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Expatriation has been the subject of many studies. However, it has been less frequently studied through the prism of Japanese expatriate managers working in Japanese subsidiaries abroad, and even less through the prism of their foreign counterparts working in Japanese subsidiaries under their command. The authors conducted seventeen qualitative interviews with European managers representing six different nationalities, who had varying degrees of managerial and supervisory responsibility. The aim of this exploratory study is to contribute to research on the understanding of the cultural challenges of a managerial difference between cultures, and the adaptation mechanisms proposed by European managers who have worked for Japanese subsidiaries in Europe.