> the fastest way for both parties is over the phone ASAP rather than through a bunch of emails
I don't disagree with your statement, but I read the sentence:
"Would you be interested to hop on a call with us to talk about this further?" with a similar gross reaction as the OP comment did.
Reading that in response to Marsf's original message of airing grievances and feelings of disrespect towards his work felt entirely tone-deaf and corporate in nature. Especially in context of this being in response to the Japanese team, where Japanese business communication norms are often at odds with the American standard.
You might think that this method of communication is inefficient, but the heart of the matter seems that the Japanese team finds the very emphasis on efficiency as disrespectful when it comes at the cost of the human element of respect.
Read through their "industry advice" section and thought this interesting:
> If you chop something on a plastic cutting board (because wood cutting boards are outlawed in commercial kitchens, apparently), test before and after chopping.
Who banned wood cutting boards from kitchens and for what purpose? I did some digging and some sources cite that neither FDA nor USDA strictly ban wood cutting boards, but individual state health departments are often strict on commercial kitchens that use wood instruments. I get concerns of wood being porous and all, but with the alternative being I have to ingest shavings from the plastic cutting board with every meal... Maybe it's time for a paradigm shift.
>> on the vibrant business and street culture in Japanese cities and the seemingly very, very low barriers to entry for regular people to participate.
> An astute observation that allowing markets to operate without onerous licensing schemes and regulations often has wonderful upsides
I suspect you are reading too much into this line from the article. Japan is a country full of bureaucratic regulations to the extent that it's often stifling -- especially compared to the US.
The overall lowered barrier to entry is largely a result of zoning laws differences between Japan and the US. In the US, zoning laws are largely permissive (you CAN build this here) where zoning laws in Japan are restrictive (you CANNOT build this here). This leads to huge differences in urban planning where Japan favours mixed-used development whereas the US has huge swaths of contiguous blocks separating residential and commercial zones.
Add to that, the cost of visibility is higher in the US because transportation is already car-centric. Small shops thrive on pedestrian traffic, which there is little of in the US outside core urban environments. NIMBY culture has killed much of urban diversity in America.
I don't disagree with your statement, but I read the sentence: "Would you be interested to hop on a call with us to talk about this further?" with a similar gross reaction as the OP comment did.
Reading that in response to Marsf's original message of airing grievances and feelings of disrespect towards his work felt entirely tone-deaf and corporate in nature. Especially in context of this being in response to the Japanese team, where Japanese business communication norms are often at odds with the American standard.
You might think that this method of communication is inefficient, but the heart of the matter seems that the Japanese team finds the very emphasis on efficiency as disrespectful when it comes at the cost of the human element of respect.