vjp2...@at.BioStrategist.dot.dot.com wrote:

>When I went to Japan in 1991 I had been told that Japanese consider
>it a sign of respect to make  notes behind a business card in order to
>remember the person you met.

Then you were misinformed.

>Recently,  I saw a senior MIS executive I had not  seen in two decades
>and she told  me she was told  the exact reverse.

I'd go along with that.

>The point  that  this brought  home  to me  is  that in  the constipated
>IT world,  it may well be considered  bad manners to write behind a
>business card, but  to Ivy investment bankers, the reverse is true.

Dunno about that, but in Japan you'd do better not writing on someone
else's card in their presence. You might get away with it as a
foreigner, but it's definitely not the done thing.

You can write addititional information on your own card (like a phone
number or whatever) when giving it to someone, but when someone gives
you a card the polite thing to do is to examine it carefully as if it
contained some blinding revelation and treat it with great respect.

John
http://rarebooksinjapan.com