Toyota's Samurai Way of Car Salesmanship

[Will <Nabble>]

An interesting Wall Street Journal business story:


TOKYO -- Kengo Kubo, a sales consultant who sells Lexus cars in Tokyo, has a special way of opening a car door. He points with all five fingers to the handle, right hand followed by left. Then, he gracefully opens the door with both hands, in the same way Japanese samurais in the 14th century would have opened a sliding screen door.

"The most important thing is to make the motion look beautiful," says Mr. Kubo, standing in a gleaming Lexus show room with live orchids growing out of trickling waterfalls.

Full article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118393558292060374.html


Employees at a Lexus showroom in Tokyo
use the same posture samurais used
700 years ago.

I am really curious as to how Japanese feel about this. I am sure the Samurai stuff feels noble and exotic and high-class to those non-Japanese. But to the Japanese, don't they feel old?