CULTURE OF WORK

An Extensive Guide on
How Not to Be An
A**Hole
TABLE OF
contents
3 What is "Work Ethic"? 7 Body Language

4 Cultural Differences 8 Useful Facts

5 Methods of Greeting 9 Plans Moving Forward

6 The "Do's & Don't's" 10 Bibliography

What is
"Work Ethic"?
A friendly reminder from
the CEO, Evan Joo
Traditionally, and as google suggests, this particular term defines the principle that hard
work is virtuous and is worthy of reward. While this is true to an extent, our company likes
to place a different definition under the said term. That definition can be very loosely
summarised into the words, "Don't be an a**hole", which is exactly what this handbook is
all about.

Of course, we understand that everyone's interpretation of the term may vary depending
on the individual and their past experiences. However it seems very unlikely that one's
definition of the term will stray far from the company's understanding and interpretation.
Besides, the moment you were accepted into whatever position you are in within the
company, the first thing an executive manager would've done was to explain how we, as a
company, defines work ethic.

So what really is work ethic within our company? For us, it is all about being punctual,
diligent, reliable and responsible, as well as being respectful, considerate and sensible
towards other coworkers. This one concept, rule, ideal or whatever you want to call it, is
the only thing we ask of our employees outside of professional work. While this is common
sense to most people and the fundamentals to 'morality' , but we highly value the very
basics here.

I personally believe that no business or company can survive without good work ethic and
employees to follow them. I also think that work ethic is the only thing necessary for a
business to properly bloom and blow up (In a good way). We also understand that always
meeting these unreasonable, yet very simple and a standard expectation is very hard. It is
for these two reasons that our average wage is stupidly high compared to other
companies.

This upcoming orientation is probably one of the most important milestones that his
company will take. As much as I have taken extra specific care to only employ reliable
individuals (as you guys are), I want to remind you that we consider work ethic to be the
most important thing here. Although it should be obvious, it is also a reminder to be
considerate of the other company's work ethic and their standard. 

I hope everyone will continue to exceed my expectations.

Evan Joo
Chief Executive Officer
Cultural
Differences
How are our traditions different to theirs? What is acceptable and what is
not? Comparisons to consider

The whole point of this handout is to Also in relation to the Japanese

give all of our employees a better
understanding of our overseas
partners and to give them an idea as
to how not to embarrass yourself and
the company at the same time. I take
this task to be a very personal
responsibility to be of assistance
regarding this issue.
workplace being more focused on
working as a group, they will have
frequent outings or parties as a
company/business after hours. It is
definitely not a requirement but it is
socially expected to a certain degree
and it is seen to be a part of the
working environment.

