NEWSWORTHY
Faced with worker shortage, Japan reshapes its legendary hospitality
Japan's capital expenditure boom is shifting to the services sector, stirring fears that self-checkout systems and software will take the human touch out of omotenashi, the country's vaunted commitment to hospitality. The economic forces at work are undeniable. The working age population is forecast to ...
'Omotenashi' underlies Japan's low economic productivity
An idiosyncrasy unique to corporate Japan prevents the reduction of unessential workers to improve productivity.
Has Christel Takigawa cursed Japan with her 2020 Olympics omotenashi pitch?
"One thing made clear from (our) survey is that the wholehearted looking after guests is not necessarily appreciated." — From "The lie of omotenashi," cover story, Nikkei Business magazine In its 18-page cover story on Jan. 22, Nikkei Business magazine sent reporters to interview bosses at ...
Why do some old men age disgracefully?
It's a universal belief that life is unfair, though there are many ways in which people manifest this belief. Some withdraw from the world, while others engage with it in an attempt to correct imbalances. Sometimes this engagement takes the form of anger. The grumpy ...
What, if anything, makes Japan unique?
In February, American comedian Atsugiri Jason remarked on a Fuji TV talk show that one of the "demerits" of being a foreign TV personality in Japan is that he can't publicly say he thinks those aspects of Japanese culture which Japanese people believe are ...
Police told to brush up their hospitality skills amid surge in foreign visitors
Police are joining nationwide efforts to brush up on their omotenashi (hospitality) as the country experiences a surge in overseas visitors and prepares for the 2020 Games.
'Omotenashi' comes up short on humility
A Japanese friend who used to travel a lot for work told me of a funny thing that once happened to her in a Tokyo hotel. She was checking in when a bellhop came up and, without saying anything, picked up her bag. She ...
Is hospitality sapping productivity in Japan?
Customers are gods, as a saying goes in Japan, where staffers press buttons for shoppers in department store elevators and hotel porters line up to bow to guests. While Japan is revered for this hospitality, or omotenashi, all that bowing and scraping may be sapping ...
Japan firms face hurdles as 'service' culture taken overseas
At Uniqlo stores worldwide, staff greet every customer with "Welcome to Uniqlo!" They briskly walk around on a clean, white sales floor, refolding and restacking clothes, rarely talking to customers or each other unless approached. It's a Japanese style of customer service based on a strict ...
Omotenashi promo video of quick shinkansen cleanup goes viral
A short video depicting the cleaning of Japan's famous bullet trains has become an online hit, garnering more than 2.6 million views on YouTube as of Monday. As a way to promote Tokyo and omotenashi — Japanese hospitality — to the world ahead of the ...
Omotenashi — Japanese hospitality?
As the Tokyo 2020 Bid Committee's appointed "Cool Tokyo" ambassador, multilingual television journalist Christel Takigawa set media buzzing worldwide with her Sept. 7, 2013, speech to the International Olympic Committee in Buenos Aires in which she made great play of the word "motenashi" by ...
Now boastful Japan not really in tune with what visitors want, foreign expert warns
Japan's self-professed "omotenashi" (spirit of selfless hospitality) is often misinterpreted to force predetermined services on foreign visitors, says one longtime observer. Cultural services expert David Atkinson, 49, says the nation's confidence in what it offers the world is misplaced: Many foreigners who visit leave unfulfilled. Atkinson ...
