The Moment I Got It
Week three of research. I'm reading about nemawashi and keigo and wondering how to explain a business culture where your first sales meeting literally cannot include selling.
Then I found this line:
"Business relationships evolved from family-run merchant houses to large keiretsu networks post-Meiji, fostering inter-firm loyalty and reciprocal exchanges."
That's when it clicked.
Japan isn't relationship-focused like Singapore. It's relationship-architected. There's a system. And if you don't know the system, you don't exist.
Here's What I Mean
Your first meeting in Japan? You're not pitching. You're performing meishi koukan - the ritualized exchange of business cards. Get this wrong and you've already lost.
Your second meeting? Still not pitching. You're building en (relationship foundation).
Your third meeting? Maybe. But probably you're doing nemawashi - informal pre-meetings with stakeholders before the formal meeting where nothing gets decided.
Wild.
Let's do the math:
→ 80% high-context communication (they're not being vague, you're reading the wrong language)
→ 90% long-term orientation (you're planning Q4, they're planning the decade)
→ 60% of outreach effectiveness comes from referrals only
→ Cold emails don't fail in Japan - they literally don't register as real communication
Here's the thing: decisions flow top-down AFTER consensus is built bottom-up. You think you're selling to the VP? You're actually selling to seven people in invisible pre-meetings.
The History Part Actually Matters
During the Tokugawa shogunate (1603-1868), merchant families controlled commerce through trust networks. That system didn't disappear - it scaled.
The post-WWII economic miracle and the 1990s "Lost Decade" taught Japanese businesses one thing: relationships survive market crashes. Your product specs don't.
That's not philosophy. That's architecture.
What's Inside the Guide
I mapped the entire Japanese sales landscape across three segments:
Small business: Owner-founders decide fast once trust exists (family business DNA)
Mid-market: Nemawashi becomes an art form (navigating hierarchy)
Enterprise: Sales cycles measured in fiscal years (keiretsu network loyalty)
You'll learn:
→ Why Tuesday-Thursday 10:00-11:30 is the only time that matters
→ How Q4 (Oct-Dec) closing season works vs August/January dead zones
→ What keigo (formal language) actually signals to clients
→ Why gift-giving has a ¥5,000 legal limit (not cultural - actual law)
→ How to read the silence when they're saying no
Built from 40+ Japanese sources. Three AI campaign prompts that understand the difference between a 50-employee family business and a 500+ keiretsu member.
Not generic. Specific.
What This Taught Me
Japan humbled me.
After the Netherlands, UAE, and Singapore, I thought I was getting good at this pattern recognition thing. Japan reminded me that some cultures have been perfecting business relationships since the 1600s.
I can't be the only one who assumed "relationship-first" meant the same thing everywhere... right?
Question for anyone who's sold into Japan:
How many meetings before you actually discussed business terms?
My research says 2-3 minimum for mid-market. I suspect enterprise is longer. Way longer.
Tell me I'm wrong. 👇
Cheers, Peter
Mapping business cultures from Hardenberg (Netherlands)
Currently wondering if I need to add "cultural anthropologist" to my LinkedIn