In this page, what I wanted to talk

about, as you would've guessed from
the heading, is the cultural "Karoshi is a term in
differences between the two Japanese used to
countries as well as their workplace
ethics and such. And while most
describe death caused
people's concept of respect should by working way too
not stray far from each others, there
are different things that may be
much"
acceptable to them that we do
frequently and vice versa.
Their standard idea of working hours 
seems a lot longer than ours too. For
The company we have established a
them, it is quite normal to be a
partnership is a Japanese one, and
couple hours early to work and leave
they are most likely to follow
around 7 or 8 without any extra pay
traditional Japanese work ethics and
which would be basically illegal here
be a lot closer to the Japanese
and a very unethical thing to be
culture.
doing.
The main thing people need to be
In general, the Japanese culture
aware of is that Japanese workers are
prefers an indirect method of
much more formal than Australian
communication. This means that
workers, and that there is a more
where we may say "yes" or "no" they
clear, stricter social hierarchy, with
will indirectly tell you these things.
workers that are older or of a higher
An example of this is a response they
position being of a "higher status"
might give when asked if they are
happy with the workload given. As a
In addition, getting the approval of a
response, they may say something
superior is necessary when making
along the lines of "I am quite happy
decisions, especially big ones. This is
with the workload because it will
due to the Japanese workplace being
make tomorrow easier", which
more centered around working as a
ultimately means that it is much
group.
more than what I have to do now.
Methods of
Greeting
What to say when you meet someone? How do you introduce
yourself?
In this page, I will talk about the
many different methods of greeting,
as well as making small talk such as a
self introduction and such.
I'll start off by saying that the
language barrier is most likely to be
devoid between employees, as their
CEO has informed me that one's
fluency of English is a big factor that
they get chosen for a job.
It is quite apparent that Japanese
workers prefer not to make direct
body to body contact with others if
they are not close, so avoid putting
hands on shoulders, patting the back
and even handshakes. Yes,
handshakes. Their main method of
greeting one another is bowing their
head. Of course, there may be an
awkward situation where you may
want to bow but they want to do the
opposite out of consideration. If this
happens, just laugh it off and move
on. If anything, you'll be both left
embarrassed and at the same time
be impressed by the amount of
consideration the other has put into
this small interaction.
Although I strongly recommend that
you stick with the bowing, if you are
feeling very extra and are not afraid of
making a food of yourself, you may go
ahead and try the verbal greetings.
There are many different things you
can say. Out of those, there are many
things that should not be said and
things that is okay to be said.
お
One of the things that could say is "
はようございます " (Ohayōgozaimasu)
こんばんは
or " " (Konbanwa) which
mean "Good morning" and "Good
evening" respectively. Alternately, you
can say "こんにちは " (Konnichiwa)
which is a simple hello. Other than
はじめまし
these 3, you can also say "
て " (Hajimemashite) which means
"Nice to meet you".
If you really feel the need to go even
further than these options, you may
consider saying "私の名前は ...."
(Watashinonamaewa....), meaning "My
name is....".
"よろしくお願いします " 
Roughly translates to
"Please take care of me"
It's a phrase commonly
used when meeting
someone new
Those are most of the most common
and the most standard methods of
greeting one another in a Japanese
culture. Hugging or a European style
of greeting is highly discouraged and
it is probably going to be frowned
upon, even if they understand that
our culture is somewhat like that.
If there is anything else that you wish
to say during the upcoming
orientation or in the future, please
use google.
Do's & Don't's
What you should do and should not do
There are some things that should be
avoided, and some of those were
mentioned in the prior pages. One of
the main things you should avoid
doing is making intentional body
contact, especially with a superior.
While within our culture, this is a
pretty normal thing to be doing and
even a sign of respect or good
manners, it is highly likely that in the
Japanese culture it will have quite
the opposite effect.
Another thing that should be
avoided is large body gestures,
especially hand gestures.
Not just within the workplace, but
Japanese culture is a lot more
accepting of a calm nature and
personality, and will generally prefer if
your hands were making very small,
relevant gestures or none at all. With
this in mind, do not be upset or
offended if the person you talk to
seem shy or even intimidated. That is
just their way of talking to strangers,
especially new colleagues and it is
also their way of showing respect.
As for things you may want to
consider doing, there are not that 
many. One thing I do suggest you guys
do is to ask questions actively.
Japanese people tend to be reserved,
especially around people that are
unfamiliar and most likely will feel
uncomfortable initiating
conversations.
Just keeping in mind that most
Japanese people will be more reserved
and quiet is probably the best thing to
do. Other than that, they're human just
like us and you do not need to take
special precautions when talking to
these people.
Body Language

BOWING WAVING HAND

"HELLO" "NO", "NO WAY"

This is the main way to greet someone. This is similar

to our waving of hands, giving someone a hug, light
This is the equivalent to us shaking our heads. It
kiss on the cheek or nodding your head. If you see a
usually means "No", "Not me", "No way" and "I can't
Japanese co-worker do this, they're simply greeting
do it".
you. How far one goes down may vary depending on
the individual and the person they're greeting. You'll
see people do this more often to superiors

ASKING POINTING
"PLEASE" REFERRING TO SOMEONE

This motion resembles praying. This is usually meant

This is their way of pointing. Pointing with a finger is
as a "please" or as a means of asking for forgiveness.
not exactly a rude thing to do, but there is a more
If the latter, the person may bow their head down
polite alternative which is what everyone else uses. If
whilst doing this gesture, which means they are very
they are talking about something or especially
sorry. This gesture could also mean "thank you for
ご馳⾛さまでした
the meal", often alongside of "
someone within eyesight, they will most likely point
at them in this way.
(gochisou sama deshita)
Useful Facts
1 There are more seniors than kids
2 Japan has one of the world's lowest crime rate
3 Japan consists of 6852 islands
4 More than 1500 earthquakes occur in Japan
5 Fruit is considered a very good gift
6 Slurping noodles is considered polite
7 Tokyo is the biggest city in the world
8 The currency is Yen (¥)
9 Japan has the third largest economy in the world
Plans Stuff about
Moving
Forward what will
Future plans and what may
become of the partnership
happen in
the
business
later on
Bibliography
HTTPS://WWW.NATGEOKIDS.COM/AU/DISCOVER/GEOGRAPHY/COU
NTRIES/FACTS-ABOUT-JAPAN/
HTTPS://WWW.SWEDISHNOMAD.COM/INTERESTING-FACTS-ABOUT-
JAPAN/
HTTPS://WWW.TOFUGU.COM/JAPAN/JAPANESE-BODY-LANGUAGE/
HTTPS://WWW.RACONTEUR.NET/BUSINESS-INNOVATION/JAPAN-
WORK-CULTURE
HTTPS://WWW.QUORA.COM/HOW-IS-THE-WORK-CULTURE-IN-
JAPAN
MY GENERAL KNOWLEDGE ABOUT JAPAN AND THEIR CULTURE
Thank you for reading
 Oasis College
Workbook by Evan
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