After a callous remark from Tokyo’s governor, Shintaro Ishihara, we see a growing rift in Japanese cultural values that often does not bubble to the surface until, in this case, a destructive, powerful force of nature incites human nature to rationalize. Ishihara described the earthquake a “divine punishment” and said “We need to use the tsunami to wipe out egoism, which has attached itself like rust to the mentality of the Japanese people over a long period of time.”

The growth of individualism in Japan is something we’ve watched over the past decades, as technology and globalization have irreversibly influenced its youth. Exposure to a world of popular culture, greater opportunities to travel the world and more channels to pursue one’s interests have made the idea of being a unique individual, a hallmark of many Western cultures, a popular one among Japanese.

However, the individualistic tendencies of Japanese youth don’t look similar to what a Westerner is accustomed to seeing. Take cosplay for example, which is a kind of performance art popular in many parts of Japan where people dress in costume and congregate in a designated area of a city. The desire to emulate a fictional character that one connects with on a personal level is similar to the way one might idolize celebrities or other famous individuals, but cosplay is one unique, Japanese manifestation of the value.

Ian Buruma of the Wall Street Journal tells us the far right in Japan claim Japanese youth “have lost the old collective spirit of the obedient, disciplined Japanese, who supposedly always put the interests of the nation before their own.” However, the opposite has been true from what the media has shared about the greater reaction to disaster in Japan: a strongly collective effort to “remain calm and carry on” despite widespread physical and emotional misery.

Furthermore, many of us have noted the stoicism with which the Japanese have responded to the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster. The cerebral if not sublime expressions we see in photos of people in the affected regions tell a unique, cultural story of collective responsibility and attitudes towards expression. The Journal also reflects on this:

Foreign observers have remarked on the discipline and solidarity of Japanese in the face of their current circumstances…It comes from the social conformity that is imposed on all Japanese from an early age, as well as from the duty to take care of one’s own and the fear of causing trouble to strangers. But it is also the result of an awareness, instilled by centuries of living with disasters, that what comes down can be rebuilt.

Many non-Japanese have a hard time interpreting the typically inward expression of emotion, which applies to both positive and negative situations. Many interactions between Japanese are highly intuitive, and feelings are transmitted with only the slightest visible or audible expression. Homogeneous societies such as Japan’s tend to be extremely contextual, as nearly 100% of the population share a common history, lifestyle and upbringing, eliminating the need to communicate in explicit, direct or overt ways (to compare, think about the way one would communicate with a person on the street in New York City).

Rescuers and victims carry bags of food aid from a helicopter in Yamada, northern Japan

The Journal continues to trace a path to the root of where many in Japan derive their feelings towards calamitous acts of nature and how to overcome them, two very cultural topics.

The sense of danger from natural calamities has deep roots in Japanese culture. The country’s earliest native religion, Shinto…is composed of rituals to appease the forces of nature, which are held to be divine. Since nature can be angry as well as benevolent, these gods must be kept happy with offerings, ceremonies and sacrifices.

Although many buildings are no longer made of wood (which is too expensive and hard to maintain), Japanese cities still look a little jerry-built, rather like movie sets, as though in anticipation of impermanence…

Impermanence is also a central concept of Buddhism, embodied in the changing of the seasons, which are heavily marked in Japan by festivals and other holidays. A somewhat fatalistic attitude towards nature is embedded in the Japanese psyche.

How does the Japanese mentality relate to the mentality of people living near active volcanoes, for example, or tornado prone areas, where disaster is known to strike without warning?

Is this a chance for Japan to steel itself and emerge as an even stronger nation and economy?

We appreciate your comments and thoughts. Please leave them by clicking on the title of this post and then scrolling to the bottom to leave your thoughts in the comments field.

RW3 CultureWizard

“Hao Ge (pronounced How Guh) is perhaps China’s most unlikely pop star: he is Nigerian, and he sings in Mandarin,” goes the singer’s article in the New York Times.

Emmanuel Uweche is his real name, and he gained popularity through China’s version of the TV show “American Idol”. He sings many classic Chinese songs, but infuses them with R&B, soul and other genres, which may be the key to his success. Listen to him sing in the video below.

The article goes on to draw a connection to China’s growing ties to and investment in Africa:

Some music industry experts in China credit part of his fame to the close economic and cultural ties — including friendship and exchange programs and other joint ventures — that have long existed between China and some African countries.

