"Those Japanese!"Japanese habits that Americans grumble about:

• Japanese are so polite and so cautious that you never know what they are thinking.
• Japanese use vague words and ambiguous expressions so that it is hard to know where they stand.
• Japanese are comformists.
• Japanese are forever expressing thanks and appreciation for this and that.
• Japanese are always apologizing, even when there is nothing to apologize.
• Japanese seem to be always weighing the meaning of this large Japanese scheme of things.
• Japanese are notoriously slow in making decisions.
• Japanese, for all their modesty, can be very ethnocentric.
• Japanese are very imitative, faddish and overly impressed by status.
• Japanese are too formal.

"Those Americans!"American habits that Japanese grumble about:

• Americans talk too much.
• Americans interrupt other people.
• Americans don't listen enough.
• Americans seem to think that if they don't tell you something, you won't know it.
• Americans are too direct in asking questions, giving opinions, and poking fun.
• Americans fail to express thanks and appreciation sufficiently.
• Americans are reluctant to admit faults or limitations: they seldom apologize, even just to be polite.
• American managers and directors give more attention to individuals than to the entire group or team.
• Americans do not appreciate the importance of certain formalities in Japan.
• Americans are too time conscious.