gender differences, and (f) power differences.

.3.1. Intergenerational communicationParticipants shared examples of how the “younger” generation was different. For example, they did not know how to

se “polite” Japanese, for example, they did not know how to greet people properly. “I was in charge of new employeerientation for five years and the biggest challenge was that the new employees could not use polite Japanese when doingusiness” (Female, late 40s, MNC, Financial industry, Human Resources Department, Manager). Some also mentioned thatoung people had very small social circles and did not have experience communicating with people from other generations.nother participant mentioned that unlike the older generation that spent a lot of time socializing with each other afterork, some of the younger workers tended to separate their private lives from their work.

Nowadays, the number of people who don’t want to socialize with each other outside of work is really increasing. Somecompletely refuse to go to bowling or drinking with us [Female, 42 years old, Japanese Company, Manufacturing Industry,General Affairs Department, Assistant Manager].

Some also mentioned that the notion of respecting elders and seniority has diminished.

The other day, I was amazed. . .The director was sitting in his seat in one of our buildings. At that time, a client came to ouroffice in the adjacent building. Then one of our (younger) staff members called the Director and actually said, ‘Director, oneof your guests came to my office but I’m too busy to deal with this person so can you please tell this person not to come here.’Iwas really astonished [Male, 41 years old, Japanese Company, Financial Industry, Accounting Department, Chief].

Many of the examples about the “older” generation involved their lack of computer skills. For example, one participantxplained that communication via e-mail did not necessarily work with his boss because his boss would get overwhelmedith spam mail and would delete important mail without reading it. “If too many e-mails pile up in his mailbox, my boss

ctually deletes them all without reading them. I heard him mumble one day ‘If it’s that important, they will send it toe again.’ Scary thought!” [Male, 41 years old, Japanese company, Financial Industry, Accounting Department, Chief]. This

aused a breakdown in communication because there was no guarantee that an e-mail had been read just because it hadeen sent.

.3.2. Work perception differencesSome mentioned that there were differences in the way people perceived work. One participant mentioned that some

eople “simply see work as ‘work’ and they will work hard during work hours but they won’t stay and do overtime” [Female,2 years old, Japanese company, Manufacturing Industry, General Affairs Department, Assistant Manager]. Another men-ioned that “some do as they are told without really thinking about what they are doing while others actually put morehought into it” [Male, 41 years old, Japanese company, Financial Industry, Accounting Department, Chief].

.3.3. Differences in past work experienceAs mentioned in the introduction, the working environment is changing in Japan. In the past, most major companies

ired graduates of famous universities, regardless of what they majored in, and then educated them in the companiesOkubo, 2006). Once they entered the companies, employees spent their first few years in training, going from one divisiono another. The emphasis was on the creation of generalists, not specialists (Trevor, 1986). Although this trend still remains,

any companies are also hiring those with special degrees or training or those with previous work experience (Okubo, 2006).hile those who are hired straight out of college are called sei-shain (proper employees) those who are hired otherwise are

alled chuuto-saiyou (career hires).Unlike employees who are hired immediately after graduation from university and trained to conform to the corporate

ulture, participants mentioned that those with different backgrounds often have different styles of working. For example,ne participant mentioned that in his accounting division, none were hired straight out of college. While those with previousorking experience in a company came with basic knowledge of how to act in a company (e.g., how to greet people, howuch vacation time to take, proper business Japanese) those who did not lacked these attributes.

In our company, we have a special accounting division in which we only hire people with experience so everyone hiredis a “chuuto-saiyo.” Some have experience working in an accounting division in another company, others come from anaccounting firm, while others have studied at an accounting school. . .there are about three types of people. Those who haveworked in a company are different. . .they have the basics of how to behave at work. Those who don’t neglect to greet usin the morning and don’t differ from us in how much vacation time they take. . . [Male, 41 years old, Japanese’ Company,Financial Industry, Accounting Department, Chief].

In some cases, large companies would send employees almost ready to retire to one of their subsidiaries to spend theirast few years there. One of our respondents felt that some in these positions were just not as dedicated to work anymore.ome also mentioned that those who had been in a company for a long time were often resistant to change, making it difficultor those who seek to implement changes.


