Having meals together with foreigners can play a critical part in understanding them. First of all, we have to decide what to eat. If a foreigner visits Japan for sightseeing and wants to eat whta the Japanese people usually eat, it wil be better to choose the Japanese style dishes among others. If a foreigner is eager to try some special dishes, you will search for a restaurant which can serve those dishes. Before both of you eat together, you will need to communicate with the company. This is the first step for you to understand that foreigner.
Next, once you start to eat, you cannot keep eating without saying anything. You may talk about the current situations, what happened that day, what you are thinking about, or what you are planning to do during your next vacation. During such talks both of you will express your own feelings freely. However, it would be rare for a foreigner to think the same way as you do about the same incident. Even though you are talking with your Japanese friend, you cannot completely have the same impression to a single incident. It will lead to understanding your friend to know about what opinions your friend does have to one thing. Through talking with each other, you can find a new aspect of the company. Maybe you are likely to talk about the foods which you once ate overseas, about what you want to eat next time you go abroad, and a restaurant where you want to visit some day. Then you will talk to the company over dishes and will understand each other much further. Of course there are some other ways of communicating with foreigners, but eating together seems to be the best way.
