Japan has one of the lowest average NPS scores in the world, and the reason is cultural: Japanese customers expect more.
Daniel Orenes Ferrández, Senior Manager of Customer Experience at Uber, discusses Omotenashi, the Japanese philosophy of anticipating customer needs and apologising sincerely before resolving a problem.
Daniel has lived and worked in Japan for over a decade, including five years leading conversational AI initiatives at Rakuten. He explains why the Japanese language has between ten and fifteen ways of saying sorry, why choosing the right level matters as much as solving the issue, and how generative AI prompts can now select an apology tone based on contact type and severity, something fixed NLU responses could never do.
The conversation covers Aimai, the Japanese concept of ambiguity used to maintain conversational harmony. Japanese speakers rarely say no directly, and AI systems need specific prompting to catch these signals in sentiment analysis.
We also discuss the escalation strategy, digital mascots, integration with the Japanese messaging app Line, and practical guidance for global brands deploying conversational AI in Japan.
Show notes
Read Daniel's Substack, Japan CX Insider: https://danielferrandez.substack.com/
Follow Daniel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielorenesferrandez/
Follow Kane on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kanesimms
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