Some people who have been around for more than thirty years. . .they are really set in their ways and refuse to acceptany change. People who were hired more recently or people who want to change things tend to have difficulty with thesepeople [Female, Late 40s, MNC, Financial Industry, Human Resources Department, Manager].

5.3.4. Corporate management style differenceOthers felt differences when doing business with people from other industries while others felt those differences when

they transferred from one company to another or when their company merged with another company. One mentioned theshock he experienced when he was transferred from one department to another within the same Japanese company.

In the systems division, people tended to help each other but when I moved to the international division, each personwas responsible solely for their own work. This is when I really felt that even within the same company there were hugedifferences [Male, 41 years old, Japanese Company, Consulting Firm, Own Business, CEO].

The following quote illustrates that even within the same industry, different types of companies have different roles withtheir own unique perspectives and cultures.

I work for the travel industry. . .there are three types of companies in the industry: travel agencies, tour operators, andsuppliers. Suppliers refer to hotels and airlines. . . The tour operators serve as liaisons between travel agencies and suppliers.I work for a supplier (airline). If there is a problem (for example if the trains are not running due to bad weather) the travelagencies want to be informed immediately as they are responsible for the customers’ well-being. . . However, if we contactour office overseas they are so busy dealing with the customers that they don’t want to waste time giving updates. Theywant to take care of everything and have the agency assured later that everything went fine. However, the agencies getupset if they are not kept informed of everything. . . [Female, 33, MNC, Reservations, Hotel].

5.3.5. Gender differencesSome felt that Japanese companies still treated men and women differently. One of our participants who had worked

at foreign companies for many years experienced extreme culture shock when she joined a Japanese manufacturing firmwhich was located in the countryside. As the first and only female manager the company hired, she felt many differences inthe way women were treated.

At our company, women staff, even those who are not secretaries are called “shoki-san” (secretary-san). . . I also noticedone day, that on the seating chart there was an asterisk in front of my name. I wondered what it meant so I went throughthe seating chart and realized that it meant “woman.” All women, even part-time workers, had an asterisk in front of theirnames! They had to mark us simply because we were women! I couldn’t understand why they had to put an asterisk infront of my name?! [Female, Japanese Company, IT, Management Planning Division, Manager].

Some mentioned that there is still a silent expectation for women to quit after marriage or childbirth. One man commented“Even if I thought someone was brilliant, if that person was a woman her promotion would come slowly” [Male, 35 yearsold, Japanese Company, Publisher, Editor].

5.3.6. Power differencesSome participants pointed out communication problems stemming from status differences. “We basically get along with

people who are at the same level as us but when it comes to our kacho (manager) we really can’t communicate very wellwith him. . .it might also be his fault too but. . .” [Male, 50s, Japanese Company, Training & Consulting Company, Director].

One participant who worked for an American MNC pointed out that even though his branch in Japan is relatively flat hefelt that the branches outside of Japan have very strict rules about the chain of command and what you can say to whom. It isinteresting that in his company’s case, the branch in Japan is less status conscious than those in other countries, suggestingthat MNCs abroad might have a “third culture” which is neither purely that of the parent country or the host country.

Since I work for an MNC I often have conference calls with my colleagues abroad or go visit them but unlike MNCs in Japan. . . actually I only know my company but. . . MNCs abroad make a clearer differentiation between the ranks. In my company,here in Japan, we don’t really have to think about people’s ranks and can talk to anyone freely but abroad, there seem to beclearer distinctions between the ranks and I have to be more careful about what I say to whom [Male, 402, MNC, TestingLaboratory & Scientific Research, Technical Headquarters, Manager].

This participant, however, had also worked for a Japanese company and felt that the gap between the ranks was evenmore defined there. “There was this atmosphere that made it difficult for bosses and subordinates to communicate” [Male,402, MNC, Testing Laboratory & Scientific Research, Technical Headquarters, Manager].