‘This is not just about Hao Ge,’ said Long Hu, 38, a music producer and talent scout…’It’s about China and Africa.’

This is an intercultural success story through and through. Do you know of any other unlikely star’s who have successfully managed to adapt to a new culture while finding celebrity?

Sean

RW3 CultureWizard

A poignant article in the Los Angeles Times by Geetika Tandon Lizardi, an American of Indian descent who writes for Outsourced, highlights the fact that it is OK to laugh at the ethnically based jokes on NBC’s pilot.

“Outsourced was the hippest thing to happen to South Asians in the United States since Madonna discovered henna.”

The Cast of NBC's Outsourced

Despite popular support, Lizardi points out there were many people who found the show offensive and ignorant to cultural norms. She also notes most of the offended people were not Indian. “Perhaps they don’t realize that we have five South Asian writers on the show telling stories that often come straight from our personal experiences. Or perhaps they don’t believe Indians should make fun of themselves,” she says.

We were curious to learn more about the show and commented on the intercultural perspective writers took with Outsourced through our blog last year. At RW3, we unanimously died (read: enjoyed) laughing at the preview trailer. However, we also received online comments from individuals who did not appreciate the theme of the show:

Comment 1: I will not watch this show at all. I know a lot people who are right now unemployed due to outsourcing, and I can tell you, it is not a joke for them.

Comment 2: I too know people who have lost their jobs due to outsourcing, and I don’t see a lot of humor in it. And the trailer full of lowbrow ethnic stereotype jokes doesn’t make the show any more appealing. I don’t understand how shows like this make it past the focus groups…

The connection between unemployment in the US and outsourcing to India is a separate topic from the humor employed on the show. I wonder what Lizardi would have to say about the sore topic?

In response to those who dislike the comedy, this is what she says:

Those who only cite offensive stereotypes are missing the spirit of the show (or perhaps they’ve never actually watched it). What I love most about Outsourced is that the humor ultimately comes from a place of affection.

Outsourced has the potential to celebrate our cultural quirks, to build bridges between communities and perhaps, most important, to prove that there is a viable alternative to the ‘one brown face in a white ensemble’ model of ‘diversity.’

We couldn’t agree more.

Sean

RW3 CultureWizard

The impossible-to-imagine three-pronged catastrophe hitting Japan right now is almost too much to take in. Yet, we do try to take it in; to make sense of it, and in some ways we share this global disaster on a human level. I lived in Japan; I have always lived in earthquake country and I’ve witnessed powerful quake damage in Los Angeles and San Francisco several times. It is scary as your home moves around you and the ground underneath you has tantrums of varying degrees throughout the days that follow. Add a devastating tsunami and the post traumatic stress of shared recollections of radiation and it really is too much to conceive.

Yet, watching the televised images of Japanese reacting to the disaster reminds me again how different cultures are as they express their grief, fear and trauma. In an unprecedented event, Emperor Akihito gave a televised speech in which he comforted his people and applauded their ability to remain calm and respectful of each other.

Emperor Akihito's Speech

We are very interested in hearing your thoughts on what has happened and would especially value any accounts from individuals who have been in Japan or have heard stories from people in Japan. How would you react to the “keep calm and carry on” theme that many officials in Japan have exuded over the past few days? How is the stoic facade the Japanese have maintained connected to Japanese culture?

Click here to read a personal account of what’s happened from an intercultural consultant based in Tokyo, Japan.

Below are links to related articles:
Bangkok Post: “Stoic calm in the face of utter calamity“
Japan Times: A round-up of updates
Washington Post: “Emperor Akihito gives message of comfort in televised address“
Korea Herald: “Former ‘comfort women’ pray for Japan“

Harold and Lakshmi, our intercultural colleagues, continue their conversation. Click below and be prepared for a surprise. In case you missed it, click here to watch Episode 1.

 When you think about culture, think about us! 

An impressive display of forward-thinking youths in Alexandria garnered the Wall Street Journal’s attention earlier this month during the height of anti-Mubarak protests.

According to the article, “…Egyptian youths held hands last week to form a human cordon around the massive [library of Alexandria]…”

According to the library’s director, Ismail Serageldin, the Bibliotheca Alexandria, its formal Latin name, “has proved to be a key tool in ‘a battle for the hearts and minds’ of Egyptians, and whose programs served as a catalyst for the current civic unrest. ‘We’re spreading the values of democracy, freedom of expression, tolerance, diversity and pluralism that…are taking root in the young generation.’”

