Inheritance of family business is very important in all over the word. In Japan, they take it very seriously to keep business leadership in the family. This is where adult adoption comes in. If a business owner does not have a son to inherit or if the son is not interested in the family business, there are two options. One option is to adopt a fully-grown man who is competent in running the business and inherits the family name (Noma, 2009). The second option is to marry of their daughter to the most suitable candidate and therefore keep the business in the family (Noma, 2009). In the case of Jan and Rie, the arrangement is acceptable in the Japanese culture and Jun should not feel sad about being adopted into the bride’s family but should understand that Rie is the only means of inheritance. They should therefore understand if they get marries Jun will have to get into the family business and therefore if those are not his career plans, they should not get married.
In Japan, expressions like gusoku (my stupid son) or gusai (my stupid wife) are not signs of hypocrisy but rather terms of one’s modesty. In the Japanese culture, it was appreciated that people were not suppose to show off their success because it was believed that a person’s honor was equivalent to everyone else’s (Noma, 2009). In the case of the old tailor, she dint mean that her son was stupid, she just meant to express her modesty as expected in the society. This is obvious because the son getting enough money even to support her is quite an achievement especially in a prestigious company as Toyota. She therefore was not sad at all.
In the case of Takashi who plays for the university tennis club, he should not change his attitude about attending drinking parties while his morals do not allow him to do so. Despite the fact that team spirit is very important in the success of game completions, one should not compromise ones integrity and morals to satisfy the rest of the team. Team spirit is compromised only when one is secretly supporting the rival team by sending or revealing the tactics or any other activity that would put his team in a compromising position (Noma, 2009). He should therefore talk to the rest of the team assuring them of his support but stating his stand on the drinking issue.
Mr. Suzuki would most probably be treated the same in any other part of the country because that is how the Japanese culture is. The Japanese have always viewed themselves as a group in schools, companies, and even villages. Therefore, if an outsider joins in, they consider that disruption of their harmony. They view this outsider with a mixture of admiration, nervousness, and suspicion but there is no logical explanation to this kind of behavior (Noma, 2009). My advice to Mr. Suzuki and his wife would be to exercise patience with the people of Tottori village and participate in the activities of the community and they might start integrating him and his family into the community.
Ochugen and aseibo are gifts that Japanese give in winter and summer to other members of the community and family to show appreciation and for relationships to be maintained (Noma, 2009). Ms Ueda was in this case supposed to give a gift to Dr. Takeda to reciprocate on the good deeds she had done to her and her family. According to the Japanese culture Dr. Takeda should never feel obliged to help, the family again because they did not honor the common culture so that means that there should be no continuity of the initial relationship. In conclusion, gifts show a relationship is recognized and gifts given should be equivalent to the favor in recognition.
Resources
Noma H., (2009). How unique is Japanese culture? A critical review of the discourse in intercultural communication literature, Journal of International Education in Business, 2 (2):2 - 14
