First impressions are not made by what you say. They are made by what you prepared. Omotenashi teaches: (1) anticipate what the other person will need in the first sixty seconds, (2) attend to the invisible details — the temperature of the room, the cleanliness of the space, the readiness of the materials, and (3) make your effort invisible — the best first impression feels effortless, even when it took hours to prepare.

Going Deeper

Explore this concept further in The Japanese Art of Omotenashi by Takeshi Mori.

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