Geography of Thought - Christine Cho

Working in a highly regulated industry, we have regulators from different countries visit our company frequently. Last year, the PMDA (Japanese equivalent of FDA) visit our site for a license approval inspection. As the first site in the company to have a visit from the PMDA, we were given cultural awareness training to ensure that we were all trained on the differences between the Japanese and American culture. The amount of planning that went into the visit was unbelievable. For weeks, we worked on seating charts because where a person sat in a room represented their power. We also practiced business card exchanges to ensure that when we did exchange cards, we bowed the right way.

When the big visit finally came, everyone was ready as practiced. The only surprise was that the visitors were educated in the United States and didn't follow most of the traditional Japanese customs. We were told that the inspectors didn't speak English and we hired translators for the visit. Interestingly, although the inspectors understood English, they preferred to use the translators. One specific comment we received back from the inspectors was that they noticed that the people they interacted with did not make eye contact with them. When speakers spoke to the inspectors, they spoke directly to the translators. It was an interesting experience because when people talk, they want to ensure that the translators understood what was said, so they purposely made eye contact with them. We did not realize that this would be offensive to the inspectors.

Fortunately, growing in California, I've had the opportunity to interact with people from different backgrounds. Growing up in a diverse state has provided me with the opportunity to experience different cultures and understand different social norms.

Sometimes I wish people wouldn't force their culture on me. On my first business trip to Puerto Rico, I was traveling with colleagues from different locations. Some of my colleagues were from Europe and they insisted on greeting me with hugs and kisses. It's rare for me to hug and kiss anyone, and I think it is more awkward to hug and kiss my colleagues. I'm getting better at it now. I do the informal hug with a pat on the back, but I'm still not a kissy person. We'll see how I do on my next business trip to Europe.