Today’s Business Japanese is “Kabu no mochiai”(Ownership of share with each other).

This is specific business practice of Japanese companies.

We have several Zaibatsu group such as Mitsubishi, Mitsui, and Sumitomo in Japan.

Companies in the same Zaibatsu group own stock with each other and they never sell them at the stock market.

The reasons are to avoid the big stock price change, to prevent hostile M&A, and to say “No” to the extreme requests by the shareholders.

This style of management is called “Gosou-sendan-houshiki”

Did you know it？

Today’s business Japanese is “Mura-shakai (Village society)”.

Japan is surrounded by the seas and did not accept immigrants historically.

Therefore, there are only Japanese people in Japan basically and in that sense Japan is very closed society.

The Japanese people very much care for the neighbors about who they are and what they are doing and interfere with each other.  We call that kind of society “Mura-shakai”

In the “Mura-shakai” everyone is expected to think, speak and behave in the same way.

For some people that kind of environment is common, but for others it is very uncomfortable.

How do you like this kind of closed country?

Today’s business slang is “Sontaku”.

“Sontaku” has come to be used these years in political and business situation.

And it means “To act to profit specific person who has a big influence on oneself without any instruction based on considering that person’s position.”

Several years ago certain bureaucrat did “Sotaku” for the Japanese prime minister.

At that time the bureaucrat did illegal action. 

Since then, “Sontaku” is often used in bad way.

“Sontaku” is sometimes important not only politics but also in business.