Blogs and Articles from Third Way Forum Membrs
Jun 16, 2022
Discussion#4 on Japan's infamous "Reading the Air" concept.
Blogs from The Third Way Working Group
- In every culture, reading the air is helpful for behaving according to the environment. A group of Japanese school-kids dressed in school-uniform is very common in Tokyo, but looks displaced in Vancouver.
- In international business, one should not expect that others read the air. In Japan, a team might understand the tasks to work on, even if the manager did not explicitly assign the tasks. In an International environment a manager cannot not expect to get the work done without explicit assignment. Reason is that every culture has some bias on the "unspoken", but the difference is significant between high-context and low-context cultures. International business should be done on the common ground of communication. While it is helpful to read the air of high context cultures, others might not care at all.
- The spoken language also changes the way to deal with the unspoken part. Japanese who have been exposed internationally are usually much more explicit when the conversation is done in English. Also, many foreigners are much less vocal when they switch to Japanese.
- Situations can be very uncomfortable for foreigners when they feel that there is something in the air, but they are unable to understand. Even when they try to read the air, they feel that something is going on here, but everybody is silent and no one helps to clarify the situation.
- Some foreigners intentionally refuse trying to read the air while working in Japan. This strategy is often tolerated by Japanese, in the sense of: he or she is a foreigner, we cannot expect they can read the air. As a consequence, Japanese go on distance, because from the Japanese standpoint it is cumbersome and stressful to state the obvious from the air.
- For the daily interaction in business it is helpful to have someone who knows both, western and Japanese culture. The individual then can bridge between both cultures. This could be for instance explaining the unspoken tasks and expectations from Japanese meetings in one direction, but also using reconfirmation or questions to nail down these expectations more directly. In any direction, mentors can help to narrow the gap.
- In international business, one should not expect that others read the air. In Japan, a team might understand the tasks to work on, even if the manager did not explicitly assign the tasks. In an International environment a manager cannot not expect to get the work done without explicit assignment. Reason is that every culture has some bias on the "unspoken", but the difference is significant between high-context and low-context cultures. International business should be done on the common ground of communication. While it is helpful to read the air of high context cultures, others might not care at all.
- The spoken language also changes the way to deal with the unspoken part. Japanese who have been exposed internationally are usually much more explicit when the conversation is done in English. Also, many foreigners are much less vocal when they switch to Japanese.
- Situations can be very uncomfortable for foreigners when they feel that there is something in the air, but they are unable to understand. Even when they try to read the air, they feel that something is going on here, but everybody is silent and no one helps to clarify the situation.
- Some foreigners intentionally refuse trying to read the air while working in Japan. This strategy is often tolerated by Japanese, in the sense of: he or she is a foreigner, we cannot expect they can read the air. As a consequence, Japanese go on distance, because from the Japanese standpoint it is cumbersome and stressful to state the obvious from the air.
- For the daily interaction in business it is helpful to have someone who knows both, western and Japanese culture. The individual then can bridge between both cultures. This could be for instance explaining the unspoken tasks and expectations from Japanese meetings in one direction, but also using reconfirmation or questions to nail down these expectations more directly. In any direction, mentors can help to narrow the gap.
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