The blue eye Samurai |
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A red haired and blue eyed Samuari Kim Christian Botho Pedersen: We know Japanese people from samurai movies, smart electronics, exotic food, a unique culture, unsurpassed courtesy and much more. People with red hair and blue eyes will not fit into our picture of a Japanese person. It is simply a mismatch. Nevertheless, there is a red-haired and blue eyed Dane, who has managed to adapt so well to the Japanese society that he completely disappears in the crowd of small black-haired Japanese, without the Japanese notices that he is different. If it were not for his obviously foreign appearence that is. |
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| Kim Pedersen is his name. Born in Denmark, of Danish parents and raised in Japan, where he attended an ordinary Japanese elementary school, so far out in the country side that even Japanese people from Tokyo, Osaka or Nagasaki, find it far out. This was before the age of mobile phones, but he has yet learned to bow, even when he speaks in the mobile phone. Real Japanese do so. You cannot see it anyway, so it is meaningless to bow while talking in the phone, a Dane will say. But no, the Japanese Kim Pedersen knows that it is the attitude that counts! Your attitude can very clearly be heard, also at the other end of the phone. Therefore it is important to show respect, to bow, even when talking on the phone. For a real Japanese hear it, as was he standing right next to you. Without showing respect, you will not achieve much in the Japanese society. |
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| There are many other Japanese cultural features which seems strange to us. The many Chinese characters that containing infinite number of strokes. How do they know the difference between them? For us, it looks like gibberish. But the Dane, or was it the Japanese, Kim, he master them better than his mother tongue, Danish. Or is his mother tongue, in fact Japanese? Nobody knows. When he went to the University in Denmark, he was known to "take notes in Japanese." It was probably easier for him. By closer look at him, he actually do look a bit like a Japanese. His eyes are a little crooked. Or is it just the imagination playing tricks on us, I wonder? |
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| Japan is a combination of the traditional and the modern, they say. Kim is a combination of the traditional Japan and the modern Denmark. In the Japanese business world, it is important that the balance between tradition and respect, commercial sense and cunning on the one hand, innovation and audacity on the other hand. A combination between Danish and Japanese upbringing is perfect for exercising this brinkmanship in practice. But it requires that he is not subject to either a Danish or Japanese boss. It is not easy to be employed under the Japanese extreme “top down” working environment, admits the Danish part of Kim Pedersen. One's professional pride can cost everything in Japan and it actually did, up to several times so far. |
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| In Japan, you need to be able to read between the lines. Not only is the language difficult, but when it comes to understanding what is really being said, most of it is written between the lines and not necessarily in the beautiful Chinese characters. But our Danish-Japanese friend has through a long career in export, trade and marketing learned this art. Following completion of a Danish export and marketing diploma at the Danish Export Institute, he has worked as commercial attache at the Royal Danish Embassy in Tokyo, manager in a Japanese company and have had his own business in both Japan and Denmark, and has performed numerous consulting assignments for not just Danish and Japanese, but also for companies from other countries. |
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| Right now, Kim Pedersen is looking for new opportunities. He is looking for a company that sees potential in using him for a Japanese adventure. Start ups is what he does best. While he waits, he uses this opportunity to write a few books. He has used his unique knowledge of the cultural differences between Denmark and Japan, to write about our different perceptions and attitudes towards democracy, equality, freedom (especially freedom of speech) rights, working environment, top-down management and many other socially relevant topics. The Japanese loves to hear about our culture, about what the differences are and what makes us think like we do. Japan may learn much from our high degree of democratization, high degree of freedom and much more, says Kim, as well as the Danes can learn a lot from Japan regarding respect for other culture, respect for the elderly and superiors as well as other people in general. The book is written in Japanese, of course. If he had written it in English, we could all benefit from his writings, but Japanese obviously seems to fit much better to him. |
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