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Hidden Differences: Doing Business with the Japanese
An analysis and explanation of the unstated rules of Japanese-American business relations. By drawing Western readers into the world in which they must function, the Halls simplify the process of adapting Western ways to a new environment.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1987
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About the author
Edward T. Hall
32 books173 followersBorn in Webster Groves, Missouri, Hall taught at the University of Denver, Colorado, Bennington College in Vermont, Harvard Business School, Illinois Institute of Technology, Northwestern University in Illinois and others. The foundation for his lifelong research on cultural perceptions of space was laid during World War II when he served in the U.S. Army in Europe and the Philippines.
From 1933 through 1937, Hall lived and worked with the Navajo and the Hopi on native American reservations in northwestern Arizona, the subject of his autobiographical West of the Thirties. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1942 and continued with field work and direct experience throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. During the 1950s he worked for the United States State Department, at the Foreign Service Institute (FSI), teaching inter-cultural communications skills to foreign service personnel, developed the concept of "High context culture" and "low context culture", and wrote several popular practical books on dealing with cross-cultural issues. He is considered a founding father of intercultural communication as an academic area of study.
Hall first created the concepts of proxemics, polychronic and monochronic time, high and low context culture. In his book, The Hidden Dimension, he describes the culturally specific temporal and spatial dimensions that surround each of us, such as the physical distances people keep each other in different contexts.
In The Silent Language (1959), Hall coined the term polychronic to describe the ability to attend to multiple events simultaneously, as opposed to "monochronic" individuals and cultures who tend to handle events sequentially.
In 1976, he released his third book, Beyond Culture, which is notable for having developed the idea of extension transference; that is, that humanity's rate of evolution has and does increase as a consequence of its creations, that we evolve as much through our "extensions" as through our biology. However, with extensions such as the wheel, cultural values, and warfare being technology based, they are capable of much faster adaptation than genetics.
Robert Shuter, a well-known intercultural and cross-cultural communication researcher, commented: "Edward Hall's research reflects the regimen and passion of an anthropologist: a deep regard for culture explored principally by descriptive, qualitative methods.... The challenge for intercultural communication... is to develop a research direction and teaching agenda that returns culture to preeminence and reflects the roots of the field as represented in Edward Hall's early research."
He died at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico on July 20, 2009.
From 1933 through 1937, Hall lived and worked with the Navajo and the Hopi on native American reservations in northwestern Arizona, the subject of his autobiographical West of the Thirties. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1942 and continued with field work and direct experience throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. During the 1950s he worked for the United States State Department, at the Foreign Service Institute (FSI), teaching inter-cultural communications skills to foreign service personnel, developed the concept of "High context culture" and "low context culture", and wrote several popular practical books on dealing with cross-cultural issues. He is considered a founding father of intercultural communication as an academic area of study.
Hall first created the concepts of proxemics, polychronic and monochronic time, high and low context culture. In his book, The Hidden Dimension, he describes the culturally specific temporal and spatial dimensions that surround each of us, such as the physical distances people keep each other in different contexts.
In The Silent Language (1959), Hall coined the term polychronic to describe the ability to attend to multiple events simultaneously, as opposed to "monochronic" individuals and cultures who tend to handle events sequentially.
In 1976, he released his third book, Beyond Culture, which is notable for having developed the idea of extension transference; that is, that humanity's rate of evolution has and does increase as a consequence of its creations, that we evolve as much through our "extensions" as through our biology. However, with extensions such as the wheel, cultural values, and warfare being technology based, they are capable of much faster adaptation than genetics.
Robert Shuter, a well-known intercultural and cross-cultural communication researcher, commented: "Edward Hall's research reflects the regimen and passion of an anthropologist: a deep regard for culture explored principally by descriptive, qualitative methods.... The challenge for intercultural communication... is to develop a research direction and teaching agenda that returns culture to preeminence and reflects the roots of the field as represented in Edward Hall's early research."
He died at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico on July 20, 2009.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 18, 2022
Another fantastic piece from Edward Hall. Although it compares the American culture with the Japanese. But one can reflect so much on his own culture from this comparison.
March 11, 2019
A short but very interesting book.
The Halls are obviously aiming their book at senior executives in American companies who are considering doing business with the Japanese (it says so in the title), but more particularly, American companies who are considering doing business with the Japanese in Japan. However, that's not to say that the book is neither interesting nor relevant for readers who are neither American nor businesspeople.
