Shake, exchange business cards and bow: When, where and how

It’s true.

There have been reported cases of death due to severe head trauma from exceptionally forceful bowing in Japan.

You’ll also want to watch out for it as you are walking through the station at night as groups of sauced up coworker will often say their formal goodbyes with a group bow and then launch backwards without looking where they’re going.

It’s just polite.

And if you’re doing business in Japan, you have to understand the seriousness involved with introducing yourself in the proper manner.

First of all, whenever you meet your business counterparts in Japan, you should be standing to greet them formally.

You can shake hands, as you are a foreigner, and say, “Nice to meet you”.

Then immediately produce your business card case, remove a card and offer it to the highest ranking person with both hands, chest height and with a slight bow.

“My name is John Smith, Director of Marketing at ABC company, Yoroshiku Onagaishimasu (Yo) (ro) (she) (cu)  (Ona) (guy) (she) (mass)”.  This is loosely translated as, “At your service”.

At this point, your counterpart will also have his or her card ready.

There are 2 ways to go from here.

The most polite way is that you can accept their card on top of your card, as if your card was a plate, study the name, title and ask questions on the pronunciation before storing it and handing over your card with both hands.  But that’s a long process.

What happens in most cases is that both of you will exchange cards simultaneously, with the lettering facing your counterpart so they can read it, and you will kind of meet in the middle.

So it’s – offer you card with both hands, and then go wide so both of your cards stay at the same level.  Your card goes right and then you receive their card with your left hand.

Make sure you hold their card with both hands as you draw it back to you.

Then it is polite to say,  “Chodai itashimasu (ch) (o) (die)  (E) (tash) (E) (mass) which means, “I receive”.

And then really study the card.  Take your time and try to memorize as much as you can.

Very polite stuff, guaranteed to make the best first impression possible.

And here are 2 more points that you should remember in order to

make sure that you don’t lose that good will.

1. Never put your counterpart’s card in your pocket.  It goes in your card case.

And,

2.  if you’re sitting at a table, it’s ok to lay out the cards so that you can match them up with the person.

That’s perfectly fine.  It shows that you are putting the name to the face.

But you should never write anything on the card, front or back.  That would be a sin.

The business card in Japan is something that represents the other person.  It is their symbol, not a memo.

So treat it with a highest level of regard and you will be showing your counterparts how eager you are to remember their names, positions and to establish a profitable working relationship in the future.

P.S.  Also be sure to add the suffix of San to everybody’s last names.  A. My name is Smith.  B. Nice to meet you Smith-san.

P.P.S.  As you can see, there are a lot of rules for doing business in Japan, this section won’t be ending any time soon!

– Jeremiah Magone

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