Japan as-anything but-Number One

298 Pages·1990·23.8 MB·English

by  Jon Woronoff (auth.)

JAPAN AS-ANYTHING BUT- NUMBER ONE
Also by Jon Woronoff
WEST AFRICAN WAGER
ORGANIZING AFRICAN UNITY
HONG KONG: CAPITALIST PARADISE
KOREA'S ECONOMY, MAN-MADE MIRACLE
JAPAN: THE COMING SOCIAL CRISIS
JAPAN: THE COMING ECONOMIC CRISIS
JAPAN'S WASTED WORKERS
INSIDE JAPAN, INC.
WORLD TRADE WAR
*JAPAN'S COMMERCIAL EMPIRE
THE JAPAN SYNDROME
ASIA'S "MIRACLE" ECONOMIES
* POLITICS, THE JAPANESE WAY
JAPAN'S MARKET: THE DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM
*
Also published by Macmillan
Japan as
-anything but
Number One
Jon Woronoff
M
MACMILLAN
©Jon Woronoff 1990
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission
of this publication may be made without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or
transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with
the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988,
or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying
issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 33-4 Alfred Place,
London WClE 7DP.
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to
this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and
civil claims for damages.
First published in Japan by Yohan Publications 1990
First published in the United Kingdom by Macmillan 1991
Published by
MACMILLAN ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS
and London
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Woronoff, Jon
Japan as-anything but-number one.
1. Japan
I. Title
952.049
ISBN 978-0-333-54567-6 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-0-333-54568-3 (paperback)
ISBN 978-0-333-54568-3 ISBN 978-1-349-21353-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-21353-5
Contents
Foreword
1. Introduction (Appearances Can Be Deceiving)
Welcome To Wonderland .......................... 11
Distinguishing Honne From Tatemae .............. 19
PART ONE: SUPERIOR GRADES
2. Japanese-Style Management (Fact Or Fiction?)
How It Really Works .............................. 29
Not Quite Lifetime Employment ................... 35
Harmony Or Else .................................. 39
Less Lovable Than Effective ....................... 46
3. Japanese Companies (The All-Mighty Kaisha)
Company Families ................................. 51
The Seven Cs ...................................... 56
When Better Is Worse ............................. 59
4. Industrial Policy (Promoting And Meddling)
Targeting Techniques .............................. 69
Industrial Overkill .................................. 74
PART TWO: SATISFACTORY GRADES
5. Economic Progress (Onward If Not Upward)
No More Growth Hero ............................. 81
Good Sectors, Bad Sectors ......................... 87
Productive, Not Fruitful ............................ 92
6. Education (What Is Learning?)
4
World Champion Test-Takers ...................... 99
Lower Higher Education .......................... 105
Education Or Induction ........................... 112
(Almost) Time For Reform ....................... 116
7. Crime (Integrating The Criminal Element)
Japanese Criminals As No. 1 ..................... 125
Crime? What Crime? .............................. 132
PART THREE: UNSATISFACTORY GRADES
8. Politics (The Japanese Way)
Politicians: Fronting For The System ............. 141
Bureaucrats: Making Things Run ................. 149
Businessmen: Pulling The Strings ................. 156
People: Accepting But Not Approving ............ 163
9. Society (Discordant Harmonies)
Solidarity Outward, Not Inward ................... 171
Gender, Generation And Other Gaps .............. 179
Meritocracy Or Schoolocracy? .................... 186
10. Internationalization (Time To Join The World)
Leadership Or Followership ....................... 197
The Closed-Country Syndrome .................... 205
The U.S. Connection ............................. 210
PART FOUR: INFERIOR GRADES
11. Quality of Life (If You Can Call That Quality)
The ''Rich'' Japanese ............................. 221
All Work And No Play ........................... 227
To Make Life Worth Living ...................... 234
12. Amenities (Be It Ever So Humble)
Life In A Rabbit Hutch ........................... 243
Glorious Plans And Mirages ...................... 252
5
13. Welfare (What Is There To Be Entitled To?)
Desperately Seeking Welfare ...................... 261
Letting The Future Take Care Of Itself ........... 266
14. Conclusion (Japan As No. 23, Or 57,
Or Whatever)
Learning From Japan ... Sometimes .............. 273
Friends-Or Enemies-Of Japan? ................ 279
Containing The Apologists ........................ 285
Bibliography ...................................... 291
Index .............................................. 295
Foreword
The modem myth of Japan is assuredly the biggest hoax
of the present age. Here is a country one can freely visit,
where one can meet and talk to the people, hear their hopes
and fears, ascertain their likes and dislikes, examine their
strengths and weaknesses, and describe the result as anywhere
else ... a mixture of good and bad.
Instead, we have been inundated by books, best typified
by Japan As No. 1, that present an incredible and miraculous
Japan. This is a place which has achieved far more than any
other ever and promises to astonish us more in the future. It
is a place with countless successes and rare failures (assuming
any are conceded). It is a place where things work out for
the best, harmony prevails, and incipient problems are solved
in advance by farsighted leaders. In short, it is a fabulous
place without parallel.
Yet, when you do visit Japan, and look around a bit, you
keep on encountering flaws and failings. You stumble into
all sorts of conflicts. You meet people who are anything but
happy. And the media are full of complaints about nagging
problems and warnings of imminent crises. What you see
with your own eyes and hear with your own ears bears no
resemblance to what you have read.
It would be nice to think that one day the truth will out,
the myth will be dispelled, Japan will be dealt with like any
other place. But that is not the case at present and the trends
8
are very discouraging. When I wrote my first "crisis" book
a decade ago, the favorable works outnumbered the critical
two or three to one. By now it is easily four or five to one.
There is an endless outpouring of views that mystify and
mythologize.
Yet, in this same decade, things have patently gotten worse
in Japan. The economy has obviously slowed down, income
distribution has become skewed, while landowners have be
come rich ordinary families can no longer afford their own
home. There are now poor people as well as many old people
who are scared about what will become of them. Serious
defects have appeared in the schools. Crime, drug addiction,
AIDs, are also threats here. Pollution and environmental dam
age continue. Socially, gaps between age, gender and race
remain wide and dissatisfaction with the ruling elite has in
tensified. Politics are sullied by corruption, sex scandals and,
more generally, arrogance of leaders who ignore the concerns
of the people.
Thus, the gap between myth and reality, fiction and-fact,
has only grown as ever more favorable books are written
about a situation that is increasingly unfavorable. Yet, what
happens when you point this out? You are told by the myth
makers that it does not exist. Or that it is exaggerated. Or
that it does not matter. You are called a Cassandra and a
Jeremiah for looking at the darker side of things. You are
informed that you may well be a crank or worse-a Japan
basher-for making such a fuss.
Maybe so. But I would rather be labeled a critic and a
pessimist rather than behave like a Pollyanna who can only
see the good or a Pinocchio with an ever longer nose. More
over, if I am a critic and a pessimist, I am one with a dif
ference. I have been right more often than not in my criticism.
I have been right more often than not in my forecasts. In
fact, if anything, many situations have turned out worse than
I predicted. My track record is infinitely better than those of