You recently returned from a year-long assignment in Japan where you worked with the nearly 60 Japanese lawyers (bengoshi) based at Bingham’s recently expanded Tokyo office.
What aspects of the Japanese culture work well that you would like to see incorporated into our legal system?
Japanese society is built upon a solid foundation of personal and social responsibility. In my experiences in Japan, blame, carelessness and laziness were regarded as a shameful character weakness. Litigation is a last resort reserved for severe circumstances. Most disputes are settled consensually outside of court, and I think there are fewer disputes overall because individuals adhere to a more universally accepted code of behavior. Water gets first-degree-burn-hot right out of the tap. Kids wear uniforms to school without parents suing educators.
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How would you describe the Japanese business culture? It is insular or open to foreigners?
Personally, I experienced only the most respectful and welcoming treatment in Japan. Japan’s relationship with the rest of the world is so complicated culturally, it’s difficult to generalize without misleading over-simplification. Japan’s economy is powered by exports, so clearly, the Japanese business community recognizes its dependence upon foreign consumers. In addition, certain aspects of popular culture from the U.S. have taken hold in Japan. At the same time, the Japanese value their culture of honor, duty and promoting the greater good of Japanese society. For example, in Japan, a corporation does not exist to benefit only the shareholders but for the community in which it is located, its employees (which still tend to be lifelong) and trusted vendors. In my experiences, the Japanese welcome foreigners as individuals, as long as those individuals behave as visitors respectful of Japanese culture.
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What’s the hardest part of an overseas assignment? How often did you get home?
Overcoming big challenges is dramatic and fun. It’s always the mundane things that wear at my patience. Of course, the 14-hour time difference made communicating with anyone in the U.S. inconvenient. Use of credit and ATM debit cards is generally frowned upon in Japan. Also, I could only access cash from few ATMs with my issued-in-the-U.S. ATM card and those ATMs were not open 24 hours. They were only open on regular business days and had rather low daily maximum withdrawal limits. After a few weekends of shaking coins out of the bottom of my purse, getting pathetically excited over a big gold 500 Yen coin (about $5), I really had to retool my cash management procedures. It required a level of advance planning reminiscent of my grandma keeping all of her cash for the week in an envelope in the freezer.
Bingham was very flexible regarding my travel. I returned to the U.S. four times for various client meetings and, most importantly, for my father’s 80th birthday party.