This same participant works closely with doctors and mentioned that doctors have a different culture where there is a
clear line between those who have power and those who do not.
In my company, hospitals are my clients. Maybe this is especially true in Japan but power differences are very clear inhospitals and it is very clear who has power. To put it bluntly, these people think they can get anything they want. Some-times they don’t even know basic market mechanisms and. . .there is a clear culture gap between companies and their

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clients. . .everyday we struggle trying to convince them or trying to understand their perspective . . . [Male, 40s, MNC,Testing Laboratory & Scientific Research, Technical Headquarters, Manager].

Another participant agreed saying “people who are called sensei, like lawyers and doctors, and researchers too, have aifferent culture from the rest of society” [Female, Early 40s, IT Company, Accounting].

A participant who works for a small family-owned publishing firm mentioned that when scolding subordinates, peopleeed to be aware of the power differential between themselves and their subordinates as this can cause problems.

For example, if someone has a lot of power but is not aware of it and acts carelessly, it can cause serious problems. Forexample, when the president yells at someone at my level, my reaction is clearly going to be different from the way a youngwoman who just entered the company would feel. I mean, the president shouldn’t be yelling in the first place but. . . [Male,35 year old, Japanese Company, Publisher, Editor].

This section examined how various differences within Japan can cause communication gaps when doing business,pecifically gaps that come from age differences, work perception differences, past work experience differences, corporateanagement style differences, gender differences, and power differences.

.4. University education and training

Here, we will first discuss what the participants thought should be included in the curriculum. It is organized around theramework that emerged from this study: Attitude, Awareness, Emotions, and Skills. We will also present teaching methodshe participants felt were most effective.

.4.1. AttitudeThe following attitudes were felt necessary to succeed in intercultural interactions: (1) Open-Mindedness (Multiple

erspectives), (2) Ability to Enjoy Differences, (3) Not Having Prejudices, and (4) Introspection.

.4.1.1. Open-Mindedness/Multiple Perspectives. Many felt that being open-minded and having Multiple Perspectives was oftmost importance. For example, one participant explained the importance of just listening and accepting what people wereaying before we judged or insisted on our own opinions.

To be open-minded and willing to understand opinions that are different from one’s own or new things. . . To try hard tounderstand things that one cannot understand . . .[Female, Late 40s, MNC, Financial Industry, Personnel Department].

.4.1.2. Ability to Enjoy Differences. Another attitude that was mentioned was the Ability to Enjoy Differences. Participantselt that this was not only important in communicating with culturally different others but that it was key to surviving theusiness world today which is changing very rapidly.

When there is someone who is different, you should think “I wonder. . .I wonder why this person is different?” You needo be curious. . .some people just think differences are bad and some people think differences are interesting. I think it’smportant to be curious [Male, 41, Consulting, Japanese Company, Own Business].

It’s important to try to understand why this person is different. . .is it their background? Or is there a reason why this personis acting this way?. . .understanding why is important. . . [Female, Early 40s, MNC, IT Company, Accounting].

.4.1.3. Not Having Prejudices. Many were aware that everyone had prejudices and that being aware of those prejudices washe first step in eliminating it.

To understand, try to get rid of your ‘filter’and listen with an open mind. Try to eliminate your assumptions and prejudices. . .[Male, 41, Japanese company, Own Business, CEO].

.4.1.4. Introspection. Some wanted students to really look inside themselves and understand who they are, what theyelieve in, and establish their long-term goals. They wanted students to work toward those goals, not afraid to make mistakes,nd willing to take risks. They felt that without a solid sense of self, any kind of communication would be difficult.

To look inside. . .to know what you believe in. . .it’s not necessary to say your beliefs out loud, but to have your own policy. . .[Female, Early 40s, Trainer, Freelancer].

In sum, the participants felt that to be effective in intercultural situations one must be open-minded, be able to enjoyifferences, not have prejudices, and be able to look inside and understand themselves.

.4.2. Awareness of self and of cultural differencesMany felt that awareness of themselves as individuals, their own culture, and cultural differences was important.

