CULTURAL DIVERSIFICATION

JAPANJapan officially the State of Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin" which is why Japan is sometimes referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun". | BANGLADESHBangladesh officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a country in South Asia, located on the fertile Bengal delta. It is bordered by the Republic of India to its north, west and east, by the Union of Myanmar (Burma) to its south-east and by the Bay of Bengal to its south. It is separated from the Democratic Republic of Nepal and the Kingdom of Bhutan by the narrow Indian Siliguri Corridor. Together with the neighboring Indian state of West Bengal, it makes up the ethno-linguistic region of Bengal. The name Bangladesh means "Country of Bengal" in the official Bengali language. |

* POLITICAL FACTORS

JAPAN | FORM OF GOVERNMENT | Japan has a constitutional monarchy as its current form of government. However the Emperor is only a ceremonial figurehead and his powers are very limited. He is defined by the constitution as "the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people". The Prime Minister holds the power with the elected members of the Diet (Japan’s parliament). Akihito is the current Emperor of Japan. Naruhito, Crown Prince of Japan, stands as next in line to the throne. | ECONOMIC STRUCTURE | From 1868, the Meiji period launched economic expansion. The Meiji rulers embraced the concept of a free market economy and adopted British and North American forms of free enterprise capitalism. The Japanese went to study overseas and Western scholars were hired to teach in Japan. Many of today's enterprises were founded at the time. Japan emerged as the most developed nation in Asia. |

CURRENT POLITICAL SITUATION | Japan is a member state of the United Nations and a non-permanent member of the Security Council. Now it is seeking permanent membership. As an economic power, Japan is a member of the G8 and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), and has developed relations with ASEAN as a member of "ASEAN plus three" and the East Asia Summit. It is a major donor in international aid and development efforts, donating 0.19% of its Gross National Income in 2004.Japan currently has territorial disputes with Russia over the Kuril Islands (Northern Territories), with South Korea over Liancourt Rocks, with China and Taiwan over the Senkaku Islands and with China over the status of Okinotorishima. These disputes are in part about the control of marine and natural resources, such as possible reserves of crude oil and natural gas. |

Bangladesh | FORM OF GOVERNMENT | Bangladesh is rapidly changing as a dominant two-party system; BNP (Center-Right) and Awami League (Center-Left), to a very belief specific Liberation Movement. In short, Bangladesh has a parliamentary democracy. | ECONOMIC STRUCTURE | The Bangladesh economy has experienced both macro-economic stability and robust economic growth following the transition to a democratic rule in the early of 1990s. In the backdrop of the deep macro-economic crisis of the late 1980s, a series of stabilization measures were introduced in the Bangladesh economy which largely restored macro-economic stability in the early 1990s. Subsequently, the Bangladesh economy registered an average GDP growth rate of 4.8 per cent in the 1990s, which was one full percentage point higher than that recorded in the previous decade. Despite of such impressive growth throughout the decade, the per capita income of Bangladesh at the beginning of the new decade was not only the lowest among the South Asian countries, but also below the average per capita income of the least-developed countries. |

CURRENT POLITICAL SITUATION | Throughout most of 2013, Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its alliance of 18 opposition parties led by three time former Prime Minister and Opposition Leader Khaleda Zia called more than 50 days of nationwide general strikes and blockades that brought the entire country to a grinding halt. The opposition demanded that the ruling Awami League party led by the current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina amends the constitution, dissolves parliament after their full five year term ends on January 24, 2014 and then hand over power to a non-partisan interim government or a caretaker government that will be run by technocrats for 90 days. The job of a Caretaker Government of Bangladesh will then be to work in tandem with the Bangladesh Election Commission by helping them to organize, arrange, oversee the next general election scheduled to be held on 5 January and transfer power to the newly elected government. If all the demands are not met within the stipulated time frame, then all opposition parties have threatened to boycott and resist the polls. |

