"When in Rome" - The spirit that sealed away the American way

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"It was important that everyone was united in their thoughts. However, there were many different actors involved, so someone had to coordinate and make sure everyone was heading in the same direction."

The most dangerous thing is when everyone is looking in different directions, says Kasamatsu.

"The most difficult thing is overcoming the many barriers that exist. The language barrier is the most prominent one, although it is a small one compared to the other barriers."

Coordination meetings were held entirely in English, with remove background image the occasional help of an interpreter. On-site, the tools acted as a go-between.

Maeda Road Co., Ltd. Tohoku Branch Sendai Minami Sales Office Manager <strong>Masatoshi Kitahara</strong>
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Maeda Road Tohoku Branch Sendai Minami Sales Office Manager Masatoshi Kitahara
"The U.S. military can speak a lot of Japanese. They all have iPads, and when they type in English and press the button, it's converted into Japanese, and when they speak into the iPad in Japanese, it's converted into English," said Kitahara.

So what is a troublesome barrier?

"It takes a very long time to overcome differences in ideas and culture, in other words cultural barriers," says Kasamatsu.

The reason Kasamatsu emphasizes this point is because of his own experience in Pakistan, where the first American soldiers to arrive to provide relief had Saturdays and Sundays off, despite the country being a Muslim, and were playing catch with their upper bodies bare.

"It's an extreme example, but it would have been better if the U.S. military hadn't come," Kasamatsu said.

U.S. Marine Corps Colonel <strong>Craig S. Kozeniski</strong>
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U.S. Marine Corps Colonel Craig S. Kozeniski
However, this time the U.S. military was different. They put aside the American style of top-down execution and respected the Japanese way of working, which entails fine-tuning and moving things forward.

"When they greet the people at the airport, who are also disaster victims, they bow instead of shaking hands," says Kasamatsu.

One day at a coordination meeting, a young Marine Corps commander suggested a more efficient way of disposing of car wrecks, saying, "Let's do it like this." However, this would obviously require a major change in the direction of the work of the others. It was Kozenisky who stopped the commander, saying, "Wait a minute. Even if it's waste to us, it has an owner. Treat it the Japanese way."