@maryldixon.bsky.social I can’t call in but my sustainability action is buying almost all my clothes used. Check out ThredUp, it’s awesome!

福島の原発周辺１２市町村の農地、東京ドーム１００個分に太陽光パネル乱立…避難長期化が影響か 【読売新聞】　東日本大震災以降、福島県の農地７平方キロ・メートル超に太陽光パネルが設置されていたことが、読売新聞の衛星データ分析で分かった。このうち東京ドーム１００個分に相当する４・７平方キロ・メートルは、東京電力福島第一原子力発電

Tokyo Dome as unit of measurement alert. Yomiuri says around 100 Tokyo Dome's worth of Fukushima farmland has been given over to solar panels. www.yomiuri.co.jp/shinsai311/n...

Do you have Japanese team members who’ve recently relocated to the U.S.?
Even highly capable employees can struggle at first—not because of ability, but because expectations around communication, ownership, and workplace norms are completely different.
/1

アメリカ人と効果的に働く方法 Working Effectively with Americans Online Seminar [日本人向けオンラインセミナー]　セミナーは日本語で行われます。

Next week, Yoshi Ieda from our team is leading a practical seminar designed specifically to help Japanese professionals ramp up faster and work more effectively in the U.S.
www.eventbrite.com/e/working-ef...

Do you have Japanese team members who’ve recently relocated to the U.S.?
Even highly capable employees can struggle at first—not because of ability, but because expectations around communication, ownership, and workplace norms are completely different.
/1

Link: c.org/jH5DNRCrqD

The restaurant will close & gardens + buildings destroyed when land lease expires, but what happens next is still unknown.

Our petition asks:
• Tokyo Tower Co.
• Tokyo Met Gov
• Minato Ward
to preserve the garden & buildings.

Ting Him Mak photo

New petition!
More than 22,000 people have already signed this petition to protect a spacious garden and traditional buildings located at the foot of Tokyo Tower.
The future of the site has not yet been decided — which means there is still time to act.
Link in next post.

WORKING EFFECTIVELY WITH JAPANESE ONLINE SEMINAR Learn how to effectively work with Japanese colleagues and clients in our online seminar!

Working Effectively with Japanese online seminar, 3/31, U.S. E. Coast time zone.
Topics include:
* Japanese communication style
* Why Japanese don’t give a lot of feedback
* Overcoming the language barrier
* How decisions are made in Japanese organizations
www.eventbrite.com/e/working-ef...

AMA Podcast (S-02, E-06) with Rochelle Kopp of Japan Intercultural Consulting YouTube video by Real Gaijin

YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpEG...

AMA Podcast (S-02, E-06) with Rochelle Kopp, Founder and Managing Principal of Japan Intercultural Consulting Meet an expert on Japanese culture and business practices. We discussed Japanese communication style, organizational behavior, and decision-making in Japanese firms.

Substack: realgaijin.substack.com/p/ama-podcas...

My podcast interview w/ Mark Kennedy is now up! Catch it on Substack or Youtube (links below). We discussed Japanese communication style, organizational behavior, and decision-making in Japanese firms -- & how my boss at Yasuda Trust was the reason I never got invited to nomikai!

Tomorrow morning Japan time, this afternoon/evening U.S. time, catch me live on Mark Kennedy's Real Gaijin Ask Me Anything Podcast!
Mark has some great questions lined up so it should be a lot of fun.
realgaijin.substack.com/p/ama-podcas...

Working Effectively with Japanese - 1/29 half day in-person Tokyo seminar Learn how to communicate and collaborate more effectively with Japanese colleagues in this interactive Tokyo seminar with Rochelle Kopp.

www.eventbrite.com/e/1980534657...

This week!
Working Effectively with Japanese seminar in Tokyo.
Intensive half-day focused on communication and decision-making. Understand the cultural factors behind Japanese business behavior, and strategies for increasing your effectiveness!
Details and registration: link in the first comment. 👇

No, never heard of him. I don't spend a lot of time on YouTube.

I’m hosting my first in-person open seminar since the pandemic on Jan 29 in Tokyo! Join me to learn practical ways to work more effectively with Japanese colleagues. Half-day, focused interactive session. www.eventbrite.com/e/working-ef...

Communicating Effectively with Japanese — 2/25, online U.S. time
In this highly focused 2.5-hour session, we address the “triple whammy” of Japanese communication:
• Indirect communication
• Ambiguous messaging
• English as a non-native language
www.eventbrite.com/e/communicat...

Japan Intercultural Consulting: New Year Greetings and 2026 Updates -- Highlights from our global client work, growing team, and new services launching in 2026.　japanintercultural.com/about-us/new...

Happy new year everyone! Greetings from Tokyo. Steve (who is visiting Japan taking a break from caring for his mother in the U.S.) and I went to the Procession of the Foxes at Oji Shrine on New Year’s Eve, and got into the spirit. Wishing everyone a wonderful 2026.

Black Friday Savings on All JIC eLearning Courses - 25% discount on every course through Monday. Use code JICBF25 at checkout.
Japanese Business Culture Toolkit, Japanese Cultural Values, and courses in Japanese.
Browse the full course catalog here: elearning.japanintercultural.com/collect.../p...

This campaign needs you now Microsoft: Please keep the “Reuse Slides” feature in PowerPoint

And it's going to go away completely in January!
I started a petition to ask Microsoft to keep the Reuse Slides function. c.org/c2CkjM95Mt

This campaign needs you now Microsoft: Please keep the “Reuse Slides” feature in PowerPoint

I started a petition asking Microsoft to not retire Reuse Slides. c.org/c2CkjM95Mt

Microsoft has evidently gone back on such pronouncements previously when there was an outcry. So I am thinking, let’s make an outcry! I’m not going to give up my beloved Reuse Slides without a fight!
Please sign and share.
Thank you!

I’m a successful petition starter (I was voted Changemaker of the Year twice by Change.org Japan users for my petition to against cutting down 1000 trees to redevelop the Jingu Gaien area in Tokyo), so I decided to try on this one.
/4

What they say are alternatives don’t work as well. I am absolutely beside myself. I looked online in the Microsoft forums and saw that a lot of other people are upset too, especially trainers and consultants like us who have a lot of Powerpoint decks that we reuse and recombine.
/3

Today I sat down to work on some slides for my training session this week and when I went to use Reuse Slides I nearly fell off my chair when I saw that Microsoft is retiring this feature in January. Whaaaat?!!!
/2

NEW PETITION TO SAVE "REUSE SLIDES" FUNCTION IN POWERPOINT
PLEASE HELP BY SIGNING AND SHARING!
This is an absolute nightmare for consultants and trainers like me -- and maybe you too.
c.org/c2CkjM95Mt
Regards
Rochelle

Décoder le Japon - Lancement du livre Le premier guide interculturel qui décrypte le Japon de manière accessible

For French speakers, Japan Intercultural Consulting's Paris based consultant Liza Maronese is publishing France's first comprehensive cultural guide to Japan. Kickstarter open until December 12th. Details here: www.kickstarter.com/projects/dec...

What happened to the English announcements on the Shinkansen? The former wonderful ones from a voice talent are gone, replaced by something that sounds like it might be AI, that pronounces Kyoto as Kee-Oh-To and mangles Shinkansen pretty horribly too. Truly grating on the ears.

Bought a yukata! First time to own one. Vintage from IG Yui-michael