Konichiwa, Ann Arbor

Walk into any Ann Arbor coffee shop and there's a pretty good chance you'll hear a bit of French and Urdu, Hindi and Chinese, or German and Hebrew mixing in the air. Our small city is a veritable cacophony of languages, the population enhanced by foreign-born business people, international students and college kids trying to fulfill language requirements. 

But sometimes, to be understood, translation is not enough, at least in the business world.

"The problem of global business is communication," says Kenji Yano, president of Yano Consulting. "Language should not be spoken in a cultural vacuum. You have to understand the other side's cultural background, what their needs and wants are."

Through his two-year-old firm, Yano helps American companies do business with companies in Japan. He offers customary communications tasks like technical writing and translation, but also provides intensive cultural tutoring for people relocating to Japan (and for Japanese relocating to the US). Yano also teaches broader classes on Japanese culture and language at Washtenaw Community College.

He completed his post-doc in biology at the University of Michigan, then worked in business for five years until he saw a niche that needed to be filled.

"I realized the city is pretty unique — tech companies, a pretty highly respected research institute (University of Michigan). Naturally the scene fits the global market."

American companies can better respond to needs of companies in Japan. "That's not happening right now," Yano explains, although when you talk about globalization and the traditional manufacturing industry, the US has the skilled minds capable of producing products that would be desirable to tech-savvy Japanese.

With his consulting and cultural tutoring, Yano hopes to help companies here strengthen their communication skills to improve business and professional relationships with companies over there.

Surprised that Yano has businesses in the area to work with? Ann Arbor has more than a few "Japanese connections," some surprising. According to Ann Arbor SPARK's list of foreign-owned businesses, there are 13 Japanese-owned businesses in the Ann Arbor area. The Ann Arbor locations for Honda, Suburu Research and Development and the Toyota Technical Center seem most logical, but the town and its surroundings is also home to Terumo (a medical product manufacturer) (terumomedical.com), laser makers IMRA and NSK Bearings (the largest ball-bearing manufacturer in the U.S.).

"The common thread to [most] of these is the proximity to the automotive industry," offers Elizabeth Parkison, managing director of marketing and public relations for SPARK. "And what we've seen for advanced [research and development), the Ann Arbor region — beyond the city of Ann Arbor — has really become the hub for advanced R & D."

For Japanese nationals who relocate to the area to work at these and other companies, or as international students, Yano's cultural tutoring intensives can help them adjust to work and life in Ann Arbor. For their families, there's Koby Language Center, located on East Liberty street, steps from the U of M campus and downtown Ann Arbor.

"Most of our classes are ESL (English-as-second language) instruction, and we range from kids classes" for elementary students trying to catch up in school "to business education for adults," says Joel Hensley, Koby's ESL coordinator in Ann Arbor. "Ann Arbor is a big area for international students coming to college."

The center also offers classes for people who want to learn Japanese as a second language. There's also a Koby Language Center in Novi, and both "language centers" are spinoffs of owner Yoshihisa Kobayashi's Koby International Academy, also in Novi. Established 15 years ago, Koby International Academy focuses more on Japanese families here for a short time — a parent's business transfer, perhaps — and it works with kids to keep up their Japanese studies as well as keep up in the American schools. 

For those who are simply interested in Japanese language and culture, the U-M Center for Japanese Studies runs film and lecture series each semester. Anime-heads should check out the center's weekly showings of classics like "Akira" — and all screenings are free, as are the talks.

"We bring in various speakers from all walks of life," explains Jane Ozanich, program associate. So far she said she's gotten a lot of interest in the center's noon lecture series. This past October speaker Theodore Bestor, an anthropology professor from Harvard, drew a particularly large audience. His talk, titled "The Last Tuna?", addressed Japanese food culture and global fisheries.

The CJS also coordinates events from time to time with the Japan Student Association, though it is primarily a humanities-focused center for graduate-level research.

"The New Year's event that we do every January is very well attended," Ozanich says. "[Besides students] we have a very good showing from the Ann Arbor community.

If you're staying for only a short while, Ann Arbor Marriott Ypsilanti at Eagle Crest, profiled in a recent Concentrate video has begun to cater specifically to Japanese travelers. While simple amenities like Japanese television and newspapers are offered, the hotel is careful to note cultural differences — such as differences in Japanese and American breakfasts, offering meals that are more rice-and-fruit than cereal-and-toast seven days a week.

Yano knows the importance of cultural adjustment.

"Things are perceived differently in one country versus another country," he says. In his classes at WCC, he shows students how products like cellphones are advertised in Japan versus in the US. He also teaches about the differences in baseball culture; the sport is a national passion in Japan as well as here, but crowds act differently. "Japanese audiences are very noisy, they stand up and dance," Yano explains.

Knowing these resources can make the transition to life in Ann Arbor a bit easier. There's great potential in the resources available to connect Ann Arbor to the Japanese community, and to Japan, Yano explains, but it's a matter of using them all together.

"There are a lot of resources, but they are not interconnected," he says. "I talked to [an Ann Arbor business bureau] and they were not aware of the hospital's interpretation services … As far as the Japanese community is concerned, people come as far as Ontario and Ohio [to take advantage of U-M's health care services]."

The University of Michigan hospital system actually offers interpretation services in more than forty languages.

Initiatives such as SPARK's "cultural ambassador program" — where foreign-born business leaders are able to do cultural asset identification, networking members of their communities into other foreign-owned businesses — can also help make Ann Arbor more attractive to prospective arrivals. The city has a few other longstanding aspects, however, that make it appealing.

"From a relocation standpoint," Parkinson says. "There's access to the University of Michigan — a world-class research university — and the talent coming out of U of M and the access to academic bedrock can't be understated. Other things business often site is the quality of schools and quality of life."

Plus, even if going "home" for the holidays requires a 10-plus hour flight, the airport is close enough that Ann Arbor figures into the region's scheme for building an Aerotropolis.

"We're less than 30 minutes from Detroit Metro," Parkinson explains. "In many instances we're closer to the international airport than many suburbs."