What I think is that. . .(it is important) to know that what we think is “common sense” is not common sense. . . [Female,29, MNC, Manufacturing Industry, Marketing & Customer Solutions].


Fig. 3. How to address postcards and envelopes.

To accept differences does not mean you have to follow the other person’s cultural rules. It means to understand theirculture and then come up with a solution based on your understanding [Male, 40s, MNC, Testing Laboratory & ScientificResearch, Technical Headquarters, Manager].

Participants felt that the first step to intercultural understanding is to realize that how culture governs our own thoughtsand behaviors and how that influences the way we perceive people from other cultures. To understand that differences do,in fact exist, but they are not necessarily bad.

5.4.3. Knowledge: business mannersIn terms of knowledge, many mentioned the importance of knowing “proper” business manners. For example, there are

very specific rules on how to address an envelope or a return postcard. When politely addressing someone, the honorific“-sama” is used. For example if you are sending a letter to Taro Yamada, you would write Yamada Taro-sama. “Sama” is theequivalent of “Mr.” However, if Mr. Yamada is sending you an invitation to a party he will most likely enclose a self-addressedpostcard you can use to indicate attendance or absence from the event. On the postcard, it would be inappropriate for himto write “Yamada Taro-sama” as “sama” is an honorific you should use for other people, not yourself. He would, therefore,write “Yamada Taro-iki.” “Iki” means “to.” You would then cross out “iki” with two lines and replace this with “sama” (seeFig. 3). If it is addressed to a company not a specific person, then the honorific “onchu” is used instead of “sama.” Fig. 3 alsoshows other rules such as crossing out the honorific “go” or “o” in front of “kesseki” (absence), “juusho” (address) and “namae”(name) and including a thoughtful expression of regret for the absence.

Stuff that should be common sense for working people. . .for example, when writing a letter you should cross out iki andwrite sama or onchuu, stuff like that. It would be nice if they were taught practical stuff like that in school. Of course, this issomething they learn from their sempai (older employees) at work, but depending on who they work under they might notget the guidance they need [Female, 42, Japanese Company, Manufacturing, Human Resources Department, Manager].

This is one example of many rules that are considered “common sense” in businesses. For example, there are many rulesabout how to entertain a client including what to order, who orders, who sits where, etc. (Iwashita, 2005; Hashimoto, 2005;Naruhodo Kurabu, 2004).

In sum, many of the participants felt that students often do not understand what is considered “common businessetiquette.” Simple things like how to greet someone, how to make a phone call, and how to exchange business cards are allnew to them.

5.4.4. EmotionsParticipants mentioned that because intercultural encounters could be very stressful, managing their emotions was of

utmost importance.

I know this is very vague but not getting mad so easily is important [Female, Late 20s, MNC, Headhunting Company].

Even if people say things, not letting it stress you out [Female, 42, MNC, Headhunting Company, Manager].

When people say things that really hurt, to not let it get to you each time. To not let stress get to you. . . [Female, Early 40s,
MNC, IT Industry, Accounting Division].
Many felt that intercultural interactions were very stressful and that the key to success was in managing the stress andnot getting overly emotional.

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.4.5. SkillsThe participants identified various skills they believed were important to successfully communicate across cultures. They

ere: (1) ability to express what you want to say, (2) Sasshi (ability to guess what the other person is thinking), (3) Nintairyokumental strength, endurance), (4) logical thinking, (5) initiative, (6) communication skills, (7) Japanese language skills, (8)oreign language skills, and (9) listening skills.

.4.5.1. Ability to express what you want to say. Some participants believed that it was important for people to express theirhoughts clearly. A closer look at the participants’ comments, however, reveals that there is still a very strong emphasisn understanding the other person’s needs and feelings. Therefore, what they are describing appears to be an amalgam ofWestern” and “Japanese” communication styles.

Some people don’t say what they feel or they don’t express their true thoughts or they say things in a roundabout manner. Ithink it’s important to be good at understanding the other person’s needs and to be able to express one’s own needs well. . .Todo this without getting too emotional. . . [Male, 41, Japanese Company, Publisher, Chief editor].

