Building a business relationship through drinking alcohol is common in most cultures. The Japanese are no exception. Drinking and even sleeping on the table is said to be very important in business relations in Japan.

In Japanese culture, connecting team members, being open and avoiding conflict is very important. Drinking together is a way for them to sit down, share their emotions as well as to recognize potential psychological conflicts, and try to resolve it before it becomes a serious problem. And in any case, they would never repeat the next day the problems that were said the night before. Drinking alcohol is a relatively important ritual for Japanese people, not only for customers but also for members of the same working group.

Many Japanese people use alcohol to create relationships, in Japanese expressions seem to also mention this problem, derived from the verb “nomu” (meaning “to drink”). Japanese merchants often entice their customers to drink alcohol. Although there are rarely any deals that are signed on the table, rarely do a deal succeed without a drink. Of course, building trust by drinking alcohol is not just a Japanese custom. Across Southeast Asia, whether you are working in China, Thailand or South Korea, drinking with a client or partner is an important step in building “TRUST”.

Many people with serious work styles don’t understand this. “Why should I be an idiot in front of the people I need to impress?” – they wonder. That is the point. When you have a drink with your partner, you let him or her see that you have nothing to hide. And when they “drink until fall” with you, they are proving that they are completely out of guard for you. “Don’t worry that you will look stupid.”. The more sincere you want to remove barriers at evening drinks, the more they will trust you.

Alcohol is not the only way to build a business relationship. If you don’t drink, you will probably find other ways to build trust as well. Each culture has its own characteristics, such as the fact that people will often drink tea instead of alcohol in Arab. However, if you live in Japan, get used to drinking culture. Because that will make your work much smoother.

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