2017 Volume 5 Issue 2 Pages 1-12
This paper is to clarify the required intercultural competence of Japanese business persons working in overseas through the interview survey. The fundamentalfactors to successfully collaborate with foreign people are (1) cooperative and responsible attitudes in adjusting themselves among the cross-cultural situation and (2) knowledge of each of the countries such as history and culture. Based on these, the tasks are accomplished by using (3) expertise and experience in the required business field and (4) the practical job performance skills, i.e. the ability to develop mutual trust and the ability to think, discuss, and negotiate logically and critically. Through the collaboration process, (5) the language skills are used as the communication tool. Japanese often equate the language skills in English with the intercultural competence. However, the other factors are also crucial. Among then, the college level education has a compelling need for (1) and (4).
