JAPANESE HOSPITALITY RECIPE

Hospitality, in general, is an effective way of expressing one’s own love and affection for the guests, be it personal or business… Hospitality, in its ethical essence, is emotionally everlasting and reaches far beyond other sentiments of humans. It is certainly not evaluated by the comforts of the stay that are provided for the guests or the quality of food or any other extravaganza that people usually try to hook on, to impress upon. But the real expression of hospitality is to make the guests to feel accepted as one among the host, to feel respected and safe throughout. Good hospitality is one the most important reasons why people remember few occasions of their life, so memorable.

Hospitality is in practice with its own prime significance since ancient times. All mythologies addressed and emphasized the importance of hospitality in every aspect and sincerely suggested that it wasn't wise for any kingdom to be inhospitable! Being inhospitable, historically invited invasions and brutal attacks on the violating dynasty. In Indian tradition, there is a strong belief that God would visit one's home in any form and at any time. So even any unexpected visitor is to be treated, as one would treat God, by welcoming the guests warmly and taking care of them.  

In the past few decades more emphasis has come about in business hospitality. Attitudes and attention to hospitality in business have changed significantly. With the aid of modern technologies, the hospitality expertise by itself has been greatly developed and improved to cover all aspects of modern business. Most of the successful business men and companies explore the latest strategies and emphasize the importance of hospitality in all aspects of their business. Ofcourse for certain businesses, ‘Hospitality is everything’.  For human individuals, hospitality is neither an obligation nor a duty but a way of engaging life and to be lived with.

My previous occupations in UAE happened to be with two large organizations, employing more than few thousands of personnel, belonging to about 40+ different countries. And my present one is equally demanding to have continual improvement of hosting varied business people of different industry verticals. This exposure has given me an interesting opportunity to learn and understand the diverse cultures and the corresponding business protocols, customs and etiquette. Some business colleagues still introduce me to other friends in the maritime industry as a specialist in successfully engaging Japanese guests and continue to call me as Mannan San [The Japanese way of addressing people]. The purpose of this blog is to register and share my personal experiences of invigorating business encounters with hundreds of Japanese professionals of globally renowned projects engineering, contracting and logistics business groups. I hope that this would create an awareness about specific areas of importance of hospitality to successfully hosting Japanese guests, visiting Dubai [or any other country] from overseas or when one is travelling to outside as a guest to Japanese clients.

> Being punctual on time is of foremost importance, to begin with. It is the most commonly known tenet, to be sincerely practiced when dealing with Japanese clients. Be prepared to receive your guest at the reception of your offices, possibly 10 minutes before commencement of your scheduled meeting time. There can never be an excuse for you, to be late, resulting in any sort of 'sorry' stories and you are half defeated by being so. 

> Present visiting cards with both hands. Make sure the name is facing the recipient with a clear sign of humbleness and tell your own name aloud when the guest tries to read it. Carry enough cards, more than that of the number of guests as you may be requested to share more than one card to each member of the team, during the course of the meeting. 

> Always address by the second name by adding a suffix 'San' - a respectful way of addressing Japanese ie Hamada San, Okada San, Yoshihashi San...It is not usually expected to combine Mr and San together as the latter is very honourable than any other.

> Carry a lot of patience during business conversations, adapt a meticulous slow pace and select simple expressions. Remember repeatedly that you are hosting a guest who is never going to draw a single Yen or a Dirham business for you, if your business proposals are not understood in full in all aspects. Your eloquent command in English becomes immaterial in business discussions here. Avoid prompting any terms or even a verb ( doing word ) if the guest is finding it difficult to choose the right one. There are as well many Japanese business people who are pretty fluent in English, which is ofcourse a super bonus for the host. 

> Avoid abbreviations, whatever, completely. If you continue to use any, your session would be politely interrupted by the senior most member of the visiting team to clarify and explain the meaning for such abbreviations. You could be lucky, if you actually remember...

> If you are visiting your [Japanese] client offices and if the host gets into the office, shoeless, do the same. You may be offered  a pair of sponge padded slippers, to use within the office. There are many Japanese offices at Dubai having this practice. Remember to place the shoes neatly in the allocated place.

> If you are scheduled to give a technical presentation, completely customize the existing one and use simple worded statements supported with relevant pictures [showing handling procedures, etc] as much as possible. Keeping an array of pictures and other supporting documents handy, might be helpful.

> Get yourself prepared to talk about any portion of the contract terms or even a single term that you have used in your presentation / business proposal. There can never be a room for usage of an inappropriate word, under the pretext of common industry practice. It is not unusual to have a detailed discussion, running into hours, on a single word or sentence that is used in the proposal and you are expected to give complete clarity on this, failing which you would be risking to lose your authority on the topic. Nothing can be given for granted, irrespective of your own or your company’s past experience. 

> During the discussions, if you are asked to comment about the possibility of completing of any component of the scope of job [equipment arrangements, handling, delivery at project site, traffic permissions whatsoever] avoid responding by saying “NO PROBLEM”, though you are very much habituated to say so. For Japanese clients ‘No Problem’ means, there is a real problem.

> If you want to have an answer for your business proposal, you have to ask only to the senior most member of the team in their ranking [not by age]. Asking other members, even though you know him better than others, would be misconstrued in different way and is an insult to the team leader, so this embarrassment has to be avoided.

> For Japanese business community, whether it is a long business day of marathon technical discussions followed with late evening dinner or an early morning project inspection visit in the following day, every minute is counted for business. You are expected to be alert and active throughout the session, even it runs for several consecutive hours. Your business sessions are most likely to get stretched beyond the office working hours and even after you have witnessed all your colleagues, leaving the offices and it becomes empty, maintain the tempo as if you have just started the session. Any act of relaxation might be taken as a sign of losing your seriousness for the business.

> Remember to say the Japanese word ‘Arr-i-gah-dhoe’ (Big Thank You) whenever you are appreciated by the visiting team for any of your work, assistance rendered and or performance. It really makes wonders and brings you to a more comfortable platform for serious business discussions. Avoid friendly gestures during business sessions.

> When the time comes to say ‘Bye’, though shaking hands is commonly accepted, you can certainly leave a strong good impression with a traditional Japanese ‘Bow from the Waist’. As per Japanese tradition, if you are greeting a person who is in higher status or older than you, it is you to bow deeper and longer, showing your respect. The proper form is to bring yourself to ‘Attention’ position with straight hands at the sides towards the knee, stiff back and neck, bow from your waist, with eyes averted from the guest. There are several types of bows in Japanese culture, the Respect Bow [Keirei] expects you to bow with 30 to 45 degrees angle. Imitating the guests and counter-bowing in the same respectful way could be a good option to get trained. In reality, the angle of your bow of respect for your Japanese business client, might probably be determined by the size of your tummy…!!!