November 18th, 2006
UPF : An odd Japanese meeting in Jerusalem
“Wei…”
I thought I knew this voice from somewhere, but could quite place it. I don’t get that many phone calls in English, but my online and Asia activities do bring me the occasional strange calls – “yep, that’s me”
“Oh, yes yes, very. Eh-oh-eh this is Tatakinakamo speaking, you – yes – you remember – remember come me?”
I kept silent for a few moments, trying to recall anything that would explain this phonecall. It took about 20 second to remember the no-English Japanese girl who knocked on my door one day asking for donations for the Japanese/Korean World-Peace Federation held in Jerusalem every year or so.
“Oh, you’re the Japanese girl from the peace organization. This is a surprise. So you’re still in Israel, eh? How are you doing?”
“Oh, very good. So so. Yes. I want to, eh-oh-eh, we like visit your family. Meet family, talk peace. Peace, yes?”
Although my family does talk and care about peace – or lack of – quite often, I just couldn’t picture the situation, especially with what seems like a massive language barrier.
“I’m not sure that’s possible. May I ask how many people you called so far? Did you visit anybody already?”
I detect some cultural gaps as well. She sounded like what I asked really offended her.
“I’m interested in meeting with your organization, because I would like to know more about Japanese people in Israel, but my family may not share my curiousity”.
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And so I got a few other phone calls, all taking a long time to communicate and reach somesort of an understanding. I was very impressed by this girl’s motivation to promote somesort of an agenda which I didn’t understand in a Hebrew speaking country using very bad English. I tried asking her a few times how she feels about her job but that always seemed to embarrass her. We eventually set to meet in a house, 5 minutes walk from my own, which is the UPF head-quarters. I really didn’t know what they want from me and what I should expect.
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I met the Japanese girl at their center and she invited me to sit down and wait for her friend while I read a bit about their lectures regarding world love and world peace. I read one brochure, then another, then a magazine, but I still couldn’t understand what the organization was about. It seemed well-funded and well-established with photos of all sorts of Israeli politicians coming in to their events, but reading through the material it sometimes felt like some sort of a cult with a spiritual message that boarded religion. It was quite strange.
Then came the friend, who to my relief spoke much better English, and then she asked me what I wanted to hear about. I explained that I have no idea what I was doing there, I’m not even sure what the organization is about and that the only reason I’m there is because I was curious to meet with them, as Asians who live in Israel. I went further to show them I can read some Chinese characters in their Japanese leaflets, and told them that I’m a student with the East-Asia department at the Hebrew University. The friend seemed very pleased and so we spent about half an hour saying how much we like each other’s areas of the world.
What was especially fascinating was that the reason why she likes Israel and tries to promote Israel in Japanese media and the reason why I like Asia so much and try to promote Asia with my Israeli acquaintances was quite the same. For her, Japan was too materialistic and familiar, with very little spirit with people sometimes following tradition and costumes without “belief” just because “it was always so”. Israel, and especially Jerusalem, seemed like the center of good-will and belief to her, quite different from anything that she’s ever experienced before. I made the exact same case only on the opposite sides. Visiting Asia I felt human spirituality that was very different from the harsh every-day reality of the somewhat western-materialistic somewhat direct-power oriented Israeli reality. I immediately felt at home with the open and friendly people that I’ve met even though I was a complete stranger. In Asia I kept wondering what a foreigner would feel like in Israel, and was worried that we Israelis would not bestow such hospitality. I was glad to hear from the Japanese lady that she feels here just as I did living in Taiwan and Vietnam.
The last part of the meeting was odd, and might reflect on some of the cultural mis-understandings. The lady did what I considered to be a promotion for some Korean Ginseng tea. She gave me some leaflets to read, explained for about 15 minutes where the Ginseng is from and what it does to the body, stating that “Korean Ginseng is the best quality, and that is why it is most expensive” and then invited me to taste a hand made Korean Ginsend Tea. When I tried to speed thing up asking whether she wants to sell it to me she was taken back and responded with a null confusing “oh, no no, we don’t try to sell it for profit, we just try to help make the world happy and healthy”.
Before we parted, the friend commented that I seem like I come from a very good family and that she would love to come and talk to my family. I said that I’ll ask.
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Although I’ve spent almost 3 hours with the two Japanese ladies, I still have no idea why they invited me and what they want from me, nor do I know anything about their organization. Looking at their website, the organization seems to be something serious with a clear message, but the whole experience has me confused. Maybe it is just cultural differences, I really can’t say.
