First, it is necessary to mention a few cultural traits of Japanese culture that every businessman should remember. Japanese culture is collectivistic, which means that they do things for the betterment of the group. They are hierarchical, meaning that they value status and rank among each other, yet at the same time they work very hard on interdepartmental relations to promote harmony between lower level personnel and superiors. The Japanese are a formal culture, which means that they are very courteous in dealing with business matters. They are a culture with lots of social stability or "wa" which means harmony. They are not accustomed to change and prefer to do things the way they have always been done in order to keep peace and good relations within the group.