Being a country that has retained much of its culture from the past, as well as operating as a modern first world nation, examples of the past and present abound in everyday life in Japan. Within this context, Japan is a country of well accepted and adhered to customs, rituals and modes of behaviour in all aspects of daily life. Having an awareness of these is a key part of knowing and understanding Japan. Consequently, explaining them is an important and integral part of this publication - they are the minutiae and building blocks of daily life and form the crux of what is the real … [Read more...]
Some Principles and Practices of Business in Japan
Perhaps the most universally known aspect of the Japanese business world is the real or supposed difficulty of entering it. An integral part of the government’s strategy to re-build the Japanese economy after World War II was the imposition of import tariffs and other inward trading barriers, so that while Japanese products captured markets around the world, the home market remained the province of Japanese manufacturers alone. Largely in response to external pressure, this policy and the barriers it imposed have been to varying degrees dismantled, and many companies from around the world … [Read more...]