To be able to express one’s thoughts clearly. Not just with words, but to look into their eyes and pick the most appropriateway depending on that person’s personality. For people who want to be in control, to let them think that they are theleader. . .like that. . . [Male, 40s, MNC, IT Company, Personnel division, Manager].

.4.5.2. Sasshi. Sasshi refers to the ability to anticipate other people’s needs without them having to express those needs inords. For example, when entertaining a guest, instead of a guest having to ask for a drink, the host should sassuru (figure

ut) the guest’s needs and serve drinks. Further, a good host would already know the guest’s preference and serve them whathey want. A person with sasshi, will not only listen to what the speaker is saying but will also watch the speaker’s nonverbalommunication, their personality, their situation, etc. In other words, sasshi is a form of high-context communication (Hall,976). What is interesting is that one of our participants relates this skill to the concept of Emotional Quotient (EQ) (Goleman,006) which was introduced by an American psychologist. Once again, it appears that there is an amalgamation of “Western”nd “Japanese” concepts.

EQ is important. You need to figure out what other people need (without them actually telling you). People who can’t dothat won’t go far [Female, 54, Japanese company, Own company, CEO].

.4.5.3. Nintairyoku (mental strength, endurance). Some felt that mental strength was important. They believed that culturalifferences could be taxing at times, and one needed nintai (mental strength) to overcome it.

To listen to opinions that are different from yours. . .to new things. To patiently (nintai-zuyoku) and persistently try tounderstand what is different [Female, late 40s, Financial Industry, Personnel, Manager].

.4.5.4. Logical thinking. Many mentioned the importance of thinking and being able to explain one’s thoughts logicallyspecially at meetings and during presentations. Some mentioned that this skill was not as important in the past wheneople were willing to base their business decisions on whether they had a good business relationship with you or not.

This may sound very commonplace, but in a company like mine, presentation skills are very important. We give internalpresentations within the company. To be able to give a good presentation logically is important [Male, 41, Publisher, Editor].

.4.5.5. Taking the initiative. Participants felt that it was important not to be afraid to communicate. They believed it wasmportant to take the initiative to communicate.

It’s about your mindset. It’s connected to saying what you’re thinking. . .even if it’s wrong, you should say it. Don’t be afraid.It’s OK to be wrong. . . [Female, Early 40s, IT Company, Accounting].

.4.5.6. Communication skills. Many of our respondents felt that college graduates these days lacked basic communicationkills. One participant mentioned an example of a new employee who did not show up at the company-sponsored healthxam without saying anything “Courtesy is necessary even among friends. We need to say things like ‘thank you’ or ‘sorry’r ‘hello.’ That’s how communication begins” [Female, early 30s, Japanese Company, Manufacturing Industry, Personnelepartment]. In fact, one of our respondents who worked for a publisher mentioned that two of their bestsellers to the college

tudent population were a book called “Speaking Training” (Hanasu Toreiningu) and “Writing Training” (Kaku Toreiningu),uggesting that the college students themselves were aware of this problem. Listening skills and presentation skills werelso mentioned.

They felt that many college students only knew how to speak to their friends and did not know how to speak to people
rom other generations or even from other universities. Some suggested creating opportunities for students to interact withtudents from other universities or high schools as well as adults.
They (college students) should meet lots of different people and talk to them. Talk to lots of different people. . . Students canget away simply by going to school, not saying anything to anyone, and then returning home. . .they get away not speaking


to anyone. At home, they play video games and don’t speak to anyone. . .. [Male, 41 years old, Japanese Company, FinancialIndustry, Accounting Department, Chief].

5.4.5.7. Japanese language skills. Many of our respondents felt that college graduates were not able to use Japanese “properly.”“There are certain expressions, for example when answering the phone, that students just don’t think of” (Female, late 40s,MNC, Financial Industry, Personnel & Training, Assistant Manager) so they need to learn those things. In the Japaneselanguage, there are several levels of politeness (Hijirida & Yoshikawa, 1987) that people use depending on how well theyknow the person, their age, their relationship with the person, the context, and the goal of the interaction. They believedthat university graduates should be well-versed in proper Japanese used in the business world.

