A question of trust
One of the most important concepts in daily life in Japan is shinyo, which means “trust,” and when Japanese have dealings with individuals or businesses, choosing someone they can trust is extremely important.
Of course, everyone wants to deal with people and companies they believe will do right by them, but in Japanese society the idea of only working with trustworthy entities is elevated to a much higher cultural level. One way to make sure you’re working with people you can trust is the concept of shokai, a kind of introduction whereby someone who is already trusted by a third party will formally introduce you to them, in effect sharing the goodwill they’ve already established with both you and the third party. Because both parties have a trust relationship involved, they have an obligation to make sure everything goes smoothly to avoid “stepping on the face” (to use the Japanese phrase) of the person that brought you together.
There isn’t a single aspect of Japan that isn’t improved by this trust-based relationship system, and time and time again I’ve found myself depending on people who had been formally introduced to me by someone else I trusted.
My wife recently sold her car through a used car dealer, and I happened to remark that it was odd that cars are seldom sold between individuals in Japan — there’s no local version of the Auto Trader or eBay Motors. The reason, I was told, was that no one would ever be able to trust a stranger enough to buy a car, since they might be lied to about important details or otherwise taken advantage of, so they instead rely on professional companies whose reputations they can verify, of course paying more for the privilege.
Interesting post. I’d also suggest that car buying is such a big deal in Japan that it is not something as is done casually in the USA. I don’t think you can buy a car in Japan unless it is from a dealer due to the constraints of owning a car in that lovely country.
July 9th, 2008 at 4:02 amOf course they do things like, make sure you buy a car on a “lucky” day like Taian, or have a Shinto priest bless your car to guard against accidents.
July 9th, 2008 at 4:23 amI would have thought Japanese people trusted each other more ansd in the US, people trust each other less. But Americans often sell and buy their cars from a private party.
I think the motivation for Americans is to get a better deal so they take the risk.
On a related note, Japan’s Gulliver Motors, which I believe sells used cars, has now expanded to the United States. They have opened a branch in Torrance near Los Angeles.
July 9th, 2008 at 8:10 amI’ve had opportunities to buy used cars in Japan from friends and acquaintances. I’ve also sold a car to a friend once.
I think one reason it doesn’t happen as often in Japan is that you don’t drive cars forever (i.e., when they get really cheap to buy/sell) due to the shaken (registration and safety check) price jump after a certain number of years (5 or 7 maybe?).
Peter, are you in a fairly traditional area? I don’t think any of my Japanese friends and acquaintances have done those sorts of things when buying a car. Some, particularly females, have put up the driving safety charms (omamori)
July 9th, 2008 at 11:32 amYes, we are in Isesaki, pop. 200,000, quite a rural area compared with Tokyo. I’m sure there are plenty of people who aren’t as superstitious as my area/family is, but every car we’ve bought has been received on a “safe day.”
I did also sell a bike to someone once, and my wife was incredibly stressed out that he’d go and kill himself on it after we sold it to him. We had the motorcycle checked out by a mechanic and replaced the brakes just in case.
July 9th, 2008 at 11:58 amLast year we had some kind of animal (never did figure out what it was) that I could hear scurrying across the ceiling of my office late at night. I kept putting off having someone come in and do something about the critter, and eventually it went away.
Every local that I mentioned it to told me that I was in big trouble because the only reason a wild creature would leave a house is that the structure is unsafe. I always quip that maybe it moved because it found out a gaijin is living nearby.
July 9th, 2008 at 12:14 pmDoctor Wanted - a good one - for Gunma/Ibaraki/Tochigi area
Male pref.
Able to read English (I have speech “difficulties”).
If you cant trust your Doctor - who can you trust?
Thanks
rem.
July 9th, 2008 at 12:35 pmI’m not sure ” trust ” plays such an important roll in the case of selling cars between individuals in Japan. In general Japanese rely more on organization ( professional company) than individual, because Japanese are kind of people who don’t want to take initiatives enough to negotiate with foreign persons by themselves. But I guess American do more so.
” There isn’t a single aspect of Japan that isn’t improved by this trust-based relationship system, and time and time again I’ve found myself depending on people who had been formally introduced to me by someone else I trusted. ” Probably this doesn’t work anymore in Tokyo.
July 9th, 2008 at 9:59 pmMaybe I’m skewed to running a business in which we have to actively build trust with other companies we work with before we can know each other. I remember when the Battlestar Galactica toy line from Konami came out, we needed to buy like two flat trucks full, but our distributor was very antsy since we’d just started working with them. It was hard to convince them we were trustworthy enough to allow such a big purchase.
July 10th, 2008 at 12:31 am