WHEN WORLDS COLLIDEmany years as a business consultant in Japan and America, you
can ask a Japanese businessperson a question through an inter-
preter, listen to a half hour of back-and-forth talk between inter-
preter and businessman, and then have the interpreter tell you,
"He doesn't think he can do it."
The long exchange is an attempt to evaluate you, the short
reply is the outcome of that analysis. "The Japanese are very
concerned with what sort of person you are. How do you think?
Can you be trusted? All of that is part of the translation, which,
of course, you never hear. You receive a filtered-down ver-
sion. Actually, you get the subtext. They do a great deal of editori-
alizing. "
A point to remember when doing business in Japan, Cathy
points out, is that the Japanese never want to hurt your feelings.
In a business deal, things may look good to an American if he
or she is taken out and wined and dined. The American sees the
subtext as "The deal is going through." In fact, this wining and
dining can have just the opposite subtext.
"I ran my own consulting business in Japan," Cathy told me,
"and at one point a Japanese bank wanted to branch out. An
American attorney who had hired me hoped to convince these
bankers to retain him. After a long business meeting, the head
of the Japanese bank took us out for a very expensive lunch. My
client was sure that he was their man. Why else would they insist
on such a long and lavish lunch?
"As we left the restaurant, I thanked the banker, in Japanese,
and with a slight bow, he said, 'It's the least we can do.' I knew
it was his way of saying, 'No deal.''
One of the most important subtexts in Japan has to do with
age. Older people in Japan, unlike in America, are venerated
and treated with great respect. Cathy told me of a young "hotshot"