2. ECONOMIC FACTORS

JAPAN | BANGLADESH | Essence | The economy of Japan is the third largest in the world after the United States and the People's Republic of China but ahead of Germany at 4th.Some of the main aspects of its economy are given below: | The economy of Bangladesh is a rapidly developing market-based economy. Bangladesh ranked as the 44th largest economy in the world in 2012 and among the Next Eleven (N-11) of Goldman Sachs. | Currency | Japanese Yen (JPY) | Bangladesh Taka (BDT) | GDP growth | $5.964 trillion (2012 est.) | $153.6 billion ( 2012) | GDP per capita | 1.9% | 6.7% | Inflation (CPI) | 0.3% (April 2011) | 8.8% (2012) | Population below poverty line | 15.7% | 24 % (2013) | Unemployment | 4.6% | 5% | FDI stock | $161.4 billion (31 December 2010) | $16.31 billion (January 2013) | Exports | $516.3 billion f.o.b. (2009) | $30.25 billion (2013 est.) | Imports | $490.6 billion f.o.b. (2009) | $29.27 billion (2013 est.) |

3 SOCIAL FACTORS

JAPAN | BANGLADESH | Family Life | The monogamous and patriarchal family has been prevalent in Japan since the 8th century. If a wife were childless the husband often kept a concubine, whose offspring succeeded to the headship of the family, thus securing its continuation. When neither wife nor concubine bore him a child, custom allowed the family had to adopt a successor. One male offspring who is to succeed to the headship of the family lives with his parents after his marriage. He assumes the headship and has to take care of the parents when they have become aged. | Family and kinship was the core of social life in Bangladesh. A family group residing in a bari would function as the basic unit of economic endeavor, landholding, and social identity. In the eyes of rural people, the chula defined the effective household--an extended family exploiting jointly held property and being fed from a jointly operated kitchen. A bari might consist of one or more such functional households, depending on the circumstances of family relationship. Married sons generally lived in their parents' household during the father's lifetime. Although sons usually built separate houses for their nuclear families, they remained under their fathers' authority, and wives under their mothers-in-law's authority. | Religion | Most Japanese people do not exclusively identify themselves as adherents of a single religion; rather, they incorporate elements of various religions in a syncretic fashion known as Shinbutsu shūgō. Moreover Japan grants full religious freedom, allowing minority religions such as Christianity, Islam and Sikhism to be practiced. | Islam is the largest Religion of Bangladesh Muslims constitutes 90.4% of the population, followed by Hindus and Buddhists, Christians; those who practice other religions and those who do not are the remainders. Religion has always been a strong part of identity, but this has varied at different times. According to a government-published article, atheism is extremely rare. | Education | Japan's education system played a central part in Japan's recovery and rapid economic growth in the decades following the end of World War II. Education is compulsory in the elementary and lowers secondary levels. Virtually all students progress to the upper secondary level voluntarily. Most students attend public schools through the lower secondary level, but private education is popular at the upper secondary and university levels. Its literacy rate is 99.0% | The educational system in Bangladesh is three-tiered and highly subsidized. The government operates many schools in the primary, secondary, and higher secondary levels. It also subsidizes parts of the funding for many private schools. In the tertiary education sector, the government also funds more than 15 state universities. All children between the ages of six and eighteen years receive secondary education free of charge.Literacy rate is 57.7% | Language | Japanese Is The Official Language Of Japan. More Than 99% Of The Population Speaks Japanese As Their First Language. However, Students Have To Learn English In Schools. | The official language of Bangladesh is Modern Standard Bengali (Literary Bengali). Although the country is home to 38 different languages, Bengali is spoken by all of the population, with 98% of Bangladeshis fluent in Standard Bengali or Bengali dialects as their first language. | Healthcare System | The Health care system in Japan provides health care services, including screening examinations, prenatal care and infectious disease control, with the patient accepting responsibility for 30% of these costs while the government pays the remaining 70%. Payment for personal medical services is offered through a universal health care insurance system that provides relative equality of access, with fees set by a government committee. People without insurance through employers can participate in a national health insurance program administered by local governments. Patients are free to select physicians or facilities of their choice and cannot be denied coverage. Hospitals, by law, must be run as non-profit and be managed by physicians. For-profit corporations are not allowed to own or operate hospitals. Clinics must be owned and operated by physicians. | Health levels remain relatively low, although Most Bangladeshis continue to live on subsistence farming in rural villages. For those in rural areas, village doctors with little or no formal training constitute 62% of the healthcare providers practicing modern medicine and the formally trained providers are occupying a mere 4% of the total health workforce. Common diseases such as Malaria, Leptospirosis and dengue were rampant in Bangladesh. The poor health conditions in Bangladesh are attributed by the lack of healthcare and services provision by the government. The total expenditure on healthcare as a percentage of their GDP was only 3.35% in 2009, according to a World Bank report published in 2010. The number of hospital beds per 10 000 population is 4. The General government expenditure on healthcare as a percentage of total government expenditure was only 7.9% as of 2009 and the citizens pay most of their health care bills as the out-of-pocket expenditure as a percentage of private expenditure on health is 96.5%. |

