It looks like you’ve already got the right attitude for servant-leadership, but I would definitely recommend finding an online course on management and leadership. There are some really valuable tidbits on communication and understanding in most reputable courses.
It’s usually easy to tell new managers who haven’t taken such a class before. There are little tell-tale things that they do that are universal no-nos that aren’t obvious for even the well-intentioned.
Going to second @DukeTrout about an online management class. Your new employer may also offer ongoing supervisor training and you should try to make time for it. It isn’t just about leading your direct reports, it’s also about being their voice and advocating for them with higher management.
Congrats 
you are going to do fine!
That sounds like just what I need! I can make time for such a course in the coming weeks, so please let me know if you have any recommendations. I don’t mind paying out of pocket if it means that I can get things up and running smoothly. A lot of the Japanese resources seem really outdated and overly reliant on Drucker, and I don’t think that the company would have hired me if that was what they were looking for.
FranklinCovey has a good leadership communication online course.
I can’t vouch for it, but there is a Servant Leadership Institute that looks promising and has a lot of free resources to check out to see if they have a style that you like.
I’m sure you’ll do great but one thing to possibly keep in mind is that they’re team members, not subordinates.
Of course, some of it won’t apply in a non-western context. 
I wouldn’t count on that. The good leadership training I’ve had isn’t culture- or language-centered. It’s focused on listening, understanding, and providing clarity of purpose to your team.
Sure, though i doubt it’s all universal. Asian cultures, for instance, often have very different behavioral expectations for those placed differently in a hierarchy. 
Servant leadership itself subverts traditional Western hierarchical structures, too. It’s still more successful and productive in any organization.
This may or may not be true, depending on the company structure and the work culture in Japan. Going into a management culture where a strict hierarchy is the norm and treating subordinates as equal “team members” can cause a great deal of trouble. Having subordinates doesn’t have to mean “treat them as less-than.” It can often mean recognizing that you’re being paid to make decisions, some of which might be difficult for those who work for you.
Yes, thank you fo going down the “technically but…” path. I didn’t want to make the point that in a rigidly-heirarchical culture such as Japan treating lower-ranked personnel as equals is likely to be problematic but that subordinate by definition means ‘less than’ so it’s probably better to avoid that terminology if possible, even if only in talking to yourself.
I am not a manager, but I’ve had some managers over my career.
As a manager, your primary job is to be the filter between your reports and your upstream. They need to know what they need to know, so it’s your job to take long memos from above and filter out (and sometimes translate the politics of) what’s relevant for your guys. By the same token, you have to filter upwards. Learn what your reports’ concerns are, and package that up to send up the chain. That way, instead of “I think”, it’s “my team thinks”, and you have a chance to do diplomacy to the language en passant.
Your job is not to do the work, your job is to make sure the work gets done. Give them things to do. If you have a chance to muck in as well, then take it, but try not to leave any of your team bored in the process. Give them things to stretch themselves, but don’t assign the impossible. Let people have specialities, but try not to let them be the only one who can do that thing, because that rarely ends well.
Feedback. People like to know that what they’re doing is appreciated. The occasional individual or group “well done on that thing, I know it was hard.” can make someone’s day. Praise in public, chastise in private. Check in regularly. Not like official 1-on-1s (although that too, with the understanding that sometimes there’s not a lot that needs to be said, so just gossip for half an hour), but try to have an idea on an ongoing basis what each of your team is up to and how they’re doing. The Performance Review Process (I’m guessing those happen in Japan too) are a minimum requirement thing not a replacement for knowing your team, and there shouldn’t be anything that comes out at a 6 monthly or annual Performance Review meeting which is a surprise.
That sounds like exactly the type of leadership that I hope to bring to the table, and I believe that it aligns with the company’s expectations as well. I will be sure to read up on that before I start next month. Thank you!
I am not too worried about the cultural aspects in terms of East vs. West. This is very young tech company with a multinational workforce, so it won’t be like my stodgy old company. Also, although my team is overwhelmingly Japanese, everyone is a professional translator/interpretor, so I am sure that they already know what they are doing when it comes to cross-cultural understanding.
Definitely not! Don’t forget the mint or lavender!
I’ve been experiencing a new manifestation of dysphoria lately 
It’s occurring every time I look in the mirror lately. Every glance in the direction of a mirror starts off euphoric as I see myself looking back, only to have that euphoria yanked away as my face seems to transform before my eyes…
to reveal “him” staring back. Luckily, I can calm myself quickly enough and I’m able to see the progress I’ve made, but fuuuuccccckkkkkk!!!
Normalising takes a while, but I’m glad you’re seeing and feeling the progress - that’s how you know you’re going the right way 
Thank you. The moments of euphoria I feel have really helped keep me going when things have gotten bad and I feel lucky that euphoria seems to be occurring with greater frequency.
It happens more often and it lasts longer, I like how you’re noticing that, and it really does get easier to be yourself.
I feel you. Mood’s been low so I’ve been seeing ‘him’ a lot more lately too, though the last couple weeks have gotten better as some good things have been happening and I’m starting to see myself more often. Hope things start getting better for you soon!
