AboutTai Yamanaka Expertise I can answer questions regarding Japanese business culture, business etiquette, corporate society, as well as provide know-how on how to research industries, corporations and communicate with business contacts.
Experience I have over 20 years of experience working in Japanese corporations as well as for American corporations doing business with Japan. I have served as a representative as well as a go-between for American and other corporations with Japanese businesses, industry and scholarly associations as well as government agencies
Expert: Tai Yamanaka Date: 11/7/2007 Subject: Greeting Japanese government employees
Question I have been asked to provide a briefing for three Japanese government employees (equivalent to State government level employees) about how American government agencies communicate with the public and use the media. What is the proper way to greet Japanese government men at this level? We have small gifts for them (brass & crystal souvenirs of Washington DC).
Answer Hello John,
Thank you for your question.
The short answer is that you should treat them like you would any other visitors from a foreign government. The longer answer is that they will have unique needs that you should try to address to the extent you can.
Some of these needs are that (1) they represent their country and position and would like recognition of their importance, (2) they will likely have language problems, and (3) they would like to leverage this meeting, if they can.
The gifts you prepared addresses the first. It would also be good if you "rank" your gifts, so that the most important visitor get the best gift, the second important a lesser gift, and so on. Of course if they are the same rank, the same gift would be all right.
The second need is that unless these visitors are exceptionally well educated, they will have problems with English. While they might bring an interpreter, it's probably a good idea to use short, simple sentences when you talk to them or give a presentation. It's also important to provide written documents of your presentation, so that they can study them at their leisure when they return to Japan - brochures, catalogs, white papers, press releases, etc. should be helpful.
Lastly, it's always useful to be a conduit of contacts. If your visitors are interested in media and communications, offer to provide contacts to media outlets, newspapers, etc. that you are familiar with. Showing them that you can be the initial contact through which other contacts can be made available would maximize the importance of your briefing.
I hope this helps.
Please let me know if I can help with other questions.