JAPAN | BANGLADESH | Internet | By September 2007, Japan had 27.7 million broadband lines in place, making it the third largest broadband country in the world after the USA and China. 78.2 % people in Japan are using the internet now. Much of the success of the Internet in Japan is owed to the stunning growth in 2003 of ADSL as a broadband technology. Other broadband services such as fiber-to-the-Home (FttH) have also piqued the interest of the Japanese public. This report looks at the nature of the broadband market, the major broadband providers and access methods – including cable modem, ADSL, FttH, broadband over Power line and wireless broadband. At present, around 54% of cell phone users access the Internet from a mobile phone at least once a week, while last year only 40% of users did so. The crown of the most active mobile Internet users belongs to the group of 12-19 year old school girls. | The number of Internet subscriptions in Bangladesh grew from 186,000 in 2000 to 617,300 in 2009.However, only 0.4% of the population used the Internet in 2009 giving Bangladesh one of the lowest usage percentages in the world, ahead of only North Korea, Myanmar, and Sierra Leone. In May 2006 Bangladesh inaugurated new submarine optic fiber connectivity as part of the 16 country consortium SEA-ME-WE 4 project. This limited Internet penetration is due to many factors, including: high costs, little local content, limited or poor service quality, lack of infrastructure with the last mile often limited to dial-up, too many providers competing in a relatively small market, and low literacy rates By 2011 however, the number of Internet users in Bangladesh had seen phenomenal growth of over 900% bringing the total number of users to 5,501,609 (3.5% of the total population) mainly due to wide availability of mobile Internet access. | Mobile Phones | Japan’s telecommunications sector is one of the most active markets in the world. This market has witnessed the growth of VoIP and triple play services, continued 3G competitions among mobile operators, noteworthy uptake of FttH and strides in digital and mobile broadcasting. This report presents a range of key statistical indicators and an overview of the Japanese telecom market. | The liberalization of Bangladesh’s telecommunications sector began with small steps in 1989 with the issuance of a license to a private operator for the provision of inter alia cellular mobile services to compete with the previous monopoly provider of telecommunications services the Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB). Significant changes in the number of fixed and mobile services deployed in Bangladesh occurred in the late 1990s and the number of services in operation has subsequently grown exponentially in the past five years. |
4 TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS

Automation | Japan is very advanced in automation. Most of the offices and forms are automated. Hospitals, restaurants, offices, airports, factories and all the other facilities are highly efficient because of the use of high tech automated system. Japan is also famous for its contribution in the robotics field. Most probably it is the most advanced country when it comes to robotics. And they are using this knowledge in use for practical aspects of life. Now people are very accustomed to buying their train tickets, books, plane pass, doing shopping online. And all these are possible because of the spread of internet and automated system installed. | Bangladesh is still in the primary level of Automation even though few companies like Schneider Electric BangladeshAnd Automation Engineering & Controls LtdWorking hard to make Bangladesh according to future technological needs. |

5. ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS

JAPAN | BANGLADESH | Geography | Japan is a country of over three thousand islands extending along the Pacific coast of Asia. The main islands, running from north to south, are Hokkaidō, Honshū, Shikoku and Kyūshū. The Ryukyu Islands, including Okinawa, are a chain of islands south of Kyushū. Together they are often known as the Japanese Archipelago. About 70% to 80% of the country is forested, mountainous, and unsuitable for agricultural, industrial, or residential use. This is because of the generally steep elevations, climate and risk of landslides caused by earthquakes, soft ground and heavy rain. This has resulted in an extremely high population density in the habitable zones that are mainly located in coastal areas. Japan is one of the most densely populated countries in the world | Bangladesh is a low-lying, riverine country located in South Asia with a largely marshy jungle coastline of 710 km (441 mi) on the northern littoral of the Bay of Bengal. Formed by a delta plain at the confluence of the Ganges (Padma), Brahmaputra (Jamuna), and Meghna Rivers and their tributaries, Bangladesh's alluvial soil is highly fertile, but vulnerable to flood and drought. Hills rise above the plain only in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in the far southeast and the Sylhet division in the northeast. Straddling the Tropic of Cancer, Bangladesh has a tropical monsoon climate characterized by heavy seasonal rainfall, high temperatures, and high humidity. Natural disasters, such as floods, tornadoes, and tidal bores affect the country yearly. |

Weather | Japan is generally a rainy country with high humidity. Because of its wide range of latitude,Japan has a variety of climates, with a range often compared to that of the east coast of NorthAmerica, from Nova Scotia to Georgia. The warmest winter temperatures are found in the Nanpo and Bonin Islands, which enjoy a tropical climate due to the combination of latitude,distance from the Asian mainland, and warming effect of winds from the Kuroshio, as well asthe Volcano Islands. The hottest temperature ever measured in Japan, 40.9 °C (105.6 °F),occurred in Tajimi, Gifu on August 16, 2007. | Bangladesh is subtropical and tropical with temperatures ranging from as low as 3ºC overnight in the cold season to a daytime top of above 40ºC in the hot season. Annual rainfall varies from 1000mm in the west to 2500mm in the southeast, and up to 5000mm in the north, near the hills of Assam.Three-quarters of the annual rainfall occurs between June and September. The 90% to 95% humidity in this season is almost unbearable.In the cold season the weather is drier and fresh, with average daytime temperatures of 24ºC. Rainfall is negligible, although even in winter a brief shower may come along.The monsoon season usually starts between late May and mid-June. It doesn’t rain solidly all day – there tends to be an initial downpour, followed by clear skies. | Natural Hazards | Ten percent of the world's active volcanoes are found in Japan, which lies in a zone of extreme crustal instability. As many as 1,500 earthquakes are recorded yearly, and magnitudes of four to six on the Richter scale are common. Minor tremors occur almost daily in one part of the country or another, causing slight shaking of buildings. Major earthquakes occur infrequently; the most famous in the twentieth century was the great Kantō earthquake of 1923, in which 130,000 people died. Undersea earthquakes also expose the Japanese coastline to danger from tsunamis and tidal waves. Other common hazards are typhoons that reach Japan from the Pacific. | Bangladesh is most vulnerable to several natural disasters and every year natural calamities upset people's lives in some part of the country. The major disasters concerned here are the occurrences of flood, cyclone and storm surge, flash flood, drought, tornado, riverbank erosion, and landslide. The geographical setting of Bangladesh makes the country vulnerable to natural disasters. The mountains and hills bordering almost three-fourths of the country, along with the funnel shaped Bay of Bengal in the south, have made the country a meeting place of life-giving monsoon rains, but also makes it subjected to the catastrophic ravages of natural disasters Abnormal rainfall and earthquakes. |

