A Case Study of the Operations of an Australian Bank in Japan

As mentioned in “How I Came to Be Here” in the “Tokyo, From One to Infinity” series, the text of a First-Class Honours thesis written by Professor John Middleton in a previous life.

This dissertation discusses the operations of the Tokyo Branch of Westpac Banking Corporation as they existed in 1987, focusing on the dynamics of the relationships between the expatriate and Japanese staff from a sociolinguistic perspective. Many of the observations about various aspects of the bicultural expatriate lifestyle are timeless and equally as relevant today.

While the findings of this empirical research have proven to be of most interest to aspiring bankers and scholars of Japanese sociolinguistics, fans of “Tokyo, From One to Infinity” may also appreciate the humour in the original data.