Understanding Business Cultures

One of the recurring frustrations I hear from local staff working at the European branches of Japanese companies is the feeling of being micro-managed by the head office in Japan. In fact, one colleague once said to me—only half-jokingly—"This isn’t just micromanagement anymore. It’s nano-management!”

This sense of being overly monitored tends to surface most often when it comes to sharing information. 

Local professionals may feel they’re being asked to report in far more detail than seems necessary, and that even small mistakes get picked apart. When that happens, they can start to hold back—reporting less often, and with less detail. Some have even said, “The more information I provide, the more I get criticised. It just feels stifling.”

From the Japanese side, there’s often an expectation—sometimes unspoken—that reports will be provided automatically. But unless this expectation is clearly communicated, local staff may not pick up on it. In cross-cultural workshops, I often hear Japanese managers say things like, “The UK team doesn’t submit regular updates.” When I ask the UK-based staff about it, I often hear, “Why would I make a report if nobody asked me to? I’ve got other things to do.” It’s a classic example of an expectation gap.

I’ve also heard Japanese colleagues say, “Even when we do receive a report, it’s often not what we were expecting.” In meetings, answers to questions may seem off the mark—or explanations too long-winded to follow easily. “By the time they finish speaking, I forget what the question was,” one Japanese manager once told me.

So, what can be done to improve this situation?

One simple and effective approach is to introduce a reporting template that outlines exactly what kind of information is needed. Japanese managers often prefer reports that include visual content—charts, images, or diagrams—so it helps to explain this preference to your UK colleagues when introducing the template. If you take the time to walk them through it, they’re usually quite understanding.

That said, when using visuals, it’s important to be careful. Local colleagues often find that PowerPoint slides made in Japan are too crowded with information. To make presentations easier to follow, it helps to be mindful of font choice. Have you ever created English-language materials using Japanese fonts without realising it? To native speakers of alphabet-based languages, something about that can feel just a bit “off.” It might seem like a minor detail, but if you want your presentation to come across as polished and professional, using appropriate Western fonts can make a big difference.

The same goes for punctuation—try to avoid using Japanese punctuation in English documents. I’ve seen Japanese companies publish English websites that use Japanese fonts. Even when the content is perfectly accurate, the overall impression can still feel slightly unprofessional to a native English speaker, and it may discourage them from reading further. These may seem like small things, but giving attention to them can help your materials make a stronger impact—and make communication across cultures that much smoother. Why not give it a try?