JSRP Field Guide · No. 02 · For partners & suppliers

Why Your Japanese Partner Says Yes — and Nothing Happens

A field guide to decision pathways. The meeting went well, everyone agreed on next steps — and then, silence. This guide explains what actually happened: not culture or manners, but organisational mechanics.

• The three kinds of “yes” — and how a decision really travels inside a Japanese company
• The five stations of a decision pathway, and the signals that separate progress from polite parking
• Field moves for this quarter, a self-diagnostic to locate your proposal — and how to tell when it is not the pathway at all