Corporate gift giving is naturally of great importance in
the land of the rising sun, where company life is, well,
life itself for many. The Japanese love a gift because it
foretells respect, appreciation and friendship. When
meeting a new Japanese business associate or colleague you
will be expected to participate in the centuries old
gift-giving ceremony.
Gifts do not have to be of high value, although if they
are, this will not be considered a bribe or insult. For
senior Japanese executives however, the gifts should be
higher quality with increasing rank. This etiquette is
important to observe and failure to do so will cause
offense.
Gifts should be wrapped, but the paper should not be too
bright, nor white. Be especially wary of white because it
symbolizes death. Also never give things in sets of four,
because the Japanese word for four, "shi", closely
resembles the word for death. This probably rules out golf
balls, unfortunately. The Japanese can be very
superstitious about this.
Both hands must always be used to present a gift, or even a
business card.
You cannot simply turn up with a gift unexpectedly, except
on occasions where it will be obvious you are giving
something, such as a first meeting. Instead, you should let
drop some kind of subtle hint that you would like to
present a small token of respect or memento in the near
future.
When the gift is for a group, make sure that all are
assembled before making the presentation and bear in mind
that it is considered extremely rude to present a gift to
only one recipient. It must either be presented to the
whole group, or a gift given to each individual member.
The gift itself should be downplayed as much as possible.
This is usual in all Asian cultures. The friendship should
be allowed to come to the forefront rather than the
material object which is symbolic of it.
Monetary gifts or ones displaying the company logo are not
usually acceptable in Japan.
As for when to present your gift, the end of a visit is the
best time. Business gifts are presented at mid-year, i.e.
on the 15th of July, and at the end of the year, on January
the 1st.
It is not difficult to choose a gift for a Japanese person,
although as has been mentioned, if multiple gifts are to be
made, a strict ranking of worth is essential according to
company position. Products which are unavailable in Japan
are always welcome, as are extremely expensive ones. Pens
are highly appropriate as gifts for Japanese colleagues,
because the pen is a symbol of knowledge. It is also easy
to pack.
Gift giving in the Pacific rim is not as formal and
ritual-bound as it is in Japan, but here, too, the
importance of the gift should be downplayed and in addition
it is considered polite to show slight reluctance in
accepting a gift.
Corporate gifts are a bit more problematic in China, where
giving gifts to officials was banned during the communist
regime. Gift-giving is enjoying a popular resurgence, but
to avoid giving the impression that it is a bribe, the
following guidelines should be observed: your gift should
not be too expensive, should carry the company logo and
preferably be presented to a group rather than to a single
executive.
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Business corporate gift is for everybody – clients
and employees. Just like in Japan, unique corporate gifts
such as oil portraits done by artists like Jerry Carpos
from http://www.portraitkingdom.com may be sent to enhance
the growth of the business.
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