This came to mind today - @patio11 you can probably weigh in since you've come to Singapore....http://mutazarif.com/articles/the-difference-between-western-and-japanese-email/ …
The best way to convince someone to do something is to convince them that they don't need convincing, and Japanese salarymen need no convincing to enthusiastically comply with clearly communicated counterparty expectations. (Probably won't be immediate.)