The library is a bastion of the values the Egyptian youth embodies, values towards which the country has made great progress over the past few weeks. It’s unique collection of material is described below:

Young people, scholars and gaping foreign tourists frequent the building to gain access to materials that are hard to come by in Arab countries. The collection, though far from complete, includes volumes critical of Islam, others dealing with gays and lesbians, and books that offer contrasting views on Zionism and Israeli affairs. Even the works of Salman Rushdie are available, though these are kept on closed stacks to prevent them from being destroyed by vandals, as are art-history volumes containing nudes.

Egypt’s population structure, where 52.3% are under the age of 25 (according to this interactive map from The Economist), and the relative influence of its youth is another important topic to note from a cultural point of view. Their exposure to the internet and the growing popularity of social media has connected Egyptian youth in a way previous generations could never connect. Virtual networks facilitate more open exchange of ideas, commiseration over politics and friendships with people all over the world have surely contributed to the surge of support that eventually led to an organized protestation.

Protesters at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina

The library, too had a role to play in this: “We taught a lot of these kids who are demonstrating how to use computers, how to use social media, and I’m glad to see it’s put to good use,” said Sohair Wastawy, a former chief librarian.

How else will the youth’s culture, vision and determination impact the trajectory of Egypt’s future? How is their world view changing Egyptian culture?

Sean

RW3 CultureWizard

In the Los Angeles Times, an enigmatic aspect of Korean culture is described:

For South Koreans han is as amorphous a notion as love or hate: intensely personal, yet carried around collectively, a national torch, a badge of suffering tempered by a sense of resiliency…Scholars have called it an all-encompassing sense of bitterness, a mixture of angst, endurance and a yearning for revenge that tests a person’s soul, a condition marked by deep sorrow and a sense of incompleteness that can have fatal consequences.

Adding to its obtuse nature, it is also described as “a sense of hope, an ability to silently endure hardship and suffering in a relatively small nation with a long history of being invaded by more powerful neighbors.”

As history forcibly shapes any culture, the indelible memory of wrongdoing and pain is something that trickles down to the individual level through the notion of han. We can begin to understand these invisible notions of culture when they manifest through behaviors and actions, but only if we know what we’re looking for. I often use the phrase “you don’t know what you don’t know” to illustrate the importance of learning culture when working in global environments.

We would love to hear about your thoughts on other idiosyncratic feelings central to a specific culture, especially those that are more easily understood viscerally than anything else. What comes to mind?

Sean

RW3 CultureWizard

The folllowing quote is from this New York Times article on the state of immigration in Japan:

Despite facing an imminent labor shortage as its population ages, Japan has done little to open itself up to immigration. In fact, the government is doing the opposite, actively protecting tiny interest groups, (like) a local nursing association, afraid that an influx of foreign nurses would lower industry salaries.

One of the most interesting things we do at RW3 CultureWizard (in addition to preparing people to perform in global business by familiarizing them with culture and business protocols around the world), is to make people aware of their own personal culture. It’s crucial to know how culture, unconsciously, influences the ways we act, which can cause conflict when interacting with people accustomed to a different set of cultural norms.

In light of cultural awareness, we can readily see how many of the decisions a country or even a corporation makes are often in conflict with their own best interests. As this article illuminates, so often the very things that are a country’s greatest strengths are also a significant liability. While a powerful cultural attachment to hierarchy in addition to family and group well-being might keep Japan’s crime rate, homelessness and drug use low, these cultural beliefs also create an insularity, resistance and resentment towards immigration – even at the expense of its citizens’ well being. As the article points out, this is causing Japan some major concerns as their population ages and the demand for healthcare workers grows exponentially. It’s a labor force that Japan can’t meet internally, yet the country still makes it inordinately difficult for foreign nurses and doctors to practice.

Without getting too political or polemical, can you think of other instances where a particular culture bias led a country or corporation to make a decision that seemed to immediately contradict its own best interest?

Adam

RW3 CultureWizard

Meet RW3 CultureWizard’s newest members, Harold and Lakshmi. Click below to learn about the “stuff” of culture, and don’t let cultural ignorance get you.

 When you think about culture, think about us! 

