How to Work for a Japanese Boss

Predicting ``a new era of progress for the American worker whose future can be assured working for a Japanese boss,'' Bacarr--she has worked for Japanese bosses herself--offers a compendium of practical advice sandwiched between easy bytes of relevant Japanese history, customs, psychology, sex and office manners. With fewer in-depth analyses of case histories than the similar and invaluable On Track with the Japanese by Patricia Gercik (Nonfiction Forecasts, July 6), Bacarr ( Avenue of the Stars ) guides the employee through such mined ground as the discrimination against minorities, foreigners and women, hostility to labor unions and the maze of rules governing all social intercourse. Sometimes her upbeat directives about how to jump these hurdles are vague, as when for example, she discusses how women can establish a career when the company expects her to be gone by age 30: wear formal business clothes and a dark-colored lipstick; don't be too aggressive, but don't be too quiet, either; and respect yourself. But on the whole, her practicality and encompassing knowledge of the society provide specific and immensely helpful advice for those employed by Japanese companies in the U.S. (Sept.)