Japan - US Business News

A little sun and a bit of the rising sun

I have been in Florida on vacation/business for the past month so postings have been few and far between. Sorry about that. Now I am back to work. 

While in Florida, I met with a few Japan related business contacts and some new business opportunities are in the works for Burton Consulting International as well as a few new writers for Japan-US Business News. 

I also went to the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens --magnificent and beautiful. I met with James Mihori, who runs the Japan-America Society of South Florida, and he told me the fascinating history of how the Morikami came to be.

So if any of you get to Florida, please go visit, it is a beautiful place to relax and enjoy beauty that is truly unique to Japanese gardens. 

I will get back to business tomorrow...

Bringing Japanese Language Learning to New Audiences

Hills Learning, a language learning services company, was created to encourage and facilitate international communication in New York City. Bridging cultures and learning other languages is something that is becoming more and more necessary in an ever globalizing economy.

 Its founder and director, Jon Hills, personally experienced the importance of understanding other cultures by living in Japan for four years and traveling throughout Europe and Asia. 
 
His travels and experiences abroad motivated him to start a company that would help bring these experiences to New Yorkers. He also realized for the power the U.S. wields as the lone superpower, we have one of the lowest rates of passport ownership, a mere 25% of the population. Therefore not only does interest propel him forward but also the desire to develop our society into a more internationally minded culture. 

Business English-Keep it Fun!

Guest Contributor, Laura Jackson, with the key to keeping her Japanese students interested.

As an instructor of English as a Second Language for over two decades, I’ve experimented with just about every type of class structure possible and keep coming back to the same basic principle:  Keep it FUN!

What exactly is business English anyway? 

Aside from a few basic formalities, by and large it’s nothing more than good old-fashioned human relations.  The more relaxed and comfortable one feels in a business meeting, the more productive it will be and the better chance you have of everyone being on the same page.

So it’s really about getting more comfortable with everyday English.  Other than knowing the jargon for a particular field, memorizing a lot of ‘business’ phrases will most likely come off stiff and awkward.

I like to use word games in my lessons to help students loosen up and not worry so much about blowing it.  I also use interesting DVDs to make listening practice engaging and enjoyable.   But my hands down favorite is scanning that day’s newspaper and figuring out what the headlines mean. 

And last but not least we have idioms, idioms and more idioms.  Every day the English language veers further away from the textbook English we were all taught in school and moves closer to an idiomatic puzzle.   Can you pick out all the idioms I used in this essay?

The Learning Curve

Idioms used in this post. 

By and large – Generally Speaking.

Be on the same page – Having a common understanding of something OR being in agreement.

Come off – to produce a certain result OR appear to be.

Blow it – make a mistake OR fail.

Hands down – Easily OR without question (usually used as ‘hands down favorite’ or ‘hands down winner’).

Figure out –to solve a problem, puzzle or mystery.

Last but not least – mentioned last, but not the least important.

Stay tuned for more lessons. The Learning Curve will soon be launched as a new feature of Japan-US Business News. _______________________________________________________________________________________

Laura Jackson, English Instructor to many Japanese business men & PR Maven of Wasabi PR, a socially and environmentally conscious publicity company in New York City.

Language teaching that Inspires as well as Instructs

I was speaking with my sister a while back who is currently living and teaching in Japan. First it was me and then she went to Japan. It’s a family thing I guess, our love of that country.

Anyway, she was on the hunt for better English teaching materials for her classes. The text the school was using had its good points but was not very well liked by the students, nor the teachers. 

 This got me thinking. This has been the story in teaching English in Japan for a long time now. It was true when I was there and taught at schools like Nova (now defunct) and at a college and it seems to still be true.

English Language education in Japan is such a huge market yet most of the teaching material is unoriginal, boring, not very inspiring or user friendly.  Why are business men and  junior high school student using the same textbook?

"Kotoba no Mondai" no more

There is a term in Technology consulting that is used when bugs or glitches in a software program disrupts its function and we have to come up with a temporary solution until we can permanently fix the problem. We call it a "work around". Something that can be implemented quickly until a permanent solution can be created. This of course can apply to any field and of course life in general.

I was having lunch with some Japanese friends over the weekend and we were talking about what stops a lot of Japanese initiatives when it comes to the U.S. or when trying to promote Japan as tourist destination for Americans.

They mentioned "Kotoba no mondai" which essentially means language problem or language barrier.

