learned through her business<\/u><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> and her stay in London.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nWhat kind of communicator do you want to be?<\/h5>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
I think about who I\u2019m talking to. I always try to talk about my professional knowledge. Otherwise people don\u2019t want to listen to me – I\u2019m just a mother of two boys. But when I talk with other mothers, I want to be a friendly, easy person, so I don\u2019t talk about my business.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
What is one communication success that you can share with us?<\/h5>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
I\u2019m a very positive person – especially in Japan. I talk too much! But when I was in London, I felt like a different person for maybe half a year. London is so mixed – so many races. It was difficult to live there at first. I didn\u2019t know how to behave and struggled with what my personality was.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
I had an exhibition, and it was a really good experience. When I spoke about my textiles and products, it was so easy to share. I wasn\u2019t so nervous when I started to talk about my furoshiki business. People also wanted me to talk about Japanese culture.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Having those topics of my business and Japanese culture was very good for me and gave me confidence.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
What is one communication failure you can share with us?<\/h5>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
When I\u2019m in Japan, I\u2019m not so shy, but when I was living in London, I couldn\u2019t be myself. I lost my identity and couldn\u2019t communicate like I did when I was in Japan. But I noticed why I couldn\u2019t be like me. The first reason was the language. The second was the culture. Then I learned about the cultural differences and understood. I was very surprised that it took longer to understand the cultural differences than I\u2019d imagined.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
I noticed people\u2019s different clothes and hairstyles. As women, we can start to communicate through the way we look – our fashion or image – because people see the clothes and accessories first and they can become a talking point. I realized I should wear my furoshiki scarf or my favorite colored coat, for example. This was different from Japan where we don\u2019t have so many different races and individuality.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
If I hadn\u2019t started to express myself through my fashion and image and start communicating in that way, I would probably have tried to hide and not been the same personality as in Japan – I would have been hiding, doing Internet all day!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
What is most challenging for you in communication right now?<\/h5>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Thinking about my business, on my Etsy site my customers are from all different countries. Because of my experience in London, I think about their background first. I need to understand the cultural differences before starting the business.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
So if customers are Australian or Chinese, I think about their behavior. It depends on the personality of course, but there are usually similarities among Asian countries. The Taiwanese are similar to the Japanese. They use emoji. But maybe Australians or Americans write very simple, short emails. The British are very longwinded – even for wholesalers. Do they want to order or not? I\u2019m not sure. I think, \u201cWhat does this English mean?!\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Sometimes the Japanese and British are almost too polite. Everyone writes in English, so it\u2019s interesting to compare the simple English versus very polite English.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
What communication skill, resource, or advice would you recommend to our readers?<\/h5>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Maybe I have a very Japanese mind, but I think about other people first. It\u2019s not only Japanese people I know, but growing up in Japan I got used to thinking about others first. Sometimes it\u2019s annoying, but sometimes important to keep good communication.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
And also a positive mind is important – not too shy. Just go! Otherwise, we can\u2019t start anything. Like this interview, for example. We don\u2019t have any confidence first. Or maybe a presentation. I should say, \u201cYes, I can do it.\u201d Then we can start anything – a new experience. It\u2019s so scary and difficult, but experience is very important.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Also, I think more than 50 percent of our communication now is by email or social media. So maybe we should learn how to be good communicators in that way. I\u2019m still learning, but I think we should have a worldwide mindset. The world is getting smaller, so we should learn about cultural differences. Social media has no country barriers.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
![\"\"](\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\")
<\/p>\r\n
What else do you want to tell us about?<\/h4>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
I\u2019m thinking about other new projects, especially more efforts to promote and encourage Japanese craftsmen because they\u2019re struggling. I work with international designers and Japanese craftsmen. I hope people will recognize the value of handmade over mass-produced products. I want to promote the Japanese craftsmen, otherwise they will die out in the near future.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
We\u2019ll be launching a special new furoshiki late this year, so please look out for that!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Also, I\u2019m opening a studio in Jiyugaoka and to hold workshops in wrapping with furoshiki. At the Jiyugaoka studio, I want to find new way of communicating – not just focusing on the Internet or social networking world. I’d like to invite people from all around the world and make a place to meet each other face to face through the connection of our furoshiki.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
This is completely opposite from the way of communication that I\u2019ve been focusing on for the past seven years in my brand. I\u2019m very nervous and thinking about too many ideas everyday! But…. yes, I can do it!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An Interview With Kyoko Bowskill, Founder Of Link \u3053\u306e\u30a4\u30f3\u30bf\u30d3\u30e5\u30fc\u3067\u306f\u3001Link\u306e\u5275\u696d\u8005\u30dc\u30a6\u30b9\u30ad\u30eb\u4eac\u5b50\u3055\u3093\u306e\u30b3\u30df\u30e5\u30cb\u30b1\u30fc\u30b7\u30e7\u30f3\u306b\u304a\u3051\u308b\u6210\u529f\u3068\u30c1\u30e3\u30ec\u30f3\u30b8\u3092\u3054\u7d39\u4ecb\u3057\u3066\u3044\u307e\u3059\u3002\u8a18\u4e8b\u306f\u82f1\u8a9e\u3067\u3059\u3002\u305c\u3072\u3054\u89a7\u304f\u3060\u3055\u3044\uff01 Don\u2019t you LOVE furoshiki? So many great designs and you can use them in multiple ways. I was fascinated when I heard Kyoko Bowskill speak about her furoshiki business at a FEW (For Empowering Women) event in Tokyo. She combines international designs with traditional Japanese craftsmanship […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4672,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[61,55,56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-communication","category-interviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasugacommunications.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasugacommunications.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasugacommunications.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasugacommunications.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasugacommunications.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4671"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/sasugacommunications.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18364,"href":"https:\/\/sasugacommunications.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4671\/revisions\/18364"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasugacommunications.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasugacommunications.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasugacommunications.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasugacommunications.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sasugacommunications.com\/ja\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Kyoko-2-e1505704435894.jpg\")
<\/p>\r\n