The Japanese are very understanding when foreigners inadvertently trample across social conventions and corporate niceties. But obeying as many of the rules as possible - whether in the boardroom or the bathroom - will go a long way towards impressing hosts or smoothing the passage of a business transaction.

Among the most quintessential of all Japanese pastimes will be a visit to an "onsen," or hot spring resort, either as part of a holiday or as a gesture from a business colleague after a hard day around the bargaining table.

Japan has elevated taking a bath to a social event. After stripping off in the locker room and concealing one's modesty behind a towel about the size of a handkerchief, a visitor to an onsen takes a stool before a mirror, tap and array of liquid soaps and shampoos.