Japanese organizational culture and my mishap with Colin Powell

I can imagine how baffling cultural norms can be in Japan if you a new to this environment. Returning to Japan and re-assimilating has had its hiccups for me, too.

Having been brought up in different linguistic cultures and in vastly different organizational cultures, I am generally pretty confident about my code-switching skills. Maybe they were fine-tuned through awkward moments over three decades of professional life.

One pronounced example was when I made the switch from an American bureaucracy to a Japanese one.

Handling Bureaucracies, Kasumigaseki-style

Upon entering the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a mid-career official, I already had a decade worth of professional experience, half of which was at the US Embassy in Tokyo, interacting with Japanese officials and politicians. I felt pretty good about my ability to engage with Japanese policy makers. I came back to Tokyo from a year in D.C. , with a orofessional degree under my belt.

This time was going to be different from when I returned to Japan to a public elementary school, hitting all possible pre-adolescent inter-cultural bumps, or going through reentry-shock on the university campus.

On my first day at the Ministry, I was brought to my desk at the assigned division. No training, no orientation, but straight to work.

My new boss called me into a private meeting room that was really a storage and a locker room.

The unkept space with tables and chairs in the back, served for all sensitive and personal meetings with the boss. Unlike at the US Embassy in Akasaka, private space for the management was very limited in Kasumigaseki.

A pep-talk by the Director himself to a newly-assigned is a rarity in itself, which I now know. He was the director of the prestigious division in a powerful bureau. A Fletcher-educated, competent and kind boss, he went on to become the Vice Minister and later the National Security Council Chief,

The Director told me that he asked for the best and that was why I was assigned. His pep-talk consisted of some confidence building and a  reminder to not try to rush into things, to take my time to learn and to observe.
“Every MOFA official will struggle and slow down in the first months at this division,” he said. I did not know the weight of his comments, then.

When he finished, my thought was to reciprocate his kind gesture and to express my gratitude. Staying quiet meant that I did not feel up to the task, lacked confidence, or that I was simply an unresponsive person.

I delivered my monologue.

When I raised my eyes, my new boss was round-eyed and dumb-founded.

I quickly realized the error and the cultural mishap, a minute too late. At least I did not lock eyes with him when speaking in Japanese, but the style of response was distinctly American, and not cultural-linguistically Japanese.

Being conscious of what to say when and where

As global and international the Ministry is, in a hierarchical organizational culture like in a bureaucracy, the subordinate is to say very little when addressed by a superior in a formal setting (note: formal setting).
One needs to be conscious of the time and place to deliver, which I had previously learned in meeting rooms, the hallway, and my boss's office at the U.S. Embassy. My immediate past year as a graduate student dulled my calibration.

Noticing my mishap, I quickly ended with a bow and a "dozo yoroshiku onegaishimasu" - the golden phrase upped only by "dozo yoroshiku goshido onegai shimasu."

Oops.

This was twenty years ago, and I recall that I had actually committed a similar blunder while working at the US Embassy earlier.

In 2002, I was Secretary Colin Powell 's interpreter at Prime Minister Koizumi's Reception. He was the Secretary of State, and I a local staff at the U.S. Embassy. When the Secretary reached out his right hand and said "how are you, Audrey" I was awe-struck. (my harder to pronounce actual Japanese name, not my "note" name Audrey)

As we started wandering the hall at the Prime Minister's residence, Secretary Powell asked:
"How long have you been in Tokyo, Audrey?".

I was both in heaven and in panic, speaking to the one and only Colin Powell.

"Well, s..sir. I, I am Japanese. I am a local staff," I near stuttered.

Secretary Powell seemed irritated by my non-response and the conversation rhythms fell out of sync.

I forgot that the General speaks to countless soldiers and officers this way, and that I should follow a script. A conversation in a real sense is not being asked for, but a scripted dialogue, I mean, who would go off script with the Emperor at the Enyu-kai, the Imperial Garden Party?

Oops.

Knowing the etiquette or situational cues

I think that to an extent, you live and you learn. But if one paid attention to the right cues and knew what to say, or if I had known the etiquette of hierarchical communication, I may have been spared these awkward moments.

My new friend and cross-cultural communications expert Maya Matsuoka has a podcast that addresses these things.
If you are looking for quick practical advice, go all the way to the 30 minute-mark to find tips on real-life examples in miscommunication.

You will find typical Japanese business phrases that can upset your non-Japanese boss. If you are the non-Japanese boss, you will know how to diffuse that initial anger and get to the root of things to produce results.

If you are want to produce results in a multicultural environment, I can also assist through tailored one-on-one sessions or localization.
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