Last night, I was ready to go to bed but a page of the Financial Times made me back to the desk again. A photo of a Japanese typical noodle restaurant caught my eyes. Wait a minute. This story was about Chinese table manners. I read through twice but, yes, it wrote about how to show respect to Chinese culture. Haha... I glued an origami flower on the sheet and gave "Well done!" to the Western businessman in the photo, sipping his green tea with a puzzed look on his face.
The next day, I called a FT editting room. A guy took the phone and I explained this case. He said "Ah... yes, today, there was a column writing about that ...." OK, then? He hesitated to use the word "mistake". So I helped him. "So... is this a mistake?" Guy:"(silent)" Me:"Oh, I just want to know that it was a mistake or was on purpose or..." At the end he confessed that it was a "straaaange mistake". And apologised me after knowing I was Japanese.
Yes it may be "strange" mistake. But this is quite ironic in terms of this topic - showing respect to other cultures - and this editor's confusion between Japan and China. I hope he has learned what he should do before writing a story such as cultural understanding.
On the LEADERS & LETTERS page today, 14 February, the smallest column titled ''Chinese manners, but a Japanese restaurant'' was found:
From Ms Stepanie Mitchell.
Sir, The article on manners in Chinese business ("Manners maketh man, and profitable deals", Global Traveller, February 13) made some good points. It would have been more persuasive, however, if the illustration accompanying it had not been a large photo of a meal in a Japanese restaurant that is clearly Japanese.
Brussel, Belgium
