Communication with Japanese.

It is a fact that Japan, considering its importance as the third largest market in the world, has until now been neglected by Western companies. This neglect originates more often than not in a basic lack of understanding of the specific peculiarities of the Japanese behavior. This lack of understanding seems, in its turn, to be the result of an informational shortage in regard to the Japanese civilization. This is the only possible explanation for the fact that both Europeans and Americans still speak of Japanese patterns of behavior as to appear occasionally irrational and as such difficult to predict. That fact alone clearly proves the importance of undertaking a sincere investigation of the essential aspects of Japanese sociocultural structures and relationships. Such an investigation will enable Western manager to develop a basic understanding of Japanese patterns of behavior. Cooperation with Japanese enterprises is often the most satisfactory policy towards truly successful marketing of products in that country. The main problems, however, in cooperating with Japanese firms will in most cases emerge from the sociocultural context as described above, especially in the event of direct and personal contacts between members of the two cultures.