An examination of the different cultural traits, values, and business strategies of Americans and Japanese through simulation and role-playing is presented. A Japanese player and an American player, when presented with scripts, have a business conversation about a hypothetical business venture, and then discuss the interaction in interviews. The venture concerns potential marketing of an American-developed paint, and each was approaching the discussion with a different objective. In the interviews, each player was asked questions about his counterpart's protocol, nonverbal behavior, and language features. The resulting answers reveal very different perceptions of the interaction and the approaches taken by the participants and underscores the role of cultural traits and values in business communication. (MSE)