RECOMMENDED READING
		There is a blizzard of books on doing business in Japan. At last count there were 125 titles on Amazon.com. Unfortunately, very few are worth the money they are charging, and most of those are written with large corporations in mind. How do you find the right books? We have added a shortlilst of our favorites: useful and worth the money. Read on. You can click on the review to read more, or click on the buy button to go to Amazon.com and buy the book (if you wish).
		*****   Order from Amazon Business Japan : A Practical Guide to Understanding Japanese Business Culture by Peggy Kenna, Sondra Lacy 500 This tiny book (paperback - 55 pages!) is one of the best presentations of the crucial cultural differences between Japanese and American business cultures. Its size is perfect for two purposes: slipping into your hip-pocket for quick referencewhile on the road (I can imagine its user excusing himself from a business meeting for a quick reference to the booklet in the bathroom stall: "he closed his eyes and smiled while listening to me! what does it mean?") and for rote memorization. In fact, memorizing its central chapters (Understanding Japanese Culture, Japanese Business Etiquette, and Japanese Gestures) is probably its best single use. The weakness of the book lies in its brevity: its ratio of meaning to words is very high and there are no illustrations or examples at all, making it very likely that the reader will miss something very important. The best way to deal with this risk, I think, is to read it over and over and to think very intensely about every sentence in those three chapters. Its second shortcoming from the point of view of our visitors is that the book contains no advice on how to enter the market and how to solve practical problems. Why that should be is easy to understand: the books aim is to help dispel misunderstandings and prevent cultural gaffes. And this aim it achieves superbly. At $5.95 well worth every penny. Back to Self-help *****   Order from Amazon Leveraging Japan: Marketing to the New Asia by George Fields, Hotaka Katahira, Jerry Wind, Robert E. Gunther (Contributor) The main shortcomig of the book is its misleading title: the book is really about the changes in the Japanese market due to the changing consumer demographics and attitudes, regulatory restructuring, and the ongoing revolution in distribution systems; about the recent experiences of US entrants (1994-98) into the market; and the reasons why some succeeded while others failed. The books makes three exellent points: that the Japanese market place is changing dramatically; that foreign companies with the commitment and the resources to enter the market directly can and do make money in Japan almost immediately; and that Japan offers much better profit and growh prospects to American companies than the ephemeral but fashionable emerging markets of SE Asia. The book presents issues of doing business in Japan from the point of view of large, determined, well capitalized companies entering the market through their own directly owned subsidiaries and makes the point that this may be the only fool-proof method to do well in that market. At $32 it isnt exactly cheap, but worth it as a guide and a reference book. Back to Self-help 1/2*   Order from Amazon The Asian Mind Game by Chin-Ning Chu OK, this is NOT a recommended title, but we couldn't resist saying a few words about it here because of its high entertainment value. The chapters on Japan read like the script from a Mr Bad Guy in a 007 movie... The author is informed mainly by stereotype and nationalist propaganda: she calls the Japanese "ant-people", tells stories of Japanese canibalism ("Chinese flesh, spiced with ginger and sugar, stinky, but they thought it was delicious"), and reveals that the Japense are "working furiously to take over the world". Check out the prose, too: "A Japanese samurai worker produces in one day what it takes an American worker two days to produce. To the western world the Japanese stress the importance of free trade because they know that the western worker is no match for the Japanese samurai worker" (p. 125). .. The final section contains trite advice such as "respect local culture" and "develop long term objectives". The most uselful and culturally informed piece of timeless advicewe could find was that "if you drop your chopstick in Asia it means good luck because you will be invited to dinner again". I guarantee you won't know a thing about doing business in Japan, or Asia, after reading this book, but you may be amused reading it. Though, upon reflection, a ticket to Austin Powers may be better value. Back to Self-help
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