Diana K. Rowland

Diana K. Rowland is an author, cross-cultural training pioneer, and professional skydiver.

Biography

Early travel

Diana K. Rowland started her cross-cultural learning by leaving the United States at the age of 17 in 1968, flying to Luxembourg by an Icelandic Airlines turboprop plane. She traveled throughout Europe and North Africa for a year then took a 53-day overland bus from Europe to India in 1969 (later referred to as The Overland or hippie trail). She lived in India for two years before taking an East Germany freighter to Japan. Living in Kyoto, Japan for the next seven years she applied herself to becoming fluent in speaking and reading standard Japanese, as well as in Kyoto and Kansai dialects.

Skydiving

Rowland began skydiving in Japan in 1976, and has written a Kindle book about that experience. After returning to the U.S. she made 1,200 jumps, organized many world-record skydives including the largest formation at night, professionally taught advanced free fall skills, and organized commercial jumps for advertisements.

Some of her skydiving experiences in Japan and the U.S. have been documented in More Skydivers' Stories: Close Calls & Epic Feats Above Planet Earth.

Business life

In Japan, Rowland taught Japanese businessmen and worked for a Japanese trading company in the U.S. after her return. Experiencing the conflict between the U.S. business style and the Japanese, led her to write the bestseller, Japanese Business Etiquette: A Practical Guide to Success with the Japanese (Warner Books, 1985, 1993), which sold 100,000 copies and was translated into five languages.