Pollution | Current Japanese environmental policy and regulations were the consequence of a number of environmental disasters in the 1950s and 1960s. Cadmium poisoning from industrial waste in Toyama Prefecture was discovered to be the cause of the extremely painful itai-itai disease which causes severe pain in the back and joints, contributes to brittle bones that fracture easily, and degeneration of the kidneys. Recovery of cadmium effluent halted the spread of the disease, and no new cases have been recorded since 1946. In the 1960s, thousands of inhabitants of Minamata City in Kumamoto Prefecture were poisoned by methyl mercurydrained from the chemical factory, known as the Minamata disease. The number of casualties in Minamata is 6,500 as of November 2006.In Yokkaichi, a port in Mie Prefecture, air pollution caused by sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide emissions led to a rapid increase in the number of people suffering from asthma and bronchitis. In urban areas photochemical smog from automotive and industrial exhaust fumes also caused the rise in respiratory problems. In the early 1970s, chronic arsenic poisoning attributed to dust from arsenic mines occurred in Shimane and Miyazaki prefectures. Japan’s environmental policy has reflected a tenuous balance between economic development and environmental protection. As the world's leading importer of both exhaustible and renewable natural resources and one of the largest consumers of fossil fuels, the Japanese government takes international responsibility to conserve and protect the environment. | The present environmental condition of Bangladesh is not at all equilibrium. Severe air, water and noise pollution are threatening human health, ecosystems and economic growth of Bangladesh. Air pollution caused due to increasing population, burning fossil fuels, industrialization and associated motorization. The water pollution caused due to industrialization. The underground water of Bangladesh has been polluted due to arsenic. The inhabitants of major cities of Bangladesh are also exposed to high level of noise pollution. Environmental degradation of Bangladesh is also caused due to poverty, over-population and lack of awareness on the subject. It is manifested by deforestation, destruction of wetlands, soil erosion and natural calamities. Few steps have been taken by the government to improve the environmental degradation and pollution control. This paper analyzes the different types of environmental pollution and associated health hazard in Bangladesh. It also discusses the different governmental steps as well as some suggested steps to improve the pollution control. | Terrorism | | |

6 LEGAL FACTORS JAPAN | Legal System | The modernization of the Law of Japan was based on the European legal system. In this article however we have focused on laws that are related to business. | Corporate Law | Japan's current corporate law is based upon the Corporations Code implemented in 2006. Under Japanese law the basic types of companies are: Kabushiki kaisha (K.K.), similar to an Anglo-American corporation Godo kaisha (GDK), similar to an American limited liability company Goshi kaisha (GSK), similar to an Anglo-American limited partnership Gomei kaisha (GMK), similar to an Anglo-American general partnership Limited liability partnerships. | Trademark Law | The Japanese trademark law is mainly enacted by the Trademark Act of 1959. Under the Japanese trademark law, only registered trademarks establish a trademark right (Article 18), and examination procedure is necessary for trademarks to be registered (Article 14). A person first to file an application may obtain the registration for a trademark over a prior user of the same trademark. | Labor Law | Japanese labor law is the system of labor law operating in Japan. Conditions of employment must be clearly set out in the employment agreement or in supplementary rules which are provided to the employee.
Minimum wage laws: the actual amount is based upon the local cost of living and therefore varies from region to region.Working hours: Maximum full-time working hours in Japan are eight hours per day and 40 hours per week. If an employee works six to eight hours in a day, they are entitled to a 45-minute break; if an employee works eight hours in a day, they are entitled to a one-hour break.
Leave: The Labor Standards Act prescribes minimum periods of paid annual leave based on an employee's seniority. Several forms of unpaid leave are also provided by law, including maternity leave, child care leave, family care leave and nursing lab.
Prohibiting Discrimination: Article 4 of the Labor Standards Law prohibits discrimination in pay based on gender. Article 3 of the Labor Standards Law prohibits ethnic, national and religious discrimination by employers in regards to work conditions. | Consumer Contract Act | The Consumer Contract Act 2000 was enacted in 1999 and enforced on 12th March 2000.The law regulates not only unfair consumer contract, but also unfair commercial practices,misleading and aggressive conduct. Whilst unfair contract terms and conditions are regulated in the Specific Commercial Practices Act, the law applies only specific trading practices. On the other hand, unfair commercial practices are regulated on the SCPA which stipulates the civil sanction to the conduct against the law, but the requirements are a little bit different from the CCA. |

