Heading West : Author Explains Cultural Gap, Gaffes

HUNTINGTON BEACH —  From as few as 10,000 in the late ‘70s to 600,000 today, the number of Americans working for Japanese companies has mushroomed. Indeed, by the turn of the century, a million Americans are expected to be working for U.S. subsidiaries of Japanese companies.

Two new books by Orange County authors--”Yankee Samurai: American Managers Speak Out About What It’s Like to Work for Japanese Companies in the U.S.” by Dennis Laurie of Fullerton, and “How to Work for a Japanese Boss,” by Jina Bacarr of Huntington Beach--provide insight into Japanese management methods and the cultural differences between the two nations.

Their timing couldn’t be better.

Twenty-five percent of new manufacturing jobs in the United States during the last three years have been with Japanese firms, according to Laurie. And Japanese firms in general in the United States have been growing at a faster rate than corresponding American companies.

“The role of Japan is going to be enormous,” predicts Laurie, who puts a new spin on the mid-19th-Century suggestion to “go West, young man.”

“Today,” he says, “I think the same counsel holds, except now that counsel reads, ‘Go West, young man and young woman.’ And going West means standing at the shores of the Pacific and looking at the setting sun to Japan.”

Jina Bacarr, who used her knowledge of the Japanese to write her first novel about the Japanese take-over of a Hollywood studio, has once again tapped her expertise to write her first nonfiction book.

“How to Work for a Japanese Boss” (Birch Lane Press; $18.95) reveals the inner workings of Japanese companies and culture. Called “anecdotal and entertaining” by Working Woman magazine, the book is filled with case histories that illustrate pitfalls that come from cultural misunderstandings.

An American businesswoman, for example, may think a Japanese executive is checking out her bust line when, in fact, eye contact is considered disrespectful in Japan.

An American businessman who is used to pounding on the table and demanding his way in a meeting will be met by stony silence from the Japanese, who consider any sign of emotion a form of weakness. That’s not to mention that it would disrupt the group’s harmony, or wa.

“The whole concept of Japanese business,” says Bacarr, “is based on the harmony of the group working together.”

Bacarr says the idea for the book grew out of people approaching her at book signings for her 1990 Hollywood novel “Avenue of the Stars.”

“I found myself besieged with questions: ‘Are the Japanese going to take over?’ ‘Do they really do that?’ ” said the author, who speaks Japanese and is a longtime student of Japanese culture.

Around the same time, Bacarr said, she attended business seminars with the Japan External Trade Organization, where she was surprised to learn that a million Americans are expected to be working for Japanese companies by the end of the decade.

“I realized there was just a really big market out there for people who wanted to work for the Japanese,” said Bacarr, who wrote scripts for animated cartoons in the ‘80s and served as a studio liaison between Hollywood and Japan where most of the animation was done. She also appeared in commercials for the Japan Mutual Food Co. (“I was the tofu lady.”)

Bacarr said the purpose of her book is “to present an honest portrayal of the Japanese because you can’t talk about Japanese business without talking about their character. Their business is based on the way society has been constructed for hundreds of years.”

And, she said, the Japanese are “different from us in so many ways, from their wedding ceremonies to their educational system to just their whole work ethic.”

A review in Publishers Weekly describes “How to Work for a Japanese Boss” as “a compendium of practical advice sandwiched between easy bytes of relevant Japanese history, customs, psychology, sex and office manners.”

Not surprising to Bacarr, the chapter on “Sex and the Japanese Salaryman” has received the most media attention. Indeed, the chapter, which includes mention of Japan’s 20,000 “love hotels” where Japanese businessmen may spend their lunch hours, was excerpted in the October issue of Cosmopolitan magazine and has been the focus of numerous radio interviews.

As Bacarr points out in her book, “the Japanese believe we all have two coexisting souls. One is spiritual, timeless and uplifting--this is the soul that works long, arduous hours and puts one’s company and family obligations first. The other soul is earthbound and pleasure-seeking. The Japanese do not believe the pleasures of the flesh are evil.”

And not knowing this about the Japanese can lead to potentially embarrassing situations.

In her book, Bacarr tells the story of the happily married American business man whose Japanese partner took him to a “soapland” establishment where prostitutes ply their trade in a small pool or shower area.

“He told me, ‘I was so embarrassed I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to go in,’ ” said Bacarr. “But the Japanese took all the businessmen to a soapland and felt they were giving him a great honor by going there.”

Bacarr’s book also addresses the role of women in Japan.

Unlike in the United States, she said, “Japanese society is not based on couples. The Japanese society is based on the idea that the man goes to work and works in a corporation. That’s his territory, whereas the wife’s territory is at home, and that’s basically where they stay, at least up until now.”

A Japanese businessman, she said, would never invite a business associate home to dinner. “They would take him to a hostess bar and literally rent a couple of hostesses and show the guy a good time.”

Bacarr said that according to the Japanese Department of Labor Ministry, women make up about 38% of the work force but only 1.4% hold middle-management positions and fewer than 1% are in top management.

Change, Bacarr said, has only started to come within the last 10 to 15 years.

“It’s just a society that’s not set up for women executives yet,” she said. “In fact, the Japanese didn’t even have a word for sexual harassment until a few years ago.”

Bacarr said, however, that women’s opportunities with Japanese companies in the United States “are better than they’ve ever been because the Japanese have come to terms with the idea that they have to change, and they have appointed several women in high-powered positions.”

In her book, Bacarr offers seven strategies for success in working for a Japanese boss. Here are her top three tips:

* Understand personal relationships: “Everything is built upon personal relationships. For example, many times Americans want to get the job done right away, but the Japanese will take their time because they want to get to know you.”

* The boss must not lose face: “That simply means that if your boss makes a mistake you would never criticize him. Everything is done so no one loses face, which frustrates most Americans. Make sure you always think of the other person’s feeling first.”

* Do not try to become Japanese: “You’ll never be Japanese. The very reason they hire you in the first place is because of your individualism, creativity and your ability to bring something new to the company.”

At the same time, she said, “the willingness to understand and study the Japanese sets you apart from other Americans. It’s not an easy road but is a road full of rewards for anyone willing to take it.”