Business Trip to Japan: How to Prepare, From Meetings to Nomikai

A good business trip to Japan starts weeks before you fly. Book meetings well ahead and avoid Golden Week, Obon and New Year, bring more business cards than you think you need, arrive early, dress conservatively, and treat the evening dinner as part of the work. Learn a handful of Japanese phrases before you go, and send a clear follow-up within a day of each meeting. Here is how to plan each stage.

Plan the timing first

Japanese companies tend to plan their calendars well in advance, and senior people fill up quickly. Ask for meetings several weeks ahead, explain who is coming and why, and give a few date options rather than one.

Three periods are best avoided, because many offices close or run with a skeleton staff:

• Golden Week, a cluster of public holidays from late April to early May.
• Obon, in mid-August, when many people return to their family homes.
• New Year, roughly the last few days of December to the first few days of January.

Many companies also run their financial year from April to March, so March can be busy and early April brings new staff and reshuffled teams. Check exact holiday dates for the year you travel, and ask your contact whether there is anything else on their side to work around.

Before you book flights, check the entry rules for your nationality and the purpose of your visit on the website of your nearest Japanese embassy or consulate. Short business visits are treated differently from paid work in Japan, so it is worth confirming rather than assuming.

A simple preparation timeline

Business cards and gifts

Business cards, 名刺 (meishi), are still exchanged at almost every first meeting in Japan. Pack plenty: you may meet several people at each company, plus others you didn’t expect. A card printed in Japanese on one side, with your name in katakana and your job title translated sensibly, is a practical courtesy and helps people remember who you are. Our guide to business etiquette when meeting Japanese clients walks through the exchange step by step, and Japanese job titles and hierarchy helps you read the cards you receive.

A small gift from your home city is a nice gesture on a first visit, but customs are changing and some companies no longer accept gifts. See Japanese business gifts and seasonal greetings before you buy anything.

Punctuality and dress

Being on time matters, and in practice that means arriving five to ten minutes early. Large office buildings often have a reception floor and a security gate, so allow time to find the right desk. Trains are punctual but stations are big; give yourself a buffer, especially on your first day. Our guide to Japanese for trains and getting around covers the basics.

For dress, a dark, conservative suit is the safe default. Many offices follow a lighter dress code in the hot summer months, when jackets and ties are often dropped, but as a visitor it is easier to start formal and follow your hosts’ lead. Wear shoes that are easy to slip off and socks without holes, because some restaurants and traditional venues ask you to remove your shoes.

Dinners and nomikai

An evening meal or drinks, often called a 飲み会 (nomikai), is where much of the relationship building happens. A few habits help:

• Wait for the toast. Nobody drinks until someone says 乾杯 (kanpai).
• Pour for others. It is customary to fill other people’s glasses and let them fill yours, rather than pouring your own.
• You don’t have to drink alcohol. Soft drinks and oolong tea are normal. Just say you don’t drink, without a long explanation.
• Talk business lightly. The evening is for getting to know each other. Decisions still happen through the proper process, as our guide to negotiating with Japanese companies explains.
• Thank your host the next day, in person or in your follow-up email.

For ordering and table manners, see eating out in Japan.

A handful of phrases worth learning

Your Japanese partners won’t expect fluency, but a few phrases said with care make a real difference to the first impression:

• はじめまして (hajimemashite): nice to meet you.
• 〇〇と申します (… to mōshimasu): my name is …, the polite form for introductions.
• よろしくお願いいたします (yoroshiku onegai itashimasu): I look forward to working with you.
• 本日はありがとうございました (honjitsu wa arigatō gozaimashita): thank you for today.
• ごちそうさまでした (gochisōsama deshita): thank you for the meal, said at the end of a dinner, especially when your host has paid.

A short Japanese crash course before you go

You don’t need months of study to get these right. A few short, focused lessons before the trip can cover a self-introduction with your name pronounced the Japanese way, the card exchange as a role play, greetings and thank-yous for meetings and dinners, and enough survival Japanese for taxis and hotels. A tutor can listen to your pronunciation and correct it, which apps can’t do well. Start with our guides to introducing yourself in Japanese and learning Japanese before a trip.

Using an interpreter

For any meeting where real decisions are discussed, a professional interpreter is usually worth it, even if some of your counterparts speak English. Book early, send them your agenda, slides and a list of names and technical terms, and plan for meetings to run longer. Our guide to working with a Japanese interpreter explains how to brief them and how to speak so your message comes across.

Follow up after the trip

Send a thank-you email within a day of each meeting, briefly summarising what was discussed and the next steps, with names and dates. Thank anyone who hosted you for dinner. Then keep the momentum going with regular, polite updates, since decisions may take longer than you expect. Our guide to Japanese business emails has phrases you can use.

If you’d like to practise your self-introduction and key phrases with a native speaker before you fly, a few sessions with an online Japanese tutor can fit around a busy schedule.