RW3 CultureWizard

Who would have thought that what started as a company newsletter would become, as Bidoun has called it, an “indispensable ‘intercultural resource’” for over 60 years? I first read about Saudi Aramco World in Bidoun, a magazine who’s goal is to highlight “art and culture from the Middle East,” another intercultural read with a sharp eye for design.

From the Saudi Aramco World website:

Saudi Aramco, the oil company born as an international enterprise 75 years ago, distributes Saudi Aramco World to increase cross-cultural understanding. The bimonthly magazine’s goal is to broaden knowledge of the cultures, history and geography of the Arab and Muslim worlds and their connections with the West.

With an unusually lengthy history for an international company in this part of the world (the first issue was published in 1949), it’s no wonder the first English-language cross-cultural publication in the Middle East is so rich in stories, photos and other pieces of cultural history unfound anywhere else. Click here to read a history of the magazine.

The magazine’s subjects are so wide-ranging, it would take a librarian to sort all of them out. Titles like High Fashion from the Arab World and Prominent Latin-American Arabs to 14 Centuries of Hospitality and The Hidden History of Scented Wood illustrate the multitudinous and diverse nature of topics.

What’s even more remarkable is their Digital Image Archive is replete (in the tens of thousands) with photos of places around the Arab and Muslim worlds ranging from the rare and idiosyncratic to the historic. Here are a few that caught my attention: the first was shot in Timbuktu, Mali and the second is an image of urban Cairo, Egypt.

Stephenie Hollyman/Saudi Aramco World/SAWDIA

Dick Doughty/Saudi Aramco World/SAWDIA

I’ll be posting links to SAW stories particularly relevant to the blog’s audience, but I’d encourage you to check it out yourself if you’re interested in the region. You can also order the publication for free on its website.

Sean

RW3 CultureWizard

New York Times economics columnist David Leonhardt wrote a massive (10,000 word) article titled “In China, Cultivating the Urge to Splurge”. Truth be told, it was a hard read that might strike all but the most devout China expert and enthusiast as a bit bloated. Nevertheless, the overall gist of the article was interesting – an examination of the difficulties that lay ahead for China as the country inevitably transforms from an industrial economy to a consumer economy. The problem being for China, that their capacity to produce goods now exceeds the world’s ability to consume those goods and that it’s time for China to consume more of the goods they themselves create in addition to foreign products.

For the rest of the world, the Chinese consumer is one of the best hopes for future economic growth. In the years ahead, when the United States, Europe and Japan will have no choice but to slow their spending and pay off their debts, China could pick up the slack. Millions of Americans — yes, millions — could end up with jobs that exist, at least in part, to design, make or sell goods and services to China. This possibility helps explain why Democrats, Republicans, economists, business consultants, corporate executives and labor leaders all devote so much time to urging China to consume more.

But there’s a cultural issue afoot: while young Chinese tend to be very tech savvy and spend a great deal of time on the internet, middle-aged and elderly Chinese believe strongly in saving money for large scale purchases, e.g. university education for children and home purchases, than on buying the latest gadget from Apple. In fact, as exemplified in a series of images I found just wonderful, many Chinese view some of the new super-consumer centers, like IKEA’s 460,000 square foot Beijing superstore, as destinations better suited for an interesting outing than actual shopping.

Shopping, or napping? Lars Tunbjork

For Chinese, a new way of consuming. Lars Tunbjork

So, savvy business traveler with ties to China, my question is: From your personal experience, how can non-Chinese companies develop products that will appeal to cultures so distinct and diverse? How do you motivate Chinese individuals to shop? What do you think about China’s likelihood of transforming from a production economy to a consumer one?

Your China Blog, which covers intercultural issues in China, posted on Chinese women’s expectations of dating, serious relationships and marriage.

Several young men in China told us that the girls they courted would, before even agreeing to a date, inquire about their means and intentions of purchasing a flat.

According to the blog, many young women agreed that this form of stability, directly connected to the purchase of an apartment or house, was a critical prerequisite to considering a relationship. Chinese culture is founded on a strong motivation to maintain harmony and stability, and housing is a key ingredient. Of course, there are a few responses that were unconventionally missing the expectation of a flat, alluding to a cultural shift as China emerges as the second largest economy in the world.

