“It’s not mystery, but…”~ Japanese organization culture ~

Chikafuji, Ryu(TAKA KONDO)

Last Modified: Jan/5/2010Nov/20/2009

~ Category Theme ~

❖Comparing the culture between United Statesand Japan, people say that Unites States isheterogeneous culture, on the other hand Japanis homogeneous.

❖America is,

❖Urban.

❖Countryside.

❖Friendly.

❖Hostile.

❖Full of arrogance.

❖Full of honesty.

❖Selfish.

❖Self-devoted.

❖Rich.

❖Poor.

❖Innovative.

❖Conservative.

・・・

❖I could agree the argument, “Japan ishomogeneous”, before I started to work inUnited States.

❖But, now I feel something weird about it.

❖Regarding surface of things such as demographics,of course, there is no argument, I agree it 100%.

❖How about internal aspect or mental things?

❖I don’t think it is homogeneous, I think it isvery heterogeneous.

❖Right side square looks very homogeneous“white”, but if you use magnifier, it isn’thomogeneous.

❖I feel an analogy in this color mixing logic.

❖By the way, for fruitful discussion or betternegotiation, to understand your partners’internal aspect or mentality will help you a lot.

❖Why?

❖Because internal aspect or mentalityinfluences persons’ or organization’s attitudeor decision process significantly.

❖Is Japan homogeneous culture in terms ofinternal aspect or mentality?

❖Dr. Ruth Benedict(1887~1948), Americananthropologist and author of “TheChrysanthemum and the Sword”, describedabout Japanese culture.

❖ When a serious observer is writing aboutpeoples other than Japanese and says theyare unprecedentedly polite, he is not likely toadd, ‘But also insolent and overbearing’.

❖When he says people of some nation areincomparably rigid in their behavior, hedoes not add, ‘But also they adaptthemselves readily to extreme innovations’.

❖When he says a people are submissive, hedoes not explain too that they are not easilyamenable to control from above.

(snip)

❖When he writes a book on a nation with apopular cult of aestheticism which gives highhonor to actors and to artists and lavishes artupon the cultivation of chrysanthemums, thatbook does not ordinarily have to besupplemented by another which is devoted to thecult of the sword and the top prestige of thewarrior.

Quoted from:✎ First chapter of “the chrysanthemum and the sword -

pattern of Japanese culture”, 1946

❖A lot of contradictions are described inBenedict’s book.

(Some criticize her work)

❖Many things have points in her book eventhough she had never been to Japan.

❖I was born in Japan, got an education inJapan and worked at Japanese company.

❖However, I have had similar questions withDr. Benedict.

❖In this theme, “It’s not a mystery, but…”,I’d like discuss about various aspects ofJapanese organization culture with caseexamples.

❖I’m hoping that my contents to be postedhere will give you some hints for your betterexperiences in interacting with Japaneseorganization.

❖Following pages are kind of trailer aboutwhich I’m planning to write.

❖Each title and its abstract is just currentdraft version, so I may not post it or changedifferent topics.

❖Anyway, I’ll update this slide as needed.

“Histories of Digital Still Camara”

❖ Digital Still Camera (DSC) market has been extraordinary sharpcontest market which included two different industries, cameraand consumer electronics.

❖ DSC was the first full-fledged consumer digital product exceptpersonal computers. So, it required close encounters of AmericanIT industry such as Microsoft, Yahoo!, Google, etc.

❖ DSC market destroyed film camera market, coincidentally,Camera Phone is creeping into this market.

❖ In early stage, Japanese manufacturers had over 90% global sharein DSC market, and they have still major share in this area.

❖ To review DSC market gives us a lot of suggestions to understandJapanese organization cultures, I think. So, first of all, I’d like towrite about a history of DSC.

#1

“Behind the Mystery”

❖ Most Japanese people are not religiousness.❖ However, religions are still unconsciously influencing people’s

action and way of thinking, I think.❖ What makes Japanese culture so different from the rest is its quit

unique “religion system(*)”. Japanese religion is highly syncreticbeyond completely different religions.

❖ Not only religions, the ideas from “Bushi-do”, “Sa-do(tea cult)”,“Ka-do(flower arrangement)”, etc., are also blended.

❖ In this topic, I’d like to outline the above focused on businessscene.

#2

(*) This expression might be eccentric for people who are monotheistic religion. First of all,basically, Japan is a polytheism nation like ancient Rome / Greek.

“It’s not a labyrinth, but…”~Decision Making Process~

❖ Decision making process of Japanese organization, especially,big companies, is one of the most interesting things. There isbig differences from American companies’.

❖ “Why does it take such a long long time?”❖ “Who is the decision maker?”❖ “What priority do they have?”❖ “Why do we have to repeat same argument?”❖ “Why are they so passive attitude?” etc.

❖ In this topic, I’d like to discuss about their decision makingprocess and how to deal with them.

#3

… to be planned.

❖Contents of this theme will be posted in thecategory of “English” on:http://www.frombayarea.com

❖If you have any question, please send e-mailto chikafuji.ryu@gmail.com

❖But, to guess the reason of contradictory isrelatively easy as well as to expect thepresidential election result of each states.

* Map from:Prof. Mark Newman, Department of Physics and Center for the Study of Complex Systems, University of Michigan