Doing Business with Japanese Men: A Woman's Handbook

As a Japanese businesswoman working for some 20 years, I believe this book will help a lot for those women doing business with Japanese men. Especially those who are new to Japan. Unfortunately, Japanese business world is still male-oriented, and most of Japanese businessmen don't know how to deal with women in business. One of the Japanese businesswomen's complaints is, "Japanese men treat business women only in three manners. Treat them as their wives, daughters, or hostesses at the night bars. They just don't know how to treat them as a collogue or business partnerc" This book consists of actual experiences of many foreign women and how they dealt with. Those experiences are no exaggeration from my eyes. It will be a good preparation to know what you may confront in Japan.

The title may ward of half of the population, and that is unfortunate. There are lots of great points that apply to business etiquette in general and are not unique to "women doing buisness" in Japan. The author implies that the foreign woman should take every advantage of her feminin charms on the helpless Japanese Industry, I would only suggest common sense.

A friend loaned me this book, and within minutes, I knew I had to have a copy for myself. Particularly useful for the female executive, this book covers how to establish your authority (and how to handle Japanese men who ignore you and insist on talking to your male subordinates), how to dress, socializing, gift giving, the business card rituals, where the power seat is in the conference room, how to handle inappropriate behavior and sticky situations, communication and correspondence protocol, and numerous other subjects. I am appalled to discover how many mistakes I have made in my business relationships with Japanese companies, but now am sufficiently enlightened to avoid many in the future. If you are female and do business with the Japanese, whether in Japan or in your home country, you must have this book.