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The Japanese Have a Word for It: The Complete Guide to Japanese Thought and Culture Editorial Review:
This is an ideal introduction to Japanese th ought and culture and a practical guide, both for anticipati ng Japanese behaviour and avoiding cultural faux pas. The co mpanion will interest tourists, students and business travel lers to Japan. '
Customer Reviews:
Good book, slow read, very educational on Japanese culture
This book has been by my nightstand for almost 2 years now. I read a little bit each time. I am very interested in Japanese culture and if that is where your interest lies, culture and history of this rich unique country, then you will enjoy this book. Each phrase and expression is analyzed and broken down into its very roots as well as the current usage. I like what I have read so far, but hardly see myself finishing it any day soon :)!
Great Guide into Japanes Culture
This is a great book, comparable to a mini encyclopedia. What it does is take many important aspects of Japanese culture and it compresses it into a brief and enjoyable format. Very entertaining but also very informative and you really get insight into why and how the Japanese act, feel, behave, and how it all came about. If you are wanting to learn about the culture in general, get this. It also has many good tips for when you conduct business with Japanese business owners and that their aesthetic sense overrides outlines and rational on a first meeting.
Very informative.
If you ever wondered why the Japanese are so polite, or why they escort you out the door till you are gone; then you will enjoy the explanations in this book. It has in depth explanations to every little Japanese saying, and why they believe that. After reading this I had a better understanding of there culture.
I regularly visit a Japanese home, and never understood why they did this or that. Or why they insist on doing something. Making oneself feel ackward, but after reading this book I felt relief and more comfortable around them. If you are around Japanese people, or planning to, this is a must read.
Explains every situation I come up against
I bought this book last year in preparation for coming to Japan and enjoyed it greatly. Then, on arrival, I continued reading it and found it helpful in avoiding many of the pitfalls one experiences when trying to do business in Japan. Now, 10 months on, reading it again, the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. It's as if the author has been following me around and written about my daily experiences here. I have many books about Japan and the Japanese Way, but none express so succinctly or directly the day-to-day experience of working in a Japanese context. You must read this book if you are working or doing business in Japan.
Dense but impressive
The Japanese have a much more complex, almost religious, relationship with their own language than speakers of European languages, and they tend to believe that no non-Japanese can learn it. (The fact that some do tends to upset them, as being out of the natural order.) There are many words and phrases in Japanese that encapsulate attitudes and built-in beliefs and the author selects 230 for investigation and explanation, relating them to attitudes and actions by Japanese-speakers and explaining how English-speakers can best deal with the situations they relate to. This includes numerous aspects of the Japanese dependence on form and formality, cultural control and conformity, group-think as opposed to individuality, group responsibility and social guaranty, reverence toward government, and other parts of the Japanese psyche that are difficult for foreigners to understand. In most cases, he also discusses the applications of a concept to business negotiations, but the possibility of the reader becoming enlightened about all things Japanese is much wider than that. This is a book you should take notes on.
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