Back in 2018, I was interviewed as the manager of Mai Obuchi, who was being interviewed for a Japanese Arts & Culture Magazine, Cinra.net. It was one of my first professional interviews, and there are photos! I'm copying/pasting the content for personal posterity, as well as the images.
Writers and editors living in Europe will tell you about the "work style" and "creative know-how" of Japanese and local creators living in each city. Their values and work skills about working different from Japanese people may be the inspirational source of your work!?
The Netherlands is said to be home to immigrants from more than two hundred countries around the world. As if to embody this, Booking.com, which operates Booking.com, an online travel booking site headquartered in the country, is home to more than 140s (more than a hundred in the Netherlands headquarters alone) from over one hundred and forty nationalities.
In the old days, the Netherlands, which had a special relationship with Japan as the only trading partner, became a hot topic in Japan as a country where Japanese people can work freely without a work permit (work visa) and have a low hurdle as a destination for overseas migration.
We asked Mai Kobuchi, who works at the booking.com headquarters in the Netherlands, which is rich in such diversity, about what she felt while working at a multinational company and the "strengths and weaknesses of the Japanese people" that she has seen from it.
Egalitarian, "ultra-flat organization" from the Netherlands
The Netherlands has a small domestic market, so we have been actively interacting with foreign countries for a long time. In order to understand the other person, "dialogue" is always valued, whether it is the relationship between subordinates and bosses.
It was about a year ago that Kobuchi moved to the Netherlands to work as a user experience copywriter at the headquarters of Booking.com in Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands.
She originally worked in the Japan office of Booking.com. Since she had been interested in working overseas for a long time, she volunteered to transfer the book when the position of the Dutch headquarters was vacant. It was clear that they had to move to the Netherlands.
She said she felt "culture shock" already felt from the time she started working at the Japan office at Booking.com. Especially the relationship between bosses and their employees.
“Before I joined Booking.com, I worked for an IT company in Japan, but even though I was on the same floor as my direct supervisor, I rarely had the opportunity to have a direct conversation. The unspoken rule is to talk through the team leader of the superior. Even if we talked about it, the team leader could even stop the information depending on the content.
However, after changing jobs in the Japan office of Booking.com, the opposite is true. The manager, who is usually in Shanghai, visited Japan only once or twice in a period, but each time he had time to talk with employees one-on-one, he tried to understand our opinions."
Shocking, can you tell your boss about this?
When she was in the Japan office, Kobuchi was involved in translating the user interface of the user interface for domestic partner companies and users. All of the team members are Japanese. After moving to the head office in the Netherlands, she was further shocked by the culture.
"From the customs of Japanese companies, when I consulted with my boss, I self-filtered in advance and thought about what I should talk about and what I should not talk about. But when I came to the Netherlands and looked at my colleagues from various countries, I realized that it was not normal.
For example, someone else said to your boss, “I totally disagree with you.” I’ve heard what you’re saying. To be honest, at first I thought, "Well, is it okay to say that to your boss?" And I was stunned.”
Jonathan Stephens, a native of the United States, Kobuchi’s boss, said of this “disrespectful lecture”.
"I also moved to the Netherlands when I joined Booking.com, but at first I was a little surprised by the direct communication in the Netherlands. But after a while, I realized that there were so many people with different cultures and backgrounds, so I had to change the way I communicate.”
Even in the United States, where diverse races gather, it is certain that people born and raised in the United States read the air just like Japanese people, saying, "I will convey it without saying so far."
However, Stephens, who realized the difference, said that he abandoned his assumptions and learned the importance of understanding the other person through dialogue.
The characteristics of foreigners and Japanese "high-context"
It is not conveyed unless you say it. However, it is often said that Japanese people are often said that they are not good at expressing themselves. When he first started working in the Netherlands, he had a hard time expressing his opinion.
If you need support from your boss or co-workers in your day-to-day work, you have to tell them that you need this. They don’t say anything – they’re treated as “no problem.”
When you receive a instruction, just ask yourself, “Yes, yes,” and you may say, “I think that’s really good.” Even the degree of acceptance can be confirmed. It’s an environment where you can always hear your opinion.
On the other hand, if you speak up properly, colleagues will stop helping you even in the middle of the work, and sometimes get involved and help others.
Stephens said that he has had Japanese subordinates in the past besides Ms. Kobuchi. He also spoke about the Japanese communication style as follows:
"I can't generalize, but when a Japanese staff member says something, I often feel that it is a 'high-context', I am often wondering whether I can actually receive the words as they are written, and I sometimes feel that I have to read the context. I try to read the air about what the person is meant to do while observing how they communicate and how they talk.
On the other hand, many countries, such as the Netherlands, are "low-context" compared to Japan. In particular, in a multinational company like Booking.com, there is no fixed definition of how you approach your work, how you communicate, or what a professional is. That's why we have to abandon each other's assumptions and walk away."
The strength of the Japanese from the point of view of foreigners "ability to overcome" and "the power to measure"
What are the strengths of the Japanese? When I asked Stephens in the preface from his perspective as a boss, he first gave me the ability to overcome it.
Ms. Kobuchi also agreed with this. In the current workplace, even if the major direction of the project is decided, the management of the deadline is poor, and it is difficult to disassemble the tasks and check the progress regularly.
In addition, Stephens also appreciates the power of the Japanese staff in terms of "inferring the feelings of others".
“For example, if someone is irritated by the words I used during a meeting, they often don’t notice much. Even at that time, the Japanese staff noticed it and told me later, “I don’t think that way of saying it was very good,” so I can deepen my understanding of the team members from there.”
The Japanese are good at "nemawashi" may be utilized
According to Ms. Kobuchi, there are sometimes scenes where Japanese-style "nemawashi" is effective.
The Software Development department, to which she belongs, manages the systems used by hotels around the world, which are partner companies for Booking.com.
The team members are in charge of copywriting in each country, and when a project occurs, they have to ask for cooperation not only within the team but also from other departments in charge of the infrastructure part.
"At the beginning of the project, even if I thought that this department and that department alone would solve the problem, if I proceed with the project, I actually have another department involved. If that is the case, just talk to someone who seems to be involved even a little in advance, and then the work will go smoothly. I felt that it was important to have a stance that tried to involve the people around from the beginning, such as nemawashi. "
“Go into your town and follow your town.”
In this way, Ms. Kobuchi feels that the Japanese way of communication is sometimes utilized overseas.
“The Europeans around them may also assert their opinions on the other person’s story, and they may not be able to collect arguments. I used to be overwhelmed by that confident figure, but gradually I began to think that it was not enough.
In Japan, when someone is talking, it is not often to interrupt and express your opinion. Of course, it is important to make the discussion better by expressing your own opinion, but I feel uncomfortable with the idea of overlapping and appealing yourself. Let's listen to the story of the other party to the end properly (laughs). "
I realized this because in the first year, Ms. Kobuchi tried to forget the way she had done it and her own "idealities" in his work.
“For the past year, I’ve been learning how to do the Netherlands and Booking.com with the feeling of ‘go in and follow your hometown.’ However, there are things that do not fit my style, and to be honest, I think that this method is inefficient. I hope to be able to use what I learned in Japan in the future and bring out my own color."
When you go into the city, follow the “beyond.” The strength of the Japanese people will continue to be utilized by multinational teamwork in the future.
By Oka Tokuyuki
Original Link: job.cinra.net/article/creator-euro/9-obuchi