What is Gaman and what does it mean in Japanese culture?

Photo: Lunchtime meal in summer, somen cold noodles

Gaman is an important concept to understand when understaninding and dealing with Japanese customers

Essentially it means that Japanese often tend to sacrifice their personal feelings and opinions ahead of the group or company.

In terms of customer service in Japan, store workers self-sacrifice to provide an outstanding level of service and this may include personal hardships such as long hours, a hard commute and paying attention to small details in order to please the customer.

Foreigners working with Japanese must deeply understand this concept as Japanese customers have very high service standards which are cultural specific.

Source: Deciphering the Japanese Cultural Code,

International Marketing Review, Autumn 1986

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