business card (meishi) for study trip

Hi all,

I will go on study trip with my university to Japan in July. Because we will also visit several companies, I think it's best to have business cards/meishi with us.
Now my question is:
- should only the 5 organisers (students) have meishi? or maybe only the 'most important' organiser?
- should the two professors accompanying us have meishi as well?
- should all the people in the group (~27) have meishi?

Can we expect that the people welcoming us at the companies would want to receive 27 meishi so that he knows who everyone is? Meaning that he will give 27 meishi away as well?
Or would meishi for the most important people and name cards for the rest suffice?

Thanks so much!
(Tips for printing English/Japanese meishi also appreciated!)

Regards, Liz

Hi Liz,

You as a student will not be expected to have a meishi.
They are quite important to business men/woman as they show your cultural link to the company. You are a company person etc.. These are exchanged with other people of similar status.
You don't have such an attachment to a company as a student.

Enjoy your study trip :)

Liz,

I think it would be a good idea for the group leaders and professors to go prepared with business cards. They don't have to be anything special or even necessarily in Japanese, just a name and basic university contact details, so they know who they are talking to and to help them remember your names.

People from abroad sometimes seem to get the wrong idea that Japan is all about meishi, but it's not. In Japan, a name card given at the wrong place can seem pretty ugly, as if you're trying to show off your profession without trying to associate as an indivisual human being and potential friend.

As Dave suggested, it's not a bad idea for the few people at the top to carry some name cards, but just because someone older gave you a meishi, that doesn't mean that a young student has to give one back.

Actually, even a better idea would be to put name tags on everyone's chest, so that it would be easy to socialize upon meetings and gatherings. A meishi is not always the best way to remember someone, unless you're expecting to put it out of your file to do business with that person in the near future.

not only formal situation but also on a casual situation you d better carry meishi to hand it who gonna be a good friend. I mean like 100 shiets

On a short study trip, no one will ask you for a meishi. Really. So save your money. You can just exchange email address if the opportunity ever crops up. It's not a big deal.

I one of the many locals who really don't like people handing out meishi for friendship, but that's just me.

Thank you for all your replies! It really helped me a lot!
I will forward this info to the organisers.

Japan, here we come! :P

Thanks again!