Business manners across the globe

Knowing and showing respect for local culture and business manners across the globe can avoid causing unintentional offense, which could wreck a lucrative international business deal.\r
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As if the language is not enough of a barrier, anyone planning to do business in Japan should consider learning how to 'read the atmosphere'. The idea may make no sense for a Westerner, but the Japanese even have a catchy expression - kuuki yomenai - to describe the inability to perform this vital social task. In short, it means that a person is required to grasp what their Japanese interlocutors intend to do even if they do not say it aloud. Because very often they will barely utter a word.