YCAPS@Yokota – Step Up: Overcoming Cross-Cultural Differences in Japan

YCAPS@Yokota – Step Up: Overcoming Cross-Cultural Differences in Japan

February 12, 2020 , 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm (Asia/Tokyo)

Leland Gaskin’s prolific work “Step Up” will serve as the topic of this seminar.

The Yokosuka Council on Asia-Pacific Studies (YCAPS) hosted their penultimate YCAPS-JUMP seminar near Yokota Air Base on Wednesday, February 12, 2020. The seminar welcomed Leland Gaskins, author of Step Up: Overcoming Cross-Cultural Differences between Western and Japanese Businesspeople. Mr. Gaskins’ new book is a simple story that contains practical solutions to help recognize and overcome common cross-cultural problems. It brings a multi-disciplinary approach to address real-world issues to enable people to succeed in globally connected careers. Mr. Gaskins reflected on his experience working in the Japanese business community and on the process involved with developing this book to talk about applicable lessons for those engaged in intercultural relationships beyond the business sector.

While reading the book was unnecessary for the event, if you would like to purchase a copy, it is available for sale here.

About the Speaker:
Leland Gaskins has lived and worked in Japan for more than twenty years. For ten of these years, he served as principal Investment Representative in Asia for the State of North Carolina. In that role, he worked with numerous Japanese companies, assisting with their investments in U.S. operations. Prior to that, Gaskins was Senior Vice-President, Asia-Pacific, at Cognitive Arts Corporation, an industry leader in building high-impact experiential educational programs for universities, corporations and government. In this role, he focused primarily on workforce learning and development priorities at major Japanese companies and Japanese subsidiaries of Western firms.

Gaskins has observed and discussed cross-cultural issues for many years. He long ago came to two conclusions. First, that most cross-cultural conflict between Japanese and Western business-people is essentially the same few problems being repeated again and again. Second, that most of the cross-cultural training people have received has not been effective and there must be a better way. This has led him to focus in recent years on developing a deeper understanding of culture, cross-cultural conflict, and conflict resolution. Step Up brings together this research with his years of experience, his interest in innovative learning methods, and his desire to offer a better solution.

Gaskins lives in Tokyo with his wife, Carolyn. When not obsessing over these current projects, he can often be found exploring rural Japan by bicycle.

Thank you for everyone who attended and please stay tuned for information on future YCAPS-JUMP events!