Hey Paul — appreciate you taking the time to read and share some great thoughts here.
I can’t speak for Japan, but a decent chunk of my audience is from Europe so I’ve had the chance to test this out there and have seen good results.
For your comment on interests, our ultimate goal is to build a rapport and that comes through personal conversation. Obviously, you’ll probably be more drawn to a Arsenal fan if you also support Arsenal. However, if someone walks in with Manchester United in their interests, that can also spark a lively conversation which might be equally beneficial.
All that said, I completely agree that you need to know your audience. These are high level guidelines that have been proven to work at scale, but they are not the master key to success in every single situation.
To use your example, if you’re in Japan and you know that a resume requires a photo, definitely add it alongside any other details from the article that you find helpful.
Great advice, thanks for sharing!