Korean + Japanese business culture decoders for Claude Code. Two specialist agents that translate what 회식 / 稟議 / 根回し / nunchi / 검토해보겠습니다 / 検討させていただきます actually mean — and what to do next.
claude --plugin-url https://github.com/daehounan/k-jp-business-navigators/releases/download/v1.0.0/k-jp-business-navigators-v1.0.0.zip
Cross-platform. No clone, no PowerShell, no build step. ~560 lines of focused content. Routing overhead: ~600 tokens (vs ~8,400 for the full agency-agents-fork bundle).
Foreign professionals reliably misread Korean and Japanese deal signals because the rules are invisible. A Korean "yes" is not always agreement. "검토해보겠습니다" usually means no — but "긍정적으로 검토" means yes. Japanese "検討させていただきます" is a polite decline. The real decision happens in 根回し before the 稟議 paperwork starts circulating. Miss any of this and the deal dies without you knowing why.
Public Claude Code collections covered every framework, every cloud, every game engine — but nothing for the cultural mechanics of doing business in Korea and Japan. This plugin closes that gap.
You: 거래처 부장님이 다음 주에 회식 초대했는데 어떻게 답해야 자연스러워요? 처음 미팅한 자리에서 바로 초대받았어요.
→ Skill korean-business auto-fires → routes to Korean Business Navigator agent → returns:
- What this signal means: 첫 미팅 후 즉시 회식 초대 = "이 거래 진지하게 보고 싶다" 신호. 거절하면 deal cools by ~30%.
- Reply template (KakaoTalk): 존댓말, 시간 비워뒀다는 신호, 2차까지 갈 의향 암시. Exact text.
- Pre-회식 prep: 차수 의미, 누가 어디 앉아야 하는지, 술 따르는 양손 protocol, 부장님이 잔 비우면 따라가는 페이스.
- What "다음에 잘 부탁드립니다" means at end of 회식: positive signal, deal advancing — schedule next contact within 5 business days.
You: 日本の取引先から「検討させていただきます」と返事が来ました。前向きですか?
→ Skill japanese-business auto-fires → routes to Japanese Business Navigator agent → returns:
- Decoded: 検討させていただきます = polite decline 80% of cases. Compare to "前向きに検討" or "持ち帰って検討" — those have different valences.
- What to look for next: 根回し signals (intermediary contacting you, request for additional materials with specifics, mention of 稟議 timeline) = real interest. Silence for 14+ days = it's dead.
- Re-engagement playbook: how to provide a graceful 言い訳 for them to reopen without losing face.
- Calendar awareness: if it's late December → Golden Week → Obon, decisions stall regardless of intent.
| Component | Lines | Triggers on |
|---|---|---|
agents/korean-business-navigator.md |
216 | Korean business signals via korean-business skill |
agents/japanese-business-navigator.md |
276 | Japanese business signals via japanese-business skill |
skills/korean-business/SKILL.md |
31 | 품의, 회식, 카카오톡 비즈, 한국 거래처, 결재라인, nunchi, 검토해보겠습니다, etc. |
skills/japanese-business/SKILL.md |
34 | 稟議, 根回し, 検討させていただきます, 飲み会, 商習慣, ビジネス日本語, etc. |
That's it. No framework lock-in, no marketplace dependencies, no telemetry, no outbound network calls.
The two SKILL.md files declare Korean / Japanese business triggers in their description. When Claude Code's runtime detects matching signals in your prompt, it auto-loads the skill, which delegates to the matching agent via subagent_type. No manual invocation required — just ask in Korean, Japanese, or English about a relevant situation.
To force routing manually:
/korean-business How do I respond to 회식 invite from 부장님?
/japanese-business What does 検討させていただきます mean here?
- Pure language translation (no business context) → use a translation tool
- Korean tech ecosystem APIs (Naver, Kakao, KakaoTalk Bot dev) → use engineering agents
- Japanese tech ecosystem APIs (LINE Messaging API, Mercari) → use engineering agents
- USCPA / 외무원 / 예비시험 / 司法試験 prep → use dedicated exam engines
- Korean / Japanese legal opinion → use
korean-legal-engine/ consult a lawyer
These same two agents ship inside daehounan/agency-agents-fork — a 163-agent collection covering engineering, paid media, game-dev, sales, and more. Install that if you also want broader coverage:
claude --plugin-url https://github.com/daehounan/agency-agents-fork/releases/download/v1.3.0/agency-agents-fork-v1.3.0-full.zip
Trade-off: full bundle adds ~7,800 tokens of routing overhead per turn for the other 161 agents you might not use. This standalone plugin keeps it under 600 tokens.
- Korean Business Navigator + Japanese Business Navigator authored for
agency-agents-fork, then extracted here for standalone use. - Source of truth for ongoing edits: this repo. The agency-agents-fork copy is regenerated from here.
- Cultural mechanics validated against lived experience in Seoul (2018–2024) + Tokyo (2021–2023) tech consulting engagements.
- MIT licensed. Contributions welcome — see CHANGELOG.md for version history.
git clone https://github.com/daehounan/k-jp-business-navigators
cd k-jp-business-navigators
pwsh scripts/build-plugin.ps1
claude --plugin-dir ./dist/pluginOr just install the pre-built zip from the latest release — recommended for most users.