Prep for Yokohama Includes Seminars on Japanese Cultural

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – The Golden Triangle is buzzing about the arrival of Yokohama Tire and this week, the Golden Triangle LINK is hosting seminars to give the public more information about Japanese culture.  Tuesday’s seminar was hosted at EMCC.

Mieko Kikuchi is the Japanese liaison for Renasant Bank and the facilitator for this week’s seminars explaining the basics about Japanese culture.

“At the seminar, we talk about what the Japanese culture is like and who we are in order for us to understand each other,” says Kikuchi.

The LINK sponsored the seminars hoping to give those who may work and live closely with the Japanese an opportunity to get familiar with their customs and language.

“As Community Counseling Services, we know there’ll be a lot of new people coming in to our community and anxiety and depression might be things that they experience in their 1st time as they adjust to our new culture and our community. We want to be sure that we’re able to treat their needs,” says Martha Wooten of Community Counseling Services.

During the session, Kikuchi discussed some basic customs used when doing business and interpreted how the Japanese greet one another.

The local economy is expected to grow as well as the population of Japanese nationals and officials with the LINK say learning to communicate will be the key to making this new business venture a success.

“The number of Japanese people that will be employed and residing here in the Golden Triangle  will not be as large as some people think that they might be. It will be a small percentage of those employed at the facility. However, I think it will be a cultural barrier for both sides, in that, if we just work as best we can to try to communicate with each other effectively, it’s appreciated both ways,” Macaulay Whitaker.

More seminars will be held at MSU on Wednesday at CAVS Room 2200 and Thursday at the Civic in West Point. The seminars are held twice a day at 11am and 4pm.