BANGLADESH | Legal System | The Law of Bangladesh is primarily in accordance with the English legal system although since 1947, the legal scenario and the laws of Bangladesh have drifted far from the West owing to differences in socio-cultural values and religious guidelines. In November 2007, Bangladesh has successfully separated the Judiciary from the Executive but several black laws still influence the rulers in creating Special Tribunals in using several black laws including the Special Powers Act. | Corporate Law | According to types of Establishments the options for establishing a legal entity in Bangladesh may be classified into two classes as follows:• The First option is to establish a new company, i.e. enterprise in Bangladesh• The Second option is to setup a representing legal entity in Bangladesh registered with Bangladesh Authority, for an enterprise that already stands established outside Bangladesh.According to The Companies Act, 1994 (‘the Act’), which consolidates Bangladeshi Law relating to enterprises, as amended from time to time, there are basically two types of enterprise that can be registered under the Companies Act of Bangladesh. The limited liability company (SRL) is commonly known as private limited company. The other type, the stock corporation (SA) is commonly referred to as public limited company. The classification of establishments as provided by the Act is as follows. The Act applies to all classes of enterprises i.e. companies, both public and private, including associations not trading for profit but registered under the Act, whether limited by shares or by guarantee or with or without share capital or unlimited. | Trademark Law | In Bangladesh, the Trademark Act 2009 provides protection to the trademark proprietors. The Trademark Rules 1963 is also operative here which is very poor statutory support in case of ensuring trademark protection with compliance international treaty. Therefore, the present laws fail to fulfill the demands of present digital based society In Bangladesh trademark protection is ensured to the trademark proprietor by registration. Any other person than a registered proprietor, can get trade protection as registered users, or by grant of license, or by means of assignment or transmission. Here the provisions of infringement and falsification of trademarks also play an important role in providing trademark protection to the trademark owners. | Labor Law | The labour law system is more than a century old in Bangladesh. The first labour law was enacted in the Indian sub-continent during the British period, in 1881. Subsequently, the British Government introduced several laws concerning different labour issues, e.g., working hour, employment of children, maternity benefit, trade union activities, wage, etc. The Factories Act (1881), Workmen's Compensation Act (1923), Trade Unions Act (1926), Trade Disputes Act (1929), Payment of Wages Act (1936), Maternity Benefit Act (1939), and the Employment ofChildren Act (1938) was remarkable labour laws enacted during the British period.
In 2006, the country adopted the revised Bangladesh Labour Law of 2006 or BLL. The BLL is fairly comprehensive and progressive. The law is a consolidation and updating ofthe 25 separate acts. The comprehensive nature of the law can immediately be gleaned from its coverage -- conditions of service and employment, youth employment, maternity benefit, health and hygiene, safety, welfare, working hours and leave, wages and payment, workers' compensation for injury, trade unions and industrial relations, disputes, labour court, workers' participation in companies profits, regulation of employment and safety of dock workers, provident funds, apprenticeship, penalty and procedure, administration, inspection, etc. | The Consumer Right Protection Act |
The Consumer Right Protection Act was passed by the parliament and obtained assent of the president on April 05. 2009 and its demand is the Consumers of Bangladesh. So it is essential to understand what consumer is. Consumer is a person who consumes or uses any commodity or service available to him either from natural resources of through a market for final consumption. It gives Protection to the Consumers against the violation of their right and being injured by the unfair trade practices of the seller or service provider. It does not mean that consumer right has not protected before Act was passed. People of Bangladesh had been protected try various Acts such as - Constitution of Bangladesh. Sale of Goods Act, Specific Relief Act. Dung Control Ordinance. Pure Food Ordinance, Penal Code etc. But rights of the Consumers were not well protected by those Acts. After the enactment, people got a written or existing Act and protected under this Act. |