Cool Biz & Business Cards- 8/06

The Business Card Ceremony

The business card ceremony is being replaced by the cell phone ceremony—according to Dave’s experience at Sony, anyway.
Now Dave & I aren't the most cell phone savvy folks, but any change to the way things are done in Japan is worth noting. According to tradition, the business card plays an important role in meetings. Cards are presented with the Japanese translation side up, facing the recipient and with a slight bow. Cards are received with two hands, another bow and treated with reverence. Sticking them in your pocket or scribbling on them is a big no-no. They need to be admired, commented upon and placed in a case or portfolio.

Dave showed up at his first week at Sony with an ample supply of IBM cards. What surprised him was that his recipients took out their cell phone and rang his cell. Dave could capture their number/name on the spot. One person took his picture to attach to his phone file. If you’re really with it, you can point your cell at the other person’s phone and use the infrared to exchange data.
Seems like a guy thing.


COOL BIZ

Another Japanese institution, the conservative business suit, has gotten a makeover. Last year, the government ordered that air conditioning temperatures be raised in an effort to get serious about global warming. It’s not often the government gets involved in fashion, (I don’t even want to think about how the U.S. would handle this!), but they have been successful in launching their “cool biz” concept (aka business casual).

The "suggested" air conditioning setting is 28C (82.4F). Wow. Even for me, someone who shivers through over-air conditioned spaces and thrilled with ANY attempt to address global warming, 82F seems a tad warm. But the government is so pleased by the results that they're touting their success all over Asia (I read that in 2005, the Cool Biz drive helped reduce 460,000 tons of carbon dioxide).
Besides, the fashion industry is loving it.

We spent a lunch people-watching at a café while in Tokyo, and noticed the only men wearing grey, conservative suits were foreigners. Sweaty foreigners.

Barber Visit -July 06

Eric got his hair cut yesterday. A Japanese barber shop is a pleasure to visit. What would be 15-minutes of flying scissors back home is an hour of meticulous attention that includes a hair washing before and after, hot towel treatments and a neck and shoulder massage. When it comes to communicating, I usually use gestures to show the length, knowing that the barber is humoring me and will do what he wants anyway.

We went to a nice shop in our neighborhood. I was surprised when the barber handed us several laminated photo sheets showing different hair styles. After Eric made his selection, the barber took out a magna-doodle board and drew sideburn options. Then he scribbled 'age'” and showed us the price chart with different levels for different ages. Cool. It was so gratifiying to feel like we actually communicated.

While Eric was having his hour worth of pampering (all for $17), I was left to wonder if the Isahaya hair cutting community had gotten together to decide what to do about illiterate foreigners. As we were leaving and thanking him, he points to himself and starts writing on his board again. Ah, I think, he likes us so much he's going to tell us his name so we'll come back.
What he wrote was 'Deaf'.