Cultural Exchange
You let loose a large yawn as you marched to the Dreamworks theater where Tomino requested your presence for a meeting to address some of the integration issues going on between the American and Japanese half of Dreamworks. It was just one of multiple issues for Dreamworks where you had to play firefighter recently and you suspected that for the entire month and perhaps the rest of the year once you returned from Conan you'd be working the 9 to 5 at Dreamworks Animation. You wish you could delegate to someone else, but Mike was busy macromanaging the entire company and George was doing his tech wizardry with ILM, THX and the new computer division. In the end, all responsibility for Dreamworks had to be laid on you, its primary advocate and parent of sorts.
As if it wasn't enough, you also had some other duties to attend to with the media blitz, strategizing for the trip to Sunrise next week and Academy charming that was being done in prep for the Oscars with Mike wanting to make sure that it was a full Lucasfilms sweep. You were stretched thin and very exhausted, probably the most you ever felt since American Graffiti and the first season of MASH.
If there was one bright spot to this miniature hell that you were somewhat responsible for it was that in a couple of hours you would be going home to have a wonderful romantic evening with your lovely wife. Carrie promised you that she would deliver a lovely night to help you destress and also create a nice atmosphere for some babymaking. Considering the rather risqué set of purchases she had bought recently including a literal playboy bunny outfit, you had full faith that Carrie would deliver.
'Bad Goose! Work now, Princess later.' You mentally reminded yourself before Carrie daydreams started flooding your brain.
Entering the theater, you saw the 50 Japanese men and women simultaneously rise up and take a formal bow. While your American subordinates held a high amount of respect and in some cases admiration, the Japanese treated you and George like royalty. Everytime you walked in the room with a Japanese employee they would be sure to do bow and their body language was filled with demureness and awe where it was like you were the President. Apparently Radar, Han and John Milner were incredibly popular Western characters and you were kind of like the 70s James Dean. It was not a situation you were comfortable with, but George on the other hand absolutely loved the attention.
"Thank you for coming everyone." You spoke in Japanese. While Kanji was still a bitch to learn, you were pretty decently fluent aside from a few social faux paus' and could get a decent grasp of Romaji pretty well, so aside from having trouble with some of the Hokkaido and Okinawan accents communication had been smooth in your personal end.
You took place next to Tomino who stood straight and smiled with his face absolutely beaming and high energy, a nice change from Don's grumpiness. "What seems to be the problem Tomino?"
"O'Brian-san, I have called this meeting so that you could perhaps explain to us some of the....oddities of American culture and the misunderstandings that have been rising between the two halves of our family."
You withheld a groan, fearful but knowing that this kind of thing would prop up. It was only within the last decade that America became more culturally aware of Japan then Godzilla, sushi, samurai and World War II. Even with your beloved imports the barriers just wouldn't wash away and probably wouldn't melt until the next generation.
You then leaned to Tomino with a low whisper, "None of our American staff has been....hateful towards their colleagues have they?" You asked with trepidation. America may have come a long way from the Interment camps and Toshiro Mifune was currently one of the most popular and beloved people in America, but there were still people who were either hateful in bigotry or held trauma from World War II and refused to see Japan as more than savage Fascists. You had even gotten a couple of angry letters from veterans who felt "Betrayed" that their beloved Radar would be a "Jap lover", as if airing Toho films was some kind of condoning of Tojo.
Tomino thankfully shook his head, "None that I am aware of. There have been a few heated arguments but more due to personality than race." You breathed an immense sigh of relief at that, happy that you didn't have to start firing racists.
"Alright everyone, I guess I'll be taking questions, feel free to ask anything you want and remember that while we do things differently here, it doesn't mean that the Japanese way is wrong or that it's bad to find some of our customs odd or bad. Let's just be open and honest with one another." You say in assurance, receiving a positive vibe and general nods of approval from the crowd.
Tomino was the first to start, "The way that Americans treat the end of the work strikes me as....disrespectful." He cautiously said.
You gave Tomino an inquisitive look, "How so?"
"In Japan, it is custom that we leave after the boss leaves. When the boss is finished, there is no more work to be done. If the boss is still working, we must play our part to help see the day ends. However, everyone else insists to leave after 5 pm." Tomino explained.
While you were truthful in that there were no wrong answers, such a behavior seemed....wrong to you. "Wait a minute, so none of you will leave until Yoshiyuki-san leaves?" You asked the audience, receiving various words of approval, though you could spot a few noticeable looks of disagreement, as if they wished the practice weren't true.
"Tomino, how late have you been staying at the office? Because we won't pay you overtime if you are choosing to work after hours of your own initiative." You ask in concern.
"I have not been staying too late. I leave before six, but I stay some time after five to make sure work is done in all departments." Tomino says.
