Welcome to the final instalment of our series on essential Japanese expressions! Over the past two articles, you’ve learned six powerful phrases to strengthen your communication and cultural understanding. In this edition, we’ll share the last three expressions to complete your set of nine. These final phrases are just as impactful and will help you…
Welcome back to the second part of our series on essential Japanese expressions! In this edition, we’ll introduce three more key phrases that will further enhance your interactions with Japanese colleagues and clients. These expressions are not only practical but also demonstrate cultural sensitivity, helping you build stronger and more respectful relationships. Practice them often,…
The Japanese language is complex and context-sensitive, with different interpretations based on the situation and the people involved. Learning a few key expressions can greatly enhance your interactions and show respect for Japanese culture. In 3 videos, we will introduce 9 key expressions! Practice them regularly, and you’ll undoubtedly strengthen your relationships with colleagues. For…
Although Japan has long been known for its excessively long working hours, there has been a lot of change in recent years. For example, an interesting new study on sleep deprivation among Japanese employees from June 2024 states that the number of Japanese employees who sleep five hours or less per day will be around…
Japanese culture and business culture is renowned for its emphasis on working in tight-knit groups. In this article, we will look at Japanese office events and how you can draw inspiration from them for your own company, whether you aim to foster inter-cultural exchange or simply get to know your employees better. 1. Bōnenkai (Year-End…
The basis of any effective communication is mutual and undistorted understanding. This is valid even more for online meetings with Japanese and non-Japanese attendees. As explained in a prior JCO blog post, English and Japanese are fundamentally different languages, both in vocabulary and in structure. This opens the door for miscommunication as many dimensions of face to face communication are not available…
Our articles often focus on the way cultural roots such as history, philosophy or even religion are reflected in a country’s current business culture. Everywhere in the world, including Japan, the world of work has been undergoing extreme change for several years. And yet some peculiarities remain, as can be seen in the following example.…
(Japanese version) In the first part we looked at various ways the same sentence could be interpreted based on context and how it is said. Then we reviewed specific danger spots that we need to pay attention to when communicating at work. In this second part, let us look at additional challenges in the remote…
In a previous post we learned how New Year is celebrated in Japan and how to say “Happy New Year” in Japanese. One of those greetings included yoroshiku onegai shimasu. It is one of the most common expressions in Japan. If there is one sentence in Japanese you should remember, it should be this one.…
If there is one question that comes up in every JCO session for Non-Japanese it would have to be this one. “Why do so many Japanese struggle in English?” In this article, we will look into a few reasons that might help explain this observation. Not a need: Japan, being an island, has been isolated…
