(By the way, the Camry is also a good car! Its design is nice these days. By the way, today's illustration isn't really related, lol)
When I lived in Los Angeles, I was involved in the development of air-cooled fans for Intel CPUs. At that time, an Intel engineer told the earnest Japanese engineers, "What we want is a Camry. Not a Ferrari. If you don't change your thinking here, we won't make it in time..."
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Now, there's a YouTube video comparing Japanese and American customer support (I usually dislike these kinds of sweeping cultural comparisons), but there were some points that made me go "Oh!". At the same time, while rejecting the generalization, I broke it down in my own way.
In Japan, if you complain, they just apologize.
"How long are you going to make us wait?!"
"I'm sorry, we're experiencing high volume, and we're assisting customers in the order they arrived. I'm so sorry, so sorry."
"If you know it's going to be crowded, you should contact us in advance. We have our own schedules, you know."
"You are absolutely right. I apologize. I apologize."
In the US, it would be:
"How long are you going to make us wait?!"
"We are doing our best to provide service. Please wait."
"If you know it's going to be crowded, you should contact us in advance. We have our own schedules, you know."
"That's your customer's convenience. We are providing the best service we can, so please understand. If you don't like it, please step out of line."
This is easier to understand if you think of it as a Camry. It's about cost, customer base, and volume of customers. For large businesses with a constant stream of customers. In the US, they don't handle every situation individually like this. They don't bow their heads. It's not a Ferrari. They just deliver the Camry to those who want a Camry, doing their best. That's okay. In Japan, they politely bow their heads to each individual for things that aren't even their responsibility. This creates too big a gap between stress levels and wage levels.
"Omotenashi" is some kind of mysterious, vague word. It's not something they do themselves, but people in power who don't even understand what it means just tell the Japanese people, "Whatever it is, just do 'omotenashi' silently! It's a virtue!"
Come on, let's make a judgment already. Make your own decisions.
It's a story about Ferrari, but in America, there are businesses that deal with customers individually and in depth. These are high-end products or small, long-established local businesses. If you go to a small local deli, they know each person's preferences and needs, and they remember your name. (So it's not a one-size-fits-all approach.) It's the same with traditional Japanese restaurants in Kyoto.
You don't have to bow your head or apologize to someone you might not see again. It's not about cutting ties; it's absolutely case-by-case. And I'm not saying we should slack off or be careless by using the example of the US. It's about judging each situation and responding seriously and sincerely. (Apologizing for everything isn't necessarily being sincere.)
And, you know, in the future, I want to build a Ferrari and
I want to provide Ferrari-level service.