Hi, everyone. My name is Eric and I'll be your columnist. Starting a new writing project is always nerve-wracking, between writer's block and an overflow of ideas.But this time I got a jump-start from participation in the BBS, where BJ asked what difficulties I've run across in dealing with Japanese business people.
In my reply to BJ, I pointed out that one potential difficulty in communication lies in differing emphasis on content.Americans, in general, tend to value substance and results over form and process. Hence the expression "the ends justify the means."This typifies one way in which Japanese and Americans typically lie near opposite ends of the formal-informal continuum. Another example, which I focus on below, is the use of humor.
Japanese are often heard referring to a phenomenon called the "American Joke." Although it's unclear to me just what exactly this refers to, it is undeniable that Americans like to joke.We use humor and sarcasm, for example, to rib friends or establish rapport, to demonstrate we have control over a situation, and to help ourselves and others work through difficult times.Laughter is the best medicine, we say.
Not everyone shares this affinity for joking, and many Japanese may consider Americans' use of humor inappropriate at times. Here's a story I've heard that illustrates the point : An American pilot of a small passenger airplane got on the intercom after encountering some turbulence. "We seem to have hit a rough patch," he said."Why don't we all raise our hands in the air and pretend we're on a rollercoaster? "The Americans on board chuckled and found reassurance in the pilot's calm and relaxed demeanor. But to a pair of Japanese passengers it seemed as though the pilot had lost his mind. Why would he act so silly in a potentially dangerous situation?
Of course, Americans are capable of being serious when absolutely necessary. We just prefer to keep a light-hearted and friendly atmosphere, even at work.The phenomenon of coworkers playfully teasing or telling jokes around the water cooler is so common to have become cliche. And it is not unheard-of for employees to play good-natured pranks on each other, and even on their bosses.
I myself frequently engage in buffoonery and poker-faced irony, and my experience has been that irony, faced with a Japanese audience, tends to fall flat or even backfire. After three and a half years of marriage, my wife has finally learned to differentiate between well-intentioned irony and "fightin' words."But at work I am still occasionally asked, "Why do you say such mean things? "
Of course, maybe that's a joke too.