You ponder over how to best deliver a diplomatic response a while before giving an explanation, "Well, in America, people leave when their clock says that work is over. This is because, we don't get paid after hours unless there is overtime, so no one sees any point in working for free. More importantly, people want to go home, relax and be with their families. They don't want to miss precious time with their children unless there is something important with work." You tried to emphasize. You had a feeling that in the future as a father there would be some nights where you'd come home after the kids were put to bed by Carrie or Debbie, but you wanted those nights to be few and distant between each other.
Such a response actually seemed to touch a chord with a decent fraction of the audience as a good number of Japanese animators immigrated with their families. Considering the stories that Dad gave you of the hard first years immigrating to America when his family were English-speaking and white, you could only imagine the difficulties their spouses and kids had to go through and how going home earlier would be be more helpful.
Tomino gave you a strange look, "So I should leave at five o'clock every day?"
You shook your head, "It's not like you HAVE to leave and drop all work at five on the dot. I really admire your work ethic Tomino and the responsibility you are upholding. However, I would hope that you or anyone else who stays doesn't stay for more than an hour or try to do work they don't need to or can be done tomorrow. If we need people to work long hours, we'll let the department know and pay everyone overtime. Generally, I would try to limit afterwork time to less than an hour and make sure it's spent completing something that can't be put on hold or just checking up on how things are ending. If people wish to leave, unless they are deliberately neglecting their duties and leaving a mess, then don't take it as a sign of disrespect."
Tomino gave you a nod of gratitude, you then opened up the floor to more questions with a whole host of people raising hands. You picked one of the animators sitting in the front row, "So when we have Nomikai, we can refuse to attend and it is not rude?"
"I'm sorry, what's a Nomikai?" You ask in confusion.
"A Nomikai is shall we say...an alcoholic party for offices in Japan." Tomino tries to explain.
"You mean you go to a bar or people drink beer and sake within the office?" You ask, not seeing how that was different from a casual bar trip.
"We go to a bar. This is when the company wishes to celebrate an achievement, milestone or sometimes holiday and through the Nomikai we form bonds of family. I am not particularly enthusiastic of the tradition, but I was planning on conducting it once we achieve major success or after a couple of months to "break the ice" as you say. However, I am worried because there are several strong customs in the Nomikai that I think our American coworkers will not like or understand. Also while not strictly mandatory, it is seen as something that you must attend or else you look to be shunning the company."
"Do you have to drink alcohol if you attend? Some of our people might strongly dislike alcohol or have moral or religious objections to consuming it." You asked, the absolute last thing you needed was for Dreamworks to become known as the alcoholic company.
Tomino strongly shook his head, "No, drinking is sort of the highlight as it were, but our events have food served as well, usually heavy on meat so you don't have to consume alcohol. What is importance is the attendance and camaraderie." You nodded slightly, that didn't sound too bad.
"Well we at Lucasfilms do have occasional parties and social gatherings, usually when a movie is released or it's for a holiday. Attendance is never mandatory and there are quite a number of people who for one reason or another don't go, either due to personal preference or other priorties. If you want we can discuss this later to see what kind of events we can hold, although we don't have anything planned until the Fourth of July. In the meantime you are more than welcome to join other employees in social gatherings on your own time. In America, we prefer to celebrate after work with close friends so it's more of how shall you say...bottom-top than top-bottom if that makes sense. Just remember to celebrate responsibly and not let what happens after work affect work." You say, getting reasonable nods.
You then received a question from Ishiguro, "I think we can all agree that Americans tend to be more relaxed and informal than us?" Ishiguro asked, receiving a general consensus in the room. "I think I speak for many that such casualness with strangers is a bit uncomfortable, yet when we converse I sense that our American coworkers feel us cold and distant. What is the right way to behave in the office?"
You hummed and bit your lip as you honestly saw both sides of the argument being right. Naturally you preferred a casual and friendly atmosphere, but being formal and polite wasn't necessarily awful. "In America we have a saying, treat others how you want to be treated. So if you treat others how you wish to yourself be treated, whether it be informal or casual, I see that as the correct way. In our culture we do have respect in the workplace, which is treating your superiors with due diligence, not being disruptive with your work, and maintaining a civil and friendly work environment. What is important is that you respect other's boundaries and personal space, which can sometimes be high or low. If someone makes you uncomfortable, please inform them and ask politely that they stop what is giving you discomfort, and don't be afraid to ask and make clear if what you are doing is seen as discomfortable or strange. So long as we understand where we are and who we are then I think that is a good workplace. If however, such discomfort is severe or harassment, please discuss with your superiors or HR." You finished, with Tomino particularly beaming at you with your talk of understanding.
More hands rose up, "I overheard Clements-san speak of pranks within the workplace, is this allowed?"
You then spent near forty minutes answering questions and while it didn't seem that the Japanese ways were going to go away, everyone seemed to at the very least gain a new form of understanding for why Americans did things so drastically different and that no one was seeking to disrespect the other. Maybe you should have a similar meeting with the American half, but unless they directly came to you then hopefully they could reach an accord. Brotherhoods forced by authority never tended to last long.
A/N: Pretty much all dialogue in this chapter was spoken in Japanese.