I do new employee orientations and what I do is teach them how to speak properly, how to write business letters. . .Companies want me to concentrate on business basics such as Ho-Ren-Sou (Hokoku = Report; Renraku = Daily Reports;Soudan = Consult). In other words, they don’t know. . . they don’t know how to speak properly, how to write properly. . .theyuse emoji (emoticons, see http://wap2.jp/emoji/ezweb/color ico renew.html).

They don’t differentiate much between business and private. So when it comes to intercultural communication, I think thefirst thing they need to do is to learn how to convey their opinions clearly to others. Also, to be able to listen to other people’sopinions well [Male, 41, Japanese Company, Consulting Company, Own Business, CEO].

5.4.5.8. Foreign language skills. Respondents felt that foreign language skills were important. Some felt that foreign languageskills must be accompanied by cultural understanding.

I think English skills are important. Of course, foreigners (in Japan) should learn Japanese (Female, Late 30s, MNC, FashionIndustry, Human Resources, Manager).

And along with that is to understand cultural differences. Japanese should learn English and foreign cultures and foreigners(in Japan) should learn to like Japanese culture [Female, 40s, MNC, Headhunting Company, Manager].

5.4.5.9. Listening skills. Many felt that listening skills were very important in promoting understanding.

Some people, even people in management, sometimes talk really fast and don’t listen to what people say. I don’t think peoplelike that are very good communicators [Female, 40s, MNC, Headhunting Company, Manager].

In sum, the participants felt that to succeed across cultures, one must take the initiative in communication, expressoneself clearly, have sasshi (ability to guess what the other person is thinking), nintairyoku (mental strength, endurance),logical thinking, and good communication skills including Japanese language, foreign language, and good listening skills.

5.4.6. Teaching methodsOne participant mentioned the importance of adjusting to the needs of each student. As university classes are generally

quite large, she suggests a one-on-one counseling format where an academic advisor sits with each student and plans thestudent’s curriculum together.

Not really a class but like counseling. . . especially in large universities students are left on their own and they just kind of goto class and just get credits from the class. . .if we can find out what the student really wants to do and help them tailor theircurriculum to match their goals it might be more effective [Female, late 40s, MNC, Financial Industry, Human ResourcesDepartment, Manager].

Although lecturing is still the primary method for teaching at Japanese universities (Wadden, 1993), many of our respon-dents felt that interactive approaches are more effective especially when teaching management-related content. “There isno one answer to management-related problems so you can’ really teach it. . .the learner has to dig in deep and figure thingsout. . .it has to be two-way. . .” [Male, 30s, Training & Consulting Company, Assistant Director].

Specifically, they mentioned actual experience, experiential learning, and interactive learning. Some believed that actualexperience, such as business internships, would be helpful. One mentioned how much she learned from being in the girlscouts when she was younger. “You get to meet lots of different people and go camping a lot. You get to develop commu-nication skills very naturally” [Female, 40s, MNC, Headhunting Company, Manager]. One participant mentioned a newtheme park called Kidzania and felt that making a college-student version would be good. Kidzania is an amusementpark where kids can try out various professions (e.g., hair dresser, doctor, dentist, baker) and earn Kidzania money (seehttp://www.kidzania.jp/tokyo/en/).

Kidzania. . . it’s been covered a lot by mass media lately. . . something like that for university students. . . it introducesvarious types of jobs to children. . . Like a tailor or a toy maker or a tea farm and they get to actually take part in makingtoys or plucking tea leaves. . . [Female, 42, Japanese Company, Manufacturing Industry, General Affairs Department,Manager].

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Some felt that experiential learning could also occur in the classroom through simulations, games, and other methods.ome also mentioned the addition of other forms of interactive learning such as brainstorming, discussion, debate, theocratic method, and presentations. For example, one person mentioned implementing project management.

I think you can include project management into the curriculum. It doesn’t matter what the project is but to get involved inone thing and to learn how to collect information. . . this will be immediately useful when they enter a company. . . [Female,54, Japanese Company, Own Business, CEO].