The book starts with a general orientation on cultural differences and the effects they can have, then the generalities of differences between American culture and Japanese, and then finally some basic advice on how to enter the Japanese market. The first two are obviously applicable to anyone who is about to encounter Japanese culture, regardless of whether it's business or not.
The strength of this book is that because the Halls are anthropologists, they are concerned with the deep currents in a culture that explain why customs and attitudes are the way they are. It's one thing to know that the Japanese are very keen on after-work socialising, but another to understand why this is and what cultural purpose it serves. If you only know that they do, your response can only be by rote; if you understand why then you can respond in a more appropriate, nuanced way, and relationships are likely to be stronger and less fraught with misunderstanding.
So this book isn't so much a list of dos and don'ts, or a catalogue of Japanese customs - it's more a very simple primer on how Japanese society works. If you have a basic understanding of the structure and functioning, you have a much better chance of being able to handle social interaction without sticking your foot in your mouth.
A disadvantage is that the Halls themselves are outsiders in Japan and seem to have gained much of their information via interviews. While this is quite normal in anthropological circles, it does mean that at least some of the information gathered is likely to represent a curated presentation of information, rather than necessarily the whole truth. I expect most people being interviewed about their own culture would try to present it in the best possible light! It would have been interesting to have had some discussion of in-depth information from long-term immigrants into Japan, compared to information from native Japanese; sometimes a knowledgeable outsider's view of a culture can be particularly illuminating because a) they don't have the same sense of ownership and protectiveness, and b) they don't take things for granted.
Another disadvantage is that, interesting though it is, this book was written in 1990. Therefore, the information is a generation out of date now. Societies tend to change quite slowly, at least in their very deep structure and functioning, so much of the general information is probably still relevant. However, some of the specifics of how the structure manifests itself may have changed - particularly amongst younger people.
So, in conclusion, a short and still interesting and useful read - although if you really are an American businessperson wishing to expand into Japan, you'll probably want to read something more up to date as well!
The Halls are obviously aiming their book at senior executives in American companies who are considering doing business with the Japanese (it says so in the title), but more particularly, American companies who are considering doing business with the Japanese in Japan. However, that's not to say that the book is neither interesting nor relevant for readers who are neither American nor businesspeople.
The book starts with a general orientation on cultural differences and the effects they can have, then the generalities of differences between American culture and Japanese, and then finally some basic advice on how to enter the Japanese market. The first two are obviously applicable to anyone who is about to encounter Japanese culture, regardless of whether it's business or not.
The strength of this book is that because the Halls are anthropologists, they are concerned with the deep currents in a culture that explain why customs and attitudes are the way they are. It's one thing to know that the Japanese are very keen on after-work socialising, but another to understand why this is and what cultural purpose it serves. If you only know that they do, your response can only be by rote; if you understand why then you can respond in a more appropriate, nuanced way, and relationships are likely to be stronger and less fraught with misunderstanding.
So this book isn't so much a list of dos and don'ts, or a catalogue of Japanese customs - it's more a very simple primer on how Japanese society works. If you have a basic understanding of the structure and functioning, you have a much better chance of being able to handle social interaction without sticking your foot in your mouth.
A disadvantage is that the Halls themselves are outsiders in Japan and seem to have gained much of their information via interviews. While this is quite normal in anthropological circles, it does mean that at least some of the information gathered is likely to represent a curated presentation of information, rather than necessarily the whole truth. I expect most people being interviewed about their own culture would try to present it in the best possible light! It would have been interesting to have had some discussion of in-depth information from long-term immigrants into Japan, compared to information from native Japanese; sometimes a knowledgeable outsider's view of a culture can be particularly illuminating because a) they don't have the same sense of ownership and protectiveness, and b) they don't take things for granted.
Another disadvantage is that, interesting though it is, this book was written in 1990. Therefore, the information is a generation out of date now. Societies tend to change quite slowly, at least in their very deep structure and functioning, so much of the general information is probably still relevant. However, some of the specifics of how the structure manifests itself may have changed - particularly amongst younger people.
So, in conclusion, a short and still interesting and useful read - although if you really are an American businessperson wishing to expand into Japan, you'll probably want to read something more up to date as well!
Want to read
March 28, 2009hard cover, dust jacket, different cover art, c1987
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews