Evaluating Intercultural Behaviour

Anthropology (culture, religion, etc) is a fascinating field in social sciences. Intercultural competence is the ability of successful communication with people of other cultures. Without looking beyond Singapore, NUS itself is a place full of culture and thus, fostering intercultural communication is important. Customs and etiquette in Japan are considered very important and the Japanese have high expectations of social behaviour.

Bowing

Bowing is deemed tremendously important in Japan, so much so that, children normally start learning how to bow from a young age; firms provide training for their employees on how to bow properly. Generally, the longer and deeper the bow, the stronger the emotion and the respect expressed.

When meeting with the non-Japanese, most Japanese will shake hands. As many non-Japanese are familiar with this custom of bowing, this usually leads to a combined bow and handshake. When bowing in close proximity, it is necessary when combining bowing and shaking hands, they turn slightly to one side to avoid bumping heads.

It is a way Japanese show respect to others who are older or of higher social status. If the non-Japanese are not comfortable with this practice of bowing, I believe the Japanese would just bow slightly when shaking hands.

Working and service ethics

Japanese generally arrive early and are ready to commence working as soon as work hours begin. They also commend other workers for support, even when they have been of little aid in succeeding. When leaving work, the greeting otsukaresama deshita (You're tired) is often used to those leaving, and the person who is leaving often says osaki ni shitsurei shimasu (I'm sorry to leave before you). For many workers, it is considered discourteous to leave before the boss goes home.

Generally, service employees will rarely engage in casual conversation with a customer with the intention of forming a closer as sometimes occurs in Western cultures. The service employees are expected to uphold a more formal, professional relationship with every customer. Private conversations among service staff are considered inappropriate when a customer is present.