Overall, our results suggested that “changing times” was an overarching theme under which various international andntranational communication gaps emerged. Our data suggested the relative dominance of intranational communicationap examples. We then presented a framework for organizing the materials as well as effective teaching methods. The nextection will discuss these findings further.

. Discussion

This section will return to the three research questions and examine how they were answered by our study. Researchuestion #1 asked: What kinds of intercultural experiences should we prepare students for? Due to the continuing reces-

ion, Japanese companies’ structures were changing significantly at the time of the interview with seniority and lifetimemployment no longer the norm (Oguro, 2003; Okubo, 2006). Perhaps for that reason, the overarching theme was the needo adjust to change—not only change that might result from moving from one country to another but also changes withinapan.

Students should not only be prepared for differences between national cultures but also more importantly prepared forifferences that exist within nations, specifically: intergenerational communication differences, work perception differences,ifferences in past work experiences, corporate management style differences, gender differences, and status differences.e found this result especially interesting because many consider Japan to be relatively homogeneous (Weiner, 1997). This

nding, although based on a Japanese sample, could be applicable to the entire field of intercultural communication which,n general, has focused on differences between rather than within countries.

We focused on intranational differences because of the overwhelming number of examples in our interview data but alsoecause they have been traditionally underrepresented in IC textbooks. In terms of the international examples, most coulde classified under the 18 themes presented by Brislin and his colleagues (Brislin, Cushner, Cherrie, & Yong, 1986; CushnerBrislin, 1995).Research Question #2 asked: What kinds of content should we include in our university curricula? Most interesting was

hat the many ideas the participants mentioned seemed to fit in the framework posited by Brislin and Yoshida (1994) withhe addition of “attitude” as the overarching theme resulting in the model (see Fig. 4).

In terms of attitude, the participants felt that to be effective in intercultural situations one must be open-minded (haveultiple perspectives), should be able to enjoy differences, not have prejudices, and be introspective. Open-Mindedness andultiple perspectives were consistent with Kealey’s (1996) findings about the characteristics of the effective intercultural

ollaborator. Ability to enjoy differences is similar to “sense of humor” which was also cited in Kealey’s (1996) study. Anntrospective attitude suggests that people should really look inside and ask themselves what they believe in and what they

ant to achieve. Participants believed that having a strong sense of self was critical especially when facing interculturalituations when one’s beliefs and values were to be challenged.

Many participants also mentioned the importance of being aware of one’s own culture and cultural differences. This isonsistent with Pedersen (1988) and Brislin and Yoshida’s (1994) models that suggest the importance of awareness as therst step to intercultural understanding.

In terms of knowledge, the participants focused on the importance of learning Japanese business manners which tendso have many strict rules that one must follow such as how one should speak to a client, how to answer the phone, how toxchange business cards, and how to entertain someone. In Japan, there is a term shakaijin which literally means a “personn society” and refers to people who are working as opposed to students who are believed to know nothing about the “real”

orld. There is an assumption that until one becomes a shakaijin one will not know many things about life. There is also an
nderstanding that there are many rules that govern how a shakaijin acts which is very different from how students act. It
s probably for these reasons that there are many business rules that traditionally students were not aware of. In the past,hen the economy was thriving, companies recognized this and were willing to train the students but in today’s recession,


the companies no longer have as much time and money for such training and would prefer universities to better preparethe future workforce.

In the category of emotions, many also mentioned the importance of stress management which is consistent withMatsumoto, LeRoux, Ratzlaff, Tatani, Uchida, and Kim (2001), Matsumoto et al. (2003), Matsumoto, LeRoux, Bernhard, andGray (2004), Matsumoto, LeRoux, Robles, and Campos (2007) studies that found that emotion regulation is key to inter-cultural adjustment. Emotion regulation refers to one’s ability to control one’s emotions and not let it overly control one’sactions and decisions. Emotional resilience (Kelley & Meyers, 1992) refers to the ability to bounce back up even if one feelsdown temporarily.