Conversely, the typical European response is that love, loyalty and a strong personal connection are the most important requirements for starting a relationship. According to the respondents, there are no financial commitments required. Of course, these values come from the resource rich environment in which European culture has evolved. Chinese culture has been informed by a more challenging environment, where housing is not taken for granted, thus leading to a discussion about the different trajectories of each region’s economic histories and their influence on culture.

Watch the video below from Your China Blog. What strikes you as uniquely cultural about the individual responses?

Grayson

RW3 CultureWizard

“…Is knowing English enough for companies that want to do business in India, or should global executives also start slogging away at Hindi…?”

This is a question posed by a few key individuals at The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. Click here to read an interview with Mauro Guillen and Shiv Khemka. Both are part of the Lauder Institute within Wharton, which is launching a Hindi language immersion program next year. It will send business school students to India to study the language for 2 months, while taking in all the cultural lessons one learns during life abroad.

Mauro Guillen, a Wharton professor, said the following in support of international experiences and cultural awareness:

…You really don’t even know your own country until you get to know another country. You don’t understand fully your own culture until you start digging into somebody else’s culture. That comparative perspective is very important. And the second thing I would emphasize is that language and learning a language is a window into so many other things — into the culture to be sure — but also into the politics and into the history and into the traditions and all of the things that you ought to respect. It is, in a way, a humbling act of acknowledging that somebody else may have a different view and I think this is incredibly important. It provides for a foundation of trust. And trust is everything in business.

Even though English is considered by many to be the official language of business, how important is Hindi (or perhaps another of the country’s 22 official languages) in your experience working in India? It’s important not to miss how much you learn about a country, it’s society and culture through language.

Sean

RW3 CultureWizard

November’s Training+Development (T+D) magazine focuses on instructional design and culture in an article called “Launching a Culture-Based Learning Product”. It highlights the instructional designer’s job to “know the culture of your learner” when building a human-centered learning product. To that end, it prescribes the collection of data, including “ethnicity, race, gender, learning styles, class, demographics, history, experiences, beliefs, values, norms, interests and ideologies.”

The task of knowing a culture takes more than collecting data, although it is a good point of departure. Visceral cross-cultural experience is another ingredient that should be added to this list, but of course it’s not accessible to everyone. CultureWizard is an online intercultural learning platform that addresses the task of building cultural awareness and knowing about the specific preferences and behaviors attributed to cultures around the world. Understanding learning styles can be gleaned from the interactive tools on CultureWizard, directly impacting the designer’s success in blending culture-based content into a learning product. According to the article,

Culture-based content provides for the needs of learners in both anthropological and psychological ways. This means that the learner’s ways of being and seeing the world, as well as psychological ways of being and seeing the world, are addressed in the design of the product.

How have you developed cultural knowledge? What is your favorite way to do this (for example, via books, the internet or travel)?

Joshua

RW3 CultureWizard

INSEAD recently started a new program for executives called “Managing Global Virtual Teams” and is focused on teaching managers how to manage distributed, global and virtual teams (there are many terms to refer to teams that are not co-located, or distributed across a number of locations physically distant from one another). Erin Meyer, director of the new program, wrote the following for Forbes:

In my own research, I’ve found that one of the most difficult tasks for leaders of global teams is to recognize that their styles of decision making may be deeply rooted in the cultures that they come from. Global teams therefore need very explicit descriptions of how decisions will be made, and the best global team leader is one who is willing to try out different kinds of decision-making processes at different points in a project.

RW3 CultureWizard’s survey report, The Challenges of Working in Virtual Teams, found that…

…Virtual teams need to establish specific work rules (i.e., rules for respectful interaction) that are assumed in co-located teams. They also need to pay greater attention to team structure than co-located teams do. In addition, virtual teams must carefully monitor and adhere to the work rules they have created. Finally, they need to be aware of the influence of culture on work styles and to develop procedures to assure intercultural effectiveness.

This mirrors what INSEAD research has found.

Cristina Escallon, another faculty member in our new Managing Global Virtual Teams program, teaches that leaders of virtual teams need to concentrate on creating a highly defined process where team members deliver specific results in a repeated sequence. Reliability, aka trust, is thus firmly established after two or three cycles. Because of that, face-to face meetings can be limited to once a year or so.

How much do we take for granted that management, communication and collaboration in a virtual environment works the same as it does when in traditional, co-located teams?

Charlene

RW3 CultureWizard