Episode #401: Criticising And Being Negative When Giving Public Speeches In Japan

In my observation, American politics continues to descend into a morass of nastiness topped up with a lot of name calling and rabid criticism of the other side. In my native country of Australia, politicians won’t publicly call their opponents “stupid” or “weird”, because they know the voting public won’t accept that type of behaviour. In our national Parliament during the policy debates, the language is carefully monitored by the Speaker and always kept within the bounds of propriety. As in most things, America is a different planet, especially when it comes to domestic politics and elections.

What about in business when we are giving public speeches in Japan? Should we call elected officials or bureaucrats “stupid” or “useless”, as we rail and lament against their shortsighted, unwieldy, ludicrous, ridiculous policies? Can we attack our sneaky, underhanded competitors in public and complain about the evils they are doing? In general, can we do some good old-fashioned whining and complaining about whatever is aggravating us at the minute? Basically, the answer is “no”.

We don’t have American style comparison advertising here in Japan because it is banned. Showing your product’s better virtues up against the opposition is felt to be endangering societal harmony and is against the law. The thought of a Japanese CEO publicly laying into a Minister or official, regarding some policy felt to be egregious or unfair, is unthinkable. In general, public venting is not a thing here.

The fear of the consequences to the firm by the Government taking revenge as a result of the public name calling is certainly a part of it. Future applications requiring official approval may suddenly get slowed right down or rejected outright. Maybe a surprise tax audit suddenly springs up out of nowhere. Complaining publicly about your company’s rival is thought to be very low-level, unrefined behaviour (品がない- hinganai) and would reflect very badly on your firm’s brand and reputation.

We can mention about industry wide negative events like the 2008 Lehman Shock, the 2011 triple whammy of earthquake, tsunami and triple nuclear reactor meltdown and the 2020 pandemic. Referencing the hard times resulting from these external events is acceptable, because we all probably suffered to some extent during these recent events, too. We can’t labour the point though and we can’t go into too much hidden detail about the impact on our businesses. If we share too much data, the thought will arise that we are unstable and maybe not long for this business world.

The Phoenix is a symbol here of rising for the ashes and Japan loves a good resurrection story. We can lay out in general terms that things got very bad and talk about how the team pulled together and we made it through. Going into detail about how we did it is a good idea. Everyone loves to learn lessons at the expense of others, rather than themselves. Balancing negativity with hope and revival is the key. Even if things are not totally hunky-dory just yet, talking about what you are doing to get out of the hole you are in is of interest to the audience.

In my experience, the glass tends to be half empty in Japan most of the time, so we have to make an effort to break out of that formula. Telling people things are bad garners a “so what” reaction, because that is how they see things as being normal and not news to anyone. From another angle, I don’t think too many Japanese enjoy schadenfreude though, at hearing about our troubles. Telling listeners how things were bad and that now they are slowly improving is felt to be more interesting. Our efforts to revive are seen as worthy and admirable, because we are ( 頑張ってる - ganbatteru) or working hard and that is a good thing in Japan.

Japan suffers earthquakes, tsunami, typhoons, flooding, landslides etc., on a regular basis, so every year there is some area wiped out. On television, we see scenes of people trying to rebuild their businesses and lives and their efforts are respected. “But for them, there go I”, being the prevailing thought.
We don’t have to be Pollyanna in our talks, expounding how wonderful and successful we are. That approach is not well regarded either, because it sounds elf-serving and boastful. Leavening the good with the bad is a better balance and better accepted when giving speeches in Japan.