This is a brief introduction to some concepts that would help define the role of public relations as practiced in Japan. Although the Japanese like to think of themselves as atune to nature, much of urban Japan is an industrialized, built-up mess. This is the result of ad hoc redevelopment after the war(1). In Japan, there is a word, omote, which refers to the public, formal, and conventional aspects of behavior(7). This can refer to ingrained patterns of behavior, such as how close to one another people stand, or who shakes whose hand first at a meeting. It also can allude to behavior in business affairs and events in a business setting. Ura, which is more valued, refers to the private, informal, and unconventional aspects of culture