Walter: There are many Shinto shrines and Buddhist Temples in Japan even in the heart of Tokyo. Kyoto and neighboring Nara have some of the largest and most beautiful. On a recent trip to Kyoto it seemed to us that the temples and shrines populated every neighborhood. Kenji has become fond of what he started to call “Buddha houses” and often asked me to see “boo-dah.” The problem is shrines don’t have any Buddha so I inaccurately referred to the statues in these places as “Buddha’s brothers” and Kenji once said, mimicking a Dr. Seuss story, “that one’s Boo-dah’s other brother (OK, if you know the book, it’s a little funny)” But, that’s not what this story is about….
It’s customary before entering a shrine to first wash your hands by pouring water from bamboo ladles at a washing station designed for this purpose. Don’t do this over the water basin, but over the trough around the basin. You can optionally pour some water into a cupped hand and rinse your mouth. Now you are adequately cleansed for the next step. At the entrance to the shrine, there is a donation box with a number of long slats at the top. Throw a coin in and then immediately clap your hands together twice at about chest level followed by a bow. You are clapping to “the gods” while the gods are answering your back with an echo. There is always a clap and then a response.
I’m told that this clap and response is mirrored in business dealings. Whenever you call or email to someone, a fast response is expected. Clap, echo. If I get an email with a request, I will at least respond with “Thank you for your request. I need some more time to look into the details. I will get back to you on Friday.” This is good business practice anywhere, but it’s especially important in Japan to respond quickly.
My first few days on the job in Tokyo were fairly quiet so I did email for 8-10 hours a day and felt like I was getting carpel tunnel. I sent an email to the IT guy who I had met in person the day before and asked him if I could get a monitor, full-sized keyboard and mouse to plug into my laptop. In Japanese business situations, you might not get a response from a person that you’ve never met face-to-face with before since they really don’t understand who you are or where you fit in the hierarchy and don’t feel any personal connection to you.
But I had met the guy, so email should have been fine. No response. Clap, no echo. The cultural notes from my Pimsleur’s Japanese lessons (highly recommended) reminds me: “A long delay in responding may be another form of refusal. In Japan, unless you are speaking with someone you know very well and a mutual trust exists, you will rarely hear a straight answer given to a difficult question, especially when the answer involves some kind of refusal.” So, there may be a thousand reasons why this guy didn’t respond, but today it remains a cultural mystery. It’s probably something to do with proper channels, approval, or his confusion about my status. Same thing when I asked HR about my cell phone plan. The email was ignored, but the HR person came to talk to the admin in my area who then relayed the message to me.
So, my advice to those who might find themselves in business situations here is you need to be responsive, but don’t expect others to be. No response could mean anything, so you need to be patient and try more than one person to communicate with and decode what is going on. And when you’re done doing business, check out a temple or shrines and relax. Listen carefully for the echo.
P.S – I got my docking station, monitor, keyboard and mouse on November 7, eight weeks after my arrival. I think I hear clapping. The problem had to do with proper channels and the inability of this guy to do anything without his boss’ approval. But as it was put to me by a Japanese co-worker: “…it is his problem; at least he could have tried.”
The views expressed herein are solely those of the author.
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