Communicating between cultures can be especially difficult, especially in a business setting.  I was reminded again the other day, that different cultures have different expectations, especially in the business world.

My son works in the travel industry, and often works between cultures, mostly and the . He has been talking with a Japanese company interested in purchasing part of his company. As their discussions continue, my son has noted that most companies are interested in the objective of the business and how to reach the goals the business may have. However, Japanese counterparts are more interested in liabilities or how the company is structured not to fail.

So in this case, the company may be more interested in the way the reservation system works, but the Japanese may be more concerned about the insurance in place.

I have always been interested in people and how they communicate and I have often wondered why it is so hard for people to understand each other.  For years I hoped to live overseas, so when I was offered a job in in 1979, I jumped at the chance. I expected to only spend 6 months there, but it grew to close to 20. While there, I had opportunities to visit many other countries, most notably, , where I started a school that is still working. After being in for such a long time, I was invited to as a guest worker to run the first international school owned by the Chinese government. It was quite exciting! I then had a chance to work with the College of Micronesia to set up a program in bilingual education for all the teachers on the main island. is a very interesting place. While in , I was offered a Fellowship in to design courses for several universities. After my fellowship year, I came back to the and now live in

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