Welcome to my web page!
This is a website for Japanese business people, and it talks about “effective global communication without relying on your English skills”. Books, seminars, and tools used in my coaching sessions will be shared on this website. Useful advice and coaching sessions are available upon request.
Please note that most content will be in Japanese.
Why I started this web page
“Fake Japanese” – that’s what people call me in jest. I don’t mind; in fact, I like it. I agree to some extent. I was born and raised in Japan, and yet, it is, and always has been, difficult for me to understand the common sense that other Japanese people share. (And to top it off, I still can’t handle sushi!)
After college, I joined a major Japanese IT/electronics conglomerate. Thirteen years of sales experience at this Japanese company helped me gain a good understanding of Japanese business culture. I understand why Japanese business people act the way they do — unreasonable escalations and complaints, never-ending list of concerns about aesthetic issues, unpredictable bursts of furiousness after smiles . . . there’s a reason and logic behind all of it.
As an active business person bridging between Asia and the USA in everyday work, I came to notice these common Japanese pitfalls. It’s a pity, because it’s just a matter of slight different positions to be aware of. As I continued helping my friends and colleagues, I ended up helping other salespeople in other countries and companies too. I was soon convinced that it wasn’t a matter of language.
Also, as I helped the Japan team, there was a trend that I could not ignore. I realized that, the more competent and successful the person is in the domestic Japanese market, the harder it is for them to overcome and get used to “global communication.”
The truth is, it’s not about English; it’s about understanding the differences in how we communicate with one another.
But the good news is, when these competent, successful Japanese business people came to understand and leverage the “method” I developed, they started communicating amazingly well. It’s just a matter of approach. . . which led me to start sharing my method. This led to publishing a book, which led to giving seminars and offering coaching session . . . and now, here I am, creating my own web page and introducing myself to you.
The Blog Page
The blog page of this website shares English phrases that are useful. These phrases are useful ones in situations when Japanese people tend to hesitate or get confused about how to express themselves. These phrases may not always be “correct” English or “grammatically accurate” English. But, I work at an IT company with its headquarters outside Japan, and my team and the people we work with are a combination of both native and non-native English speakers, and we communicate and get things done. The blog page shares phrases I hear and use in my everyday life. The phrases intended to “get things done” rather than grammatical accuracy.
Most of the time, Japanese people tends to struggle with slight nuances that don’t really matter to others. Unfortunately, it does matter to Japanese people. My suggestion is, rather than trying to figure out the exact translation and its nuances, which will never be accurate anyway, use phrases that best meet the needs of the end result. If you want to communicate smoothly and effectively, start off by copying these phrases. This will give you a good start.
The characters, names, incidents, and locations portrayed on this website are fictitious or altered. Any similarity to or identification with the location, name, character, or history of any person, product, or entity is entirely coincidental and unintentional.