305: The Japanese business Glass Permanently Half-Empty

<p>Many years ago, my job was to help Australian companies crack the Japanese market.  One of the elements of that job was explaining the Japanese business psyche to the Australian businesspeople targeting Nippon.  As you might imagine this wasn’t an easy task, as the mindsets are so different.  White colonisation of Australia started in the late 1700s and the first convicts and settlers arrived into a vast continent, without one permanent structure, bridge, road or port.  Aboriginal life was nomadic.  Hunt everything you can in the area around you, then pack everything up and move to the next location. You didn’t need modern infrastructure for that lifestyle. </p> <p> </p> <p>The consequence has been that the culture built up amongst the early English settlers was very much one of “can do” and optimism that they could tame the heat, droughts, fires, cyclones and floods that are part and parcel of life in Australia.  Six generations ago, my ancestors hacked their way through the bush by hand, to create fields for agriculture and to feed the cattle and sheep. If you couldn’t take it, you could always go back to Mother England.</p> <p> </p> <p>Japan is a also country with no shortage of natural calamities.  Earthquakes trigger fires in cities and wooden houses burn quickly.  They also trigger tsunami and these can wipe out entire towns, as we have seen in 2011. Typhoons and floods destroy crops and building.  Floods and landslides are common.  My super wealthy, famous Japanese friend was walking his dog after heavy rain and a wall suddenly collapsed and killed him.  Japan has volcanos as well and recently the well known Sakurajima volcano has had a major eruption.  This tough environment is part and parcel of Japan and there is no Mother England to retreat to – this is it for the Japanese population.  The mindset of the Japanese in my experience is one of the glass is half-empty and life is difficult.</p> <p> </p> <p>When I was trying to explain the different attitude between the Aussie glass half full and the Japa