Going for drinking parties (known as nomikai) with your colleagues in Japan is a common practice in many Japanese companies. Inviting staff to events like these is a great way for managers to encourage bonding between colleagues. In a global business environment, it is, of course, important to to be aware that cultural norms and values are not shared across all cultures.
We now have a very diverse group of foreign staff from countries like Nepal, the Philippines, Singapore, Fiji, France, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan and China at ISFnet. Recently our Global Strategic Division organized a BBQ that brought Japanese executives, managers and staff together with their non-Japanese colleagues.
It was the first such event to be held by the company and provided a valuable experience to our younger, less cross-culturally experienced staff who were not particularly aware of some cultures’ aversions to certain types of food (particularly meat) and alcohol. They were able to organize an event where everyone was comfortable and didn’t feel they had to eat or drink anything they didn’t want to.
If you are invited to a drink party or offered food that you can not eat, the best policy is always to be polite but honest. There is no need to feel embarrassed or worried. 40% of Japanese are unable to drink alcohol, so if you do want to the party but don’t want to drink, it is very unlikely you will be the only non-drinker their. If you are not comfortable, being with people while they drink alcohol, but want to show that you would like to build a good relationship with your colleague or manager, explain the situation and suggest lunch or another activity instead.
The best thing to remember are that these nomikai parties are a good chance for colleagues to have fun in a relaxed environment away from the office. Even if you are not a drinker it is a good time to build relationships with your co-workers.
ISFnet Group, which is a multinational, integrated IT services provider based in Tokyo, Japan. Check out their current job listings here.
Comments
This is a very interesting post, specially because it mentions the cultural difference between countries and the situations that are aggregated with such variety.
The fact and suggestion that was written in this article and I quote;
“The best thing to remember are that these nomikai parties are a good
chance for colleagues to have fun in a relaxed environment away from the
office. Even if you are not a drinker it is a good time to build
relationships with your co-workers.”
Is a very good guide as to people not to try to avoid such events because of certain things but to remember the “bigger picture”, the true objective of these events.
I don’t drink, am extremely interested in attempting to work and live in Japan in the future, and have been wondering about nomikai for quite some time. This makes me feel a lot better!