Japanese Business Card Usage

When you accept a business card with two hands you are elevating the other person and showing gratitude for receiving their card.

Japanese business card usage. Use the same form when you receive a card. Once taken give a slight bow after. Japanese business cards known as meishi are treated with utmost respect.

Use both hands to extend the business cards and bow slightly when you present the business card to its recipient. Employees of higher rank such as a general manager. Japanese business meetings begin with formal introductions and the exchange of business cards meishi.

After receiving a business card make sure that you handle it carefully. Always exchange business cards at the beginning of meetings. It s a subject that has been addressed many times in all sorts of media and yet the fundamental rules and social etiquette surrounding the practice are still frequently mistaken.

Introduce yourself while presenting your business card see below for more details on forms of address and proper exchange of business cards. On receiving your counterpart s business card make a show of examining it carefully before placing it on the table. One of the perennial topics in japanese business etiquette is the exchange of business cards or meishi koukan 名刺交換 in japanese.

If conducting business carry your cards in a nice case so that you don t hand your counterpart a frayed butt warmed card out of your wallet. For example foreign newcomers are taught that when receiving a japanese person s business card to not just stuff it into your pocket or wallet without taking the time to read the card and. When you sit down after introductions carefully arrange the cards you received on the table in front of you.

Present the card with the japanese side facing up. These serve as a useful reference to remember names during the meeting never play with cards bend or write on them. Business cards are taken seriously in japan and exchanging them follows a protocol.