Lawson Inc., a convenience store chain operator, is revolutionizing accessibility for the hearing-impaired community by conducting a groundbreaking test using remotely controlled avatars that communicate through sign language. Lawson's verification test, which began on June 2nd at a Tokyo store in Shinagawa Ward, aims to assess customers' ability to understand the expressions conveyed by the avatars. Trained employees known as "Lawson Avatar Operators" (LAOs) remotely operate the avatars from the company's main office or their homes using personal computers and a camera feed from the store. This enables LAOs to respond to customer inquiries using the avatar displayed on a screen. While Lawson already employs English-speaking LAOs to assist non-Japanese customers, this new initiative takes it a step further by providing avatars that communicate with customers in sign language. The avatars meticulously mirror the facial expressions, hand movements, and finger ge...

An increasing number of Japanese businesses are adopting English as their official language within specialized departments, marking a significant shift from the past when it was implemented company-wide. Fast Retailing Co., the operator of the Uniqlo clothing store chain, and e-commerce marketplace giant Rakuten Group Inc. made headlines a decade ago when they announced plans to designate English as their lingua franca. However, the second wave of this language transition has just recently begun, according to Masuyo Ando, chair of Progos Inc., a Tokyo-based company offering English education support programs for businesses. Phased Implementation At the Tokyo headquarters of cloud service provider Money Forward Inc., a digital technologist from  India , and his Japanese coworker, conversed in English. They were discussing a programming problem that had caused a malfunction in a prototype system. This  digital technologist , who hails from India and graduated from a local en...

Preparing for life after the COVID-19 pandemic has been a topic on the minds of many people around the world. With mask mandates and social distancing measures being the norm for the past three years, people have had to adapt to a new way of living. As the world starts to return to some sense of normalcy, many are beginning to think about the changes that will come with it, including the removal of masks in public spaces. In Japan, a group of 37 people, including the elderly, recently took a lesson in smiling to help prepare for this transition. The smiling lesson was held in the Akabane district in Tokyo’s Kita Ward on May 7, one day before the reclassification of COVID-19 to a less-severe category that includes the seasonal flu. The instructor for the lesson was Keiko Kawano, a 49-year-old smile trainer. According to Kawano, people have had fewer opportunities to smile due to mask-wearing becoming the norm, and many people have developed a complex about their smiles as a result. ...

If you're planning on doing business with Japan, it's important to understand that the culture is very relationship-oriented. But it's not just about the basic formalities like age, status, business cards, and bowing. In fact, even if you're fluent in the language and familiar with the customs, you still might not be able to close a deal with a Japanese company. Why is that? Well, it could be because you're not Japanese. To them, you will always be a gaijin, or foreigner. Sometimes, that's all it takes for a business venture to fail.   In this guide, we'll take a deeper look at the cultural differences that can impact business in Japan. We'll explore the concepts of relationships and trust, hierarchy and status, communication and decision-making, and more. By the end, you'll have a better understanding of how to navigate these cultural nuances and build successful business relationships in Japan.   So let's get started, and remember, がん...

When it comes to doing business with Japan, many foreigners tend to view the country as a modern and technologically advanced dreamland of culture, innovation, and efficiency. However, as one spends any significant amount of time there, one will quickly come to realize that Japan might not be the futuristic place they thought, at least not in terms of how business is conducted. In fact, Japan's business culture is rooted in tradition, hierarchy, and meticulous attention to detail. While the streets of Harajuku or Akihabara may showcase Japan's cutting-edge fashion and electronics, the reality of conducting business in Japan is much more conservative and formal. One example of this is the continued use of fax machines by many Japanese firms, which can be surprising for foreigners who come from more digitalized countries.   While this technology may seem archaic to many, it is still widely used in Japan, where it is considered a reliable and secure way to communicate importan...