Free Essays on Japanese Business Etiquette

Boye De Mente’s article â€Å"Japanese Etiquette and Ethics in Business† states how the business world of Japan is and also gives some comparison between Japanese and Western business rituals. Some of the things that Mente describes are the hiring systems, the role that women play in the business world, the role of employees, and the role that entertainment plays in the business industry. Mente concludes his article by giving some examples of what the western should and should not do when conducting business in Japan. I did not expect some of the things that I learned about the Japanese business industry. I had always assumed that the Japanese would have a very formal business world, because I was taught that they had a very formal educational system. I did not expect so much of the business industry to be based on relationships. I was also a bit surprised by the openness of some of the entertainment customs, like that of the offering of a young women to a business associate. Also the role that alcohol plays surprised me. I found it interesting that it is looked down upon in Japan if one does not drink oneself to a drunken state, because in most Western business industries, it is looked down upon to drink oneself to drunkenness at a business event. It was these social aspects of the Japanese business world that surprised me the most. I found it very interesting to learn about the company system of shu-shin koyo. I had never heard of a company hiring an employee for â€Å"lifetime employment.† Part of me thinks that this way of hiring employees is not very fair. If in order to obtain a job, you must be hired right out of school, what happens to those that did not do so well earlier in life, but eventually realized their ability? When I think about what I have learned about the Japanese culture, I have heard that in Japan most do not â€Å"go back to school† later in life, so this system of â€Å"hiring for life† definitely ... Free Essays on Japanese Business Etiquette Free Essays on Japanese Business Etiquette Boye De Mente’s article â€Å"Japanese Etiquette and Ethics in Business† states how the business world of Japan is and also gives some comparison between Japanese and Western business rituals. Some of the things that Mente describes are the hiring systems, the role that women play in the business world, the role of employees, and the role that entertainment plays in the business industry. Mente concludes his article by giving some examples of what the western should and should not do when conducting business in Japan. I did not expect some of the things that I learned about the Japanese business industry. I had always assumed that the Japanese would have a very formal business world, because I was taught that they had a very formal educational system. I did not expect so much of the business industry to be based on relationships. I was also a bit surprised by the openness of some of the entertainment customs, like that of the offering of a young women to a business associate. Also the role that alcohol plays surprised me. I found it interesting that it is looked down upon in Japan if one does not drink oneself to a drunken state, because in most Western business industries, it is looked down upon to drink oneself to drunkenness at a business event. It was these social aspects of the Japanese business world that surprised me the most. I found it very interesting to learn about the company system of shu-shin koyo. I had never heard of a company hiring an employee for â€Å"lifetime employment.† Part of me thinks that this way of hiring employees is not very fair. If in order to obtain a job, you must be hired right out of school, what happens to those that did not do so well earlier in life, but eventually realized their ability? When I think about what I have learned about the Japanese culture, I have heard that in Japan most do not â€Å"go back to school† later in life, so this system of â€Å"hiring for life† definitely ...

German Christmas Pickle Tradition

German Christmas Pickle Tradition Look closely at a decorated Christmas tree and you might see a pickle-shaped ornament hidden deep within the evergreen branches. According to German folklore, whoever finds the pickle on Christmas morning will have good luck for the following year. At least, thats the story most people know. But the truth behind the pickle ornament (also called a  saure  gurke or Weihnachtsgurke) is a little more complicated. Origins of the Pickle Ask a German about the custom of  Weihnachtsgurke and you may get a blank look because in Germany, there is no such tradition. In fact, a survey conducted in 2016 revealed more than 90 percent of Germans asked had never heard of the Christmas pickle. So how did this supposedly German tradition come to be celebrated in the U.S.? The Civil War Connection Much of the evidence for the historical origins of the Christmas pickle is anecdotal in nature. One popular explanation links the tradition to a German-born Union soldier named John Lower who was captured and imprisoned at the notorious Confederate prison in Andersonville, Georgia. The soldier, in ill health and hungry, begged his captors for food. A guard, taking pity on the man, gave him a pickle. Lower survived his captivity and after the war began the tradition of hiding a pickle in his Christmas tree in remembrance of his ordeal. However, this story cannot be authenticated. The Woolworths Version The holiday tradition of decorating a Christmas tree did not become commonplace until the last decades of the 19th century. Indeed, observing Christmas as a holiday was not widespread until the Civil War. Prior to that, celebrating the day was largely confined to wealthier English and German immigrants, who observed customs from their native lands. But during and after the Civil War, as the nation expanded and once-isolated communities of Americans began mixing more frequently, observing Christmas as a time of remembrance, family, and faith became more common. In the 1880s, F.W. Woolworths, a pioneer in merchandising and the forerunner of todays large drugstore chains, began selling Christmas ornaments, some of which were imported from Germany. Its possible that pickle-shaped ornaments were among those sold, as youll see in the following story. The German Link There is a tenuous German connection to the glass pickle ornament.  As early as 1597, the small town of Lauscha, now in the German state of Thuringia, was known for its glass-blowing industry. The small industry of glass-blowers produced drinking glasses and glass containers. In 1847 a few of the Lauscha craftsmen began producing glass ornaments (Glasschmuck) in the shape of fruits and nuts. These  were made in a unique hand-blown process combined with molds (formgeblasener Christbaumschmuck), allowing the ornaments to be produced in large quantities. Soon these unique Christmas ornaments were being exported to other parts of Europe, as well as England and the United States of America. Today, a number of glass makers in Lauscha and elsewhere in Germany sell pickle-shaped ornaments.