Japanologist/Author Boyé Lafayette De Mente Pioneers New Way for Understanding Cultures

Author uses key Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Mexican "code words" to explain the attitudes and behavior of the people.

(PRWEB) June 21, 2006 -- It has become painfully obvious that defining people by their race while virtually ignoring their ethnicity is both dumb and dangerous, and the importance of understanding cultures is a new mantra for business leaders as well as diplomats and politicians.

For most people, however, understanding the cultures of others is a process that requires long periods of living in and personally experiencing the cultures, often preceded or combined with extensive studies of research by anthropologists and sociologists.

But there is an easier and faster way of getting into and understanding the mindset of people, says author Boyé Lafayette De Mente, known for his “cultural insight” books on Japan, Korea, China and Mexico.

According to De Mente, the values and attitudes of people can be accessed through key words in their languages -- terms that he refers to as “cultural code words.”

De Mente says that while working in Asia as a trade journalist in the 1950s he soon learned that the attitudes and behavior of the Chinese, Japanese and Koreans were summed up in a relatively small number of key words in their languages—words that explained why they thought and behaved the way they did.

“I first became aware of the role that these key words played in the mindset and behavior of the Japanese in my attempts to explain their way of thinking and doing things to American importers who began flocking to Japan in the early 1950s,” he said.

“I made use of this approach in my first book, “Japanese Etiquette & Ethics in Business,” published in 1959, introducing such terms as wa (harmony), nemawashi (behind the scenes consensus-building), tatemae (a facade or front) and honne (real intentions, real meaning) to the international business community.

“The more I got into the Japanese, Korean and Chinese way of thinking and doing things the more obvious it became that they were culturally programmed and controlled by key words in their languages, and that these words provided a short-cut to understanding them,” he added.

De Mente went on to write a series of “cultural and business code word” books on China, Korea and Japan, and eventually added Mexico as well.

“People in all societies, especially older societies, are primarily programmed by their languages,” he said. “And learning the meaning and everyday use of key words in the languages is far more effective than any psychological testing,” he added.

De Mente’s books that are based on his “cultural code word” concept include “Japan’s Cultural Code Words,” “China’s Cultural Code Words,” “Korea’s Business and Cultural Code Words,” and “Mexican Cultural Code Words.”

All of these titles, except for the Korean book, are also available in paperback editions under different titles, including “The Japanese Have a Word for It,” “There’s a Word for it in Mexico,” and “The Chinese Have a Word for It.”

De Mente was the first to introduce the now popular Japanese words kaizen (meaning continuous improvement) and kanban (just in time parts delivery) to the international business community

The latest work in his cultural code word series is "Elements of Japanese Design," scheduled for release in the fall of 2006. In it he identifies and explains the concepts and principles that are the foundation of the design of Japan’s arts, crafts and modern-day products.

“These concepts and principles, all expressed in key words, are rapidly becoming the universal standard for well-designed products,” he said.

A list of De Mente’s books, with descriptions of each title, is available on his personal website, phoenisbookspublishers.com.

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