Yes I said, I understand, I have heard it many a time in the course of my work. But should that be the end of it? Is that something that we should let stop us? I asked them to think of " Kotoba no mondai" as the starting point instead of a stopping point.

How, they asked? Well, I said, figure out where to go from that point and see what is possible. What 'work around' can be created? After all it is not just Japanese language that is a barrier to Americans. They still go to Europe in record number and encounter many different languages there. So why should Japan be different?

I threw out some basic ideas off the top of my head on how to get more American tourists into Japan. As I rattled these ideas off, I saw the light dawn in their eyes.

 It is often just a new way of looking at something that sparks a solution or "work around". They realized that if they didn't let "Kotoba no mondai" stop them, they could create a way around it.

Anime (ted) in America

On August 9, there will be dancing in the aisles of the Kinokuniya book store in NYC. Well sort of. But there will be pandemonium of sorts.

In keeping with the desires of a large portion of its clientele, the Manga and Anime loving bunch of  youngsters and oldersters (new word) alike, Kinokuniya  is hosting a meet and greet session with the premier Anime producer, Yuji Nunokawa.

Kinokuniya’s mission to open the doors wide on Japanese culture takes another step as it introduces this prolific creator and producer to fans in the U.S. Nunokawa-san will be talking about his 30 year career in anime production as well as showing clips from the popular Naruto, Bleach and Yu Yu Hakusho series.

  

Be a part of the fun. Pop into Kinokuniya Book Store, located at 1073 Avenue of the Americas (6th Avenue), near 41st Street in New York City this coming Saturday at 4pm.

Education is a Bubble that Never Bursts

The Japanese government is seeking to triple the number of foreign students in Japan by the year 2020.

As someone who started their Japanese business career as an exchange student at Kansai Gaikokugo Daigaku in Osaka, I applaud this initiative. I only ask that the government try to reach that number much quicker. The Japanese government needs to add a sense of urgency to this campaign.

When people think of Japan, they think of it being inaccessible, the language is too difficult, and that it is too different to name a few. 

A Journey to the Gardens of Japan

The following article is by Adrian Bennett,  a lover of Japanese Gardens. Although this is mainly a business blog, I have a Culture and Education category because sometimes in the midst of a stressful business day, it is nice to take a break and walk through a beautiful garden, literally or figuratively. 

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Little did I know that when I began volunteering a couple of days a week in the Japanese garden at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden that ten years later I would be publishing articles -- in Japan itself --  about gardens in Japan. And so, for the first time, an article with my photos about a lovely garden in Tokyo’s Taito Ward, appeared in this year’s May 30th and June 27th editions of The Japan Times.

The article is about Asakura Choso Kan, the former home of sculptor Fumio Asakura (1883 - 1964), often referred to as the “Rodin of Japan.” You can see his works for yourself in a large room in the house, which is open to the public. The three-story building combines Western and traditional Japanese designs, and entirely enclosed within is a lovely garden open to the sky with water welling up into it from an underground spring.

Saying Yes to Japan

Two years ago, I attended a presentation at the Japan Society in New York by Tim Clark whose book "Saying Yes to Japan: How Outsiders are Reviving a Trillion Dollar Services Market" (co-authored by Carl Kay), had just been published.

I had been receiving Tim's newsletter on entrepreneurship in Japan for a while and had been in contact with him. I listened to his presentation and immediately went out and bought his book. Finally, someone was writing about what I believed in and was building a business on - the changes taking place on different levels in Japanese businesses. These changes were being lead by the 'new thinkers' and entrepreneurs as well a some larger companies that were doing things differently and having great success. 

Large Japanese manufacturers have long dominated their markets, but in terms of Japanese consumer service providers, there was an absence of Japanese from the international market. Tim and Carl examined the history and future of Japan’s service sector in their book and offered innovative ways for outsiders to take advantage of the huge opportunities in the Japanese system.  They provided profiles of innovators from around the world who were using their “outsider” perspectives and some Japanese as well to successfully identify basic customer needs in areas such as real estate, finance, and health care that were not being met.

The Manga and Anime Revolution in America

Imagine this:  A new crop of students studiously engaged in Japanese Language Study. Japanese Language schools in the U.S. are experiencing a boom in business not seen in recent years. Students diligently applying what they learn in class in daily life. New Japan-US friendship clubs and associations popping up almost daily. Relationships are solidified based on common interests and cultural exchange.
What is the cause of this? A new Japan – US business program? A new foundation for cultural sharing between the two countries? No, not even close. Its Manga and Anime!