China furious after Israeli officials visit Taiwan
Jerusalem - the Rehavia tour
Asia knocking on my door
Jerusalem - the Rehavia tour … -3-
Culture : comparing Israeli and Japanese flights
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Filed under Asia in Israel
November 16th, 2006
The Israel Invasion : Chinese companies doing business in Israel
Yeah, it seems the interest is mutual. Chinese market leaders are coming to Israel to introduce themselves to the Israeli companies. It just so happened that a couple of hours after posting "The China Invasion : Israeli Hi-tech companies doing business in China" I got a link on email to a YNet story : Heads of leading Chinese firms to visit Israel (Avi Shauli)
Chinese businessmen to hold business seminar in holy land; three of delegation’s companies expected to sign agreements worth millions of US dollars with Israeli companies
The heads of leading Chinese firms are scheduled to visit Israel next week in a bid to introduce themselves to the Israeli industry. Three of the companies are also expected to sign agreements worth tens of millions of US dollars with Israeli companies.
The delegation, which will arrive in Israel following an invitation extended by the Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry, will hold a business seminar for Israeli industry representatives, as well meetings and visits in different sectors of the industry.
The delegation includes 11 presidents and heads of China’s leading companies, including Bank of China, DATANG Telecom, SMIC, and others.Oded Abel, the Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry’s economic and trade representative to China, said that the delegation was coming to Israel with the declared goal of introducing itself to the Israeli industry and examining Israel’s technologies in the fields of information technology, telecom, agriculture and more.
The Asia Department at the ministry’s Foreign Trade Association reported a recovery in Israel’s exports to China (more than 24 percent) compared to a drop of approximately 4 percent last year.
The trade deficit opposite, however, China continues to be significant. In 2005, Israel’s exports to China amounted to USD 725 million, while imports from China totaled USD 2.3 billion.
Hmm… I wonder how one registers to attend this kind of thing.
The China Invasion : Israeli Hi-tech companies doing business in China
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Filed under Asia in Israel, China
November 15th, 2006
The China Invasion : Israeli Hi-tech companies doing business in China
China’s a big target for Israeli hi-tech expansion and the latest Israeli Telecomm 2006 Expo showed just how seriously Israelis are about doing business in China.
Haaretz, Israel’s best newspaper, had a section made especially for summarizing Telecomm 2006 with a special piece titled “The China Invasion” by Hanan Bar-On. Here’s my very quick translation of some highlights from this article :
It’s not only the world’s largest country, but also serves as an enormous Telecomm growth potential, which is exactly what Israeli hi-tech companies are searching for in China. Here’s how to succeed in a highly challenging and superstitious market.
What do Comverse, Amdocs, ECI, Gilat, Radcomm, Radvision and Tadiran have in common? Those Israeli hi-tech giants, and many other are active in China. Very active. […]
Economical reforms and opening up to the west have turned China into an economical super-power. China joined WTO on 2001, which was a big step in transforming China into a global economy leader […]
How can an Israeli Telecomm company succeed in China? First of all, it should establish local connections with a local partner, which would allow a long term partnership with loyalty and mutual commitment. It will need an English speaking partner who knows the rules of the games and is able to deal with local bureaucracy, get the right approvals and maintain local regulations. Through the local partner, it might be able to get to the big Telecomm players, which is the number one goal […]
But, sometimes teaming up with a local partner isn’t enough, and one of the best ways to succeed is just to buy a local firm. Obviously, only large companies are able to do so and a good example is Amdocs which paid over 30 million dollars to takeover Longshain – the main provider for billing platforms in China. […]
“You have to know how to talk with the Chinese” says Shafrir, who helped Radcomm and Radware enter China. Shafrir has good Chinese skills and, according to him, a long experience working with the Chinese market which allows him to bridge between the cultural gap that Israelis are facing in China. […] It’s not very surprising to learn from Shafrir that like everywhere else, the key factor for success in China is having connections. “In China, sales are based on personal connections and you have to know the right people. […] The right way to enter China is to get used to their way of doing business. You have to create personal connections that go beyond work and to understand the term GuanXi, which means – to bond with your Chinese partner. You do so by hanging out together in long dinners, singing Kareoke (KTV), drinking lots of Chinese wine (Bai Jiu), and bringing gifts, lots of gifts. The main points for success are : patience, patience, honor and ‘saving face’”.
Israeli companies representatives say that the Chinese market isn’t easy, especially due to the cultural gap. “Chinese rely a lot on honor”, says Shafrir, “honor them, and they will honor you” […] China is a wonderful country, with great people and an interesting culture, but they are very superstitious . When you want to do business, you have to go and spend the evening with them and be very careful not to offend them. They will be offended by anything” […] “Ceremony is also very important to the Chinese and you have to follow those strictly, like with the businesscard swap”.
Many companies from lots of different countries are going into the Chinese market. Do the Israeli firms have any advantage? Shafrir : “Almost none, but there is more openness to accept the Chinese”. Eli Doron : “There is competition, but we have one major advantage – Israel is considered to be a hi-tech super-power”.
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