2011 Japan, Tea for CEOs { 48 images } Created 30 Oct 2008

In every interview and meeting I attend, in the nicotine stained boardrooms of corporate Japan, I get brought a drink, mostly green tea, sometimes bad coffee, sometimes fruit juice, and once a carton of banana milk...



Companies with household names such as Canon, Toyota, Honda, Suzuki, know how to look after their CEO's and their guests...



Five minutes into every meeting, there is an almost inaudible knock from outside and the boardroom door silently opens, ushering in an employee- always female, never male- bringing refreshment of some kind, perhaps coffee to wake up the inhabitants of sometimes achingly dull meetings. If you're lucky she will come twice during the meeting- first with tea, secondly with coffee, always silently and served with a little bow and a sweet smile.



Within these pictures we see the hierarchical society of Japanese companies, the dated uniforms still worn by secretaries, the bad art on the walls, the overhead fluorescent lighting, and the decor that is invariably stuck somewhere in the 1970's. A small glimpse into the boardrooms of mythical monster of Corporate Japan Inc.



©Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert 2010