When working in Japan, surely you would have experience being asked to go for a drink or come to a dinner party or “Nomikai”. And you would ask yourself, is this work or private? Is this OK to decline, or is this mandatory? Once you go to one, you would see experience chaos of the Nomikai and sometimes loads of harassment being done, and you may be disappointed by coming to one. On the other hand, you may bump into a couple of people who you usually don’t talk but they happened to be really nice people and feel really happy about coming.
In this article, I will try to answer those questions you might run into concerning Japanese business culture and alcohol, and how to deal with it.
Why do Japanese business culture people drink alchohol with colleagues after work?
How do I deal with it without making a bad impression?
What you will learn
3 ways to deal with alchohol in Japanese business culture
I feel that I am credible to write this article because I have 7 years experience at a typical midsize Japenese firm. I have been working from fresh graduate where I had etiquette training, and been working as international sales, and corporate strategist.
1. Japanese business culture and alchohol, its reasons why
In traditional Japanese companies, you may come across company parties called “Nomikai” which is considered part of traditional Japanese business culture. This may be due to Japanese culture that emphasize on consensus and community. This culture forces its members to repress their values and opinions, which prevents them to express it when it does not reflect the community opinions. Therefore leading to a situation where no member of the community is saying what they want to say, and you will never know what they really think about you. You might want to note that this is not true for all East Asian countries from my experience Chinese people are quite expressive.
2. 3 ways to deal with alchohol in Japanese business culture
Here’s three ways to deal with the situation according to how much you feel close to the person you refer to.
2-1 Go for it
If you think you can get along with the person, take the invitation and have an honest chat. In firms that hold Japanese business culture it is hard to get valid information, and this will be your good chance to get it. With everyone talking honestly, you will now get a better sence of what’s really going on in your company.
2-2 Decline politely
If you really don’t feel like going at all, decline the offer. There’s no reason to waste your time for a person you don’t feel like you don’t want to be friends with. In addition, more and more Japanese companies are becoming aware of harassments at work, and your colleagues will support your decision.
2-3 If you really need to go, don’t drink
There are situations where you cannot decline the invitation. Whether it be because he/she is your boss, or everyone else is going. If it is your first time going out, you can pretend that you don’t drink at all and you can just enjoy Japanese Izakaya food. If they know you drink, take a long time to drink the first glass, and order a glass of water to let the person know you had enough alcohol. Either way, it’s better that you stay as sober as possible, because if you go out once, it’s very likely that there is second and third.
- Summary
1. In Japanese business culture, there is Nomikai because it is very difficult to talk honestly at work.
2. If you are invited you have 3 choices. Go for it, decline, or if you really need to go, stay sober.
