Omotenashi as Emotional Labor for International Omotenashi Workers

Abstract

Omotenashi is known as a type of hospitality in Japan. I worked at a Tourist Information Center (TIC) in Kansai International Airport. Then, I became interested in my foreign colleagues who had joined us in recent years. They provide omotenashi in multiple languages as Japanese workers do. This study aims to know how they adapt themselves to work. It examines how they understand and practice omotenashi and how languages affect their emotions at work compared with their Japanese counterparts. I conducted a survey of 110 workers and interviews with 14 omotenashi workers at TICs around Japan. The results demonstrate that the Japanese language impacts both foreign and Japanese workers. There are two main reasons. The first is related to Japanese ways of using honorifics and the ways of communicating common in Japan ; the second is a hierarchical relationship between customers and workers embedded in the Japanese hospitality industry. To practice omotenashi, foreign and Japanese workers use emotional labor strategies: surface acting and deep acting. Finally, I found that foreign workers had come to their own ideas of omotenashi and shared them with Japanese workers. The study suggests that to make omotenashi transactions successful, omotenashi workers need to obtain emotional labor strategies and manage their emotions and expressions strategically. Furthermore, customers need to realize they are not gods and come down onto an equal footing with workers. Once an equal relationship is achieved, omotenashi can be exchanged for a simple word of “thanks.”