In terms of skills, the following were considered critical: the ability to express oneself, sasshi (the ability to guess whatthe other person is thinking), nintairyoku (mental strength, endurance), logical thinking, initiative, communication skills,Japanese language skills, foreign language skills, and listening skills.

Although many of these skills such as the ability to express oneself, logical thinking, taking the initiative, and listeningskills might appear in basic communication training designed in the West, the skills the participants described were a fusionof Japanese and Western communication skills. For example, when describing ability to express oneself, participants empha-sized not only stating one’s own needs but also understanding the listener’s needs and characteristics and adjusting to that.In addition, the combination of the skills represents a hybridization of Western and Japanese skills. The ideal interculturalcommunicator the participants described was someone who has nintairyoku (mental strength), takes the initiative and isable to sassuru (anticipate) other’s needs while expressing their opinions in a clear, logical manner, and has good listeningskills. Again, although based on a Japanese sample, these skills might well be applicable outside of Japan as well. Furtherstudies need to confirm this.

Research Question #3: What kinds of methods should university faculty use? Overall, the respondents suggested imple-menting various interactive approaches such as experiential learning, discussion, role playing, project management, and theSocratic method.

7. Conclusion

There were four major findings from the focus group interviews. The first was that the participants’ examples of inter-cultural communication included more domestic examples rather than international examples. In response to our questionregarding who should receive intercultural training, our participants were unanimous in saying that everyone should par-ticipate in training—bosses, people in the personnel department and overseas departments were considered first priority.Our third major finding was that the participants’ responses seemed to fit into the model posited by Brislin and Yoshida(1994)—awareness, knowledge, emotions, and skills—with the addition of attitudes. Our final major finding was that manyof the skills the participants felt were important to succeed in intercultural communication were a combination of Japanese(e.g., sasshi, situation-specific adjustment) and Western (e.g., verbalizing thoughts, taking the initiative) skills.

7.1. Ramifications for theory

There are two ramifications for theory. One is the importance of considering domestic examples of intercultural commu-nication when coming up with theories. The second is the hybridization of “Western” and “Japanese” theories. For example,although the participants felt that Japanese needed to learn how to verbalize their thoughts more (e.g., use low-context com-munication (Hall, 1976)), it was combined with the Japanese skill of understanding the other person’s needs (e.g., sasshi).The other is to depart from the dichotomy of America vs. Japan and to include other countries’ cultures when creating newtheories.

7.2. Ramifications for research

Most intercultural research on Japanese culture either focus on Japan’s unique culture or compares it with another culture,most often the USA (Rogers et al., 2002). Our informants’ emphasis on domestic examples of intercultural communicationsuggest that future studies might want to further look into these differences. Furthermore, as many of the respondents’examples about intercultural encounters abroad were not necessarily with Americans, more studies comparing Japaneseculture with cultures other than the USA (e.g., China) should be helpful.

7.3. Ramifications for practice

The first ramification for practice is to include more domestic examples of intercultural communication in textbooks,lectures, and training. The second is to use more interactive approaches and experiential activities in the college classroomas well as in corporate training. The third is to teach skills that are an amalgam of Western and Japanese practices. The fourth
is to focus on basic communication skills by providing college students with more opportunities to interact with a widevariety of age groups.
This study presents a first step in examining the types of intercultural skills Japanese companies require. As times change,some skills might remain salient while others are replaced by new skills. Conducting a similar study every ten years or so

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ould enable us to examine these changes. Further, it might be fruitful to conduct similar studies in other countries to seehether similar trends and skills appear.

cknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the staff and faculty of the Keio Research Center for Foreign Language Education foraking this project possible. We would also like to thank Dr. Mariko Muro Yokokawa, Professor Margit Krause-Ono, and Ms.

ara Oikawa for their invaluable advice on an earlier draft. Last but not least, we would like to thank the participants whoook time out of their busy schedule to participate in our focus groups. Funding was provided by the Ministry of Educationnd Training, Academic Frontier.

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Intercultural communication skills: What Japanese businesses today need