Bridging Cultural Barriers in China, Japan, Korea & Mexico

Boye Lafayette De Mente

Nov 2009 · Cultural-Insight Books

About this ebook

The economies of the advanced countries have gone global, but not the cultures! This presents a plethora of problems that include economic as well as political affairs, especially with countries whose cultures are often so different that compromises--much less agreements--range from difficult to impossible. In this book, author Boyé Lafayette De Mente, known for his pioneer books on the business and social cultures of China, Japan, Korea and Mexico, presents a series of business-oriented insights that take much of the mystery out of the mindset and behavior of the Chinese, Japanese, Koreans and Mexicans. It is excellent background reading for business people, diplomats, political leaders, academics and students.

About the author

Boyé Lafayette De Mente has been involved with Japan, China, Korea and Mexico since the late 1940s as a member of a U.S. intelligence agency, student, journalist, editor and author working out of Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. He is a graduate of Jochi University in Tokyo, and The American Institute for Foreign Trade (in 1953), now Thunderbird School of Global Management, in Glendale, Arizona, USA. De Mente wrote the first ever books on the Japanese way of doing business (Japanese Etiquette and Ethics in Business in 1959 and How to Do Business in Japan in 1962), and was the first to introduce the now commonly used Japanese terms wa, nemawashi, kaizen, tatemae-honne, shibui, sabi and wabi to the outside business world! His 70-plus other books run the gamut from language learning to the night-time "pink" trades in Japan, the role of bars, cabarets and geisha houses in business, the sensual nature of Oriental cultures, male-female relations, and understanding and coping with the Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Mexican mindset in business and social situations. He has also written extensively about the foibles and failures of cultures worldwide, including "Why Ignorance, Stupidity and Violence Plague Mankind!"