Living and Working in Japan

Japan, a once insular and remote society, has evolved over the last half century to become a vibrant, innovative and open society. A strong work ethic combined with government-industry expertise and investment have all contributed to make Japan one of the world’s richest and most technologically powerful economies. Living and Working in Japan, however, presents unique challenges to any employee and family wishing to ensure that their stay there is a successful and happy one.

Japan has a unique culture and the differences in behaviours, language, etiquette and customs can be challenging for the new arrival wishing to live and work in Japan. Failure to understand and adapt to a new set of cultural rules and behaviours can cause frustration and misunderstanding and at worse, culture shock can cause the assignment to fail.

Communicaid’s Living & Working in Japan courses are designed to respond to the needs of international assignees by providing practical information and advice on the various aspects of living and working in Japan, as well as conveying an understanding of the underlying elements that shape Japanese culture inside and outside the workplace.

Benefits

A Communicaid Living and Working in Japan course will provide you with:

- A comprehensive insight to Japan and its historical, social and economic development

- An understanding of  Japanese culture or ‘way of doing things’

- Key communication tools and skills to understand—and respond to— business and social

  subtleties and nuances of Japanese culture while living and working in the Japan

- An awareness of culture and country shock and ways of surviving it

- Essential practical and information to improve  your experience of living and working in Japan

Who should attend

A Communicaid Living and Working in Japan programme will be of benefit to you if you:

- Are about to relocate or have just relocated to Japan for business purposes

- Work on short-term assignments or projects  in Japan and spend periods of time in Japan

Course Content

All our Living and Working in Japan training courses are designed to meet the specific needs of our clients depending on their personal/organisational requirements and existing skills set.   A Living and Working in Japan course typically includes:

- An overview of Japanese culture, history and customs

- Japanese people and Japanese society

- Attitudes and beliefs: the influence of Confucianism

- Practical information on living and working  in Japan

- Social and business etiquette

- Building relationships and establishing personal contact with Japanese

- Management and negotiation styles in Japanese culture

- Japanese communication styles

- Tips and strategies for successful living and working in Japan

- Working practices in Japan

Approach

Living and Working in Japan courses are available seven days a week, 365 days a year, either at one of our  training centres in London, Paris, Frankfurt and New York or at your offices in any location worldwide.  We usually recommend a one or two day course but can also offer a more flexible format to suit your schedule.

Suitably tailored materials will be used throughout your course and your trainer will provide a balance of structured input and discussion of case studies and scenarios relevant to your own particular context.

The most appropriate training format, content and approach for your Living and Working in Japan course will be discussed during your diagnostic consultancy (please click here to read more about our approach).

Living and Working in Japan Course Trainer

Your Living and Working in Japan trainer will be assigned to you following the results of your diagnostic consultancy according to your objectives and areas of focus.  Detailed below is a sample profile of a member of our Japanese cultural training team.

RJ

Having lived and worked in Japan for over five years, RJ has in depth knowledge of Japanese cultural issues together with a high level of spoken Japanese.  His time there was spent in Kanazawa and Toyama working in education both as teacher of French and English and as an academic manager with responsibility for managing budgets, recruiting staff and curriculum planning.  As a trainer, he worked with delegates from major companies including Deutsche Bank, Microsoft, National Panasonic and Winterthur delivering high level skill based training which also incorporated cultural issues.

RJ returned to the UK in 2002 to take his Masters in Intercultural Communication which included research on power, distance and politeness among the Japanese, Chinese and English.  He now divides his time between lecturing in cross-cultural communication, working as a translation consultant and delivering intercultural training on Japan for corporate and public sector clients.  He has delivered training programmes for numerous Communicaid clients including Accenture, Ashurst, Mitsubishi Bank of Tokyo, Tesco and UKTI.