...Power distance This dimension deals with the fact that all individuals in societies are not equal – it expresses the attitude of the culture towards these inequalities amongst us.Power distance is defined as the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organisations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally.At a score of 54, Japan is a mildly hierarchical society. Yes, Japanese are always conscious of their hierarchical position in any social setting and act accordingly. However, it is not as hierarchical as most of the other Asian cultures. Some foreigners experience Japan as extremely hierarchical because of their business experience of painstakingly slow decision making process: all the decisions must be confirmed by each hierarchical layer and finally by the top management in Tokyo. Paradoxically, the exact example of their slow decision making process shows that in Japanese society there is no one top guy who can take decision like in more hierarchical societies. Another example of not so high power distance is that Japan has always been a meritocratic society. There is a strong notion in the Japanese education system that everybody is born equal and anyone can get ahead and become anything if he (yes, it is still he) works hard enough. Individualism The fundamental issue addressed by this dimension is the degree of interdependence a society maintains among its members.It has to do with whether people´s self-image is...
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...Japanese changing culture Rough draft to question 3 Japan has come a long way since the horrible memory of defeat ‘World War II’. The post war struggle generation clung to their fifth century culture and ideas of rebuilding Japan. In less than sixty years Japan rose again to one of the world’s powerful nations largely from providing electrical/electronic products to most of the globes countries. The type of culture that facilitated Japan to hold onto its people and acquired knowledge and become consistently stronger each year was that of Confucian beliefs. Confucian values are essentially derived from three ingredients which are high moral conduct and loyalty to others, reciprocal obligations to show appreciation of network involvement, and honesty in dealing with others. Confucians are not interested in the Supreme Being or after life like that of Hindu or Buddhism, Confucius’s are more concerned with what is happening now and how they interact with others in the course of their life. Loyalty to a superior in Confucian society was long considered a sacred duty, a lifelong obligation. This loyalty is not blind, like the subordinates loyalty to the superior similarly the superior is required to reciprocate the showing of loyalty to the subordinate in some way of relevance to the subordinate. If the superior fails to reciprocate the favors then the superior will most definitely suffer lost of moral standing in the community and networks which they might be involved with. ...
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...series of islands with rich culture and historical background. The Japanese people, dating back to as early as 4,500 B.C. have deep traditions that have evolved and adapted over the centuries. With ideologies, religion and business strategy’s much different from that in the western world, specific customs and traditions must be understood. Although the Japanese carry a great deal of respect in the business world, they can often be perceived as picky and difficult to deal with. This stereotype tends to cause alienation from companies doing business in Japan, when in reality their “closed off” and distant behavior is due to misinterpretation through a western lens. Being aware of the religion and history of the Japanese can help to not only better understand their culture, but to also strengthen business relationships and allow for a positive interactions between companies. The following paper will include a cultural analysis observing different dimensions of Japanese culture through Hoftede and Hall’s scales relative to other world cultures. The underlying beliefs, attitudes and values of the Japanese culture relative to that of the Western American culture. As well as their evolved and highly functioning socio-economic and political environment. Communication and openness to change can be compared providing information as to why the Japanese conduct business the way they do. The paper will also discuss the work and business practices of the Japanese. Specifically their work ethics...
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...An Investigation of Japanese Corporate Culture, Its Trends And Changes Japanese Business & Culture bus 258.1 Table of Contents1.0 Introduction 2.0 Procedure 3.0 Findings 3.1 Changing social culture. 3.2 Business Culture in Japan 3.3 Why change is needed 3.4 What is Japan and her corporations doing to develop and change 4.0 Conclusion 5.0 Bibliography Japanese Business & CultureAn investigation Japanese corporate culture, its trends and changes.1.0 IntroductionThis report is based around the following quote: "Japan's corporate culture is the product of uniquely Japanese social and historical influences, so deeply rooted as to easily repel outside influences. Bur Japanese corporations need to change their basic goals...." This report will discuss nature of corporate culture in Japan, and why change is needed. The maximum length is 2,000 words 2.0 Procedure The report was produced using library based research because of the time scale and cost. The sources used include text books, journals and newspapers.. The references have been made 'Harvard Style' and can be found in the Bibliography. 3.0 Findings The Japanese business culture has been described by Beedham as a culture that acts like a clan, in that there is a large amount of authority given to the man at the top, and in the commitment that is shown by the people around him, Beedham points out that this can be evident in the way that their car factories, investment banks and government ministries...
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...American and Japanese Cultures Culture plays a vital role in defining a group of people, helping to shape the way they live, the traditions they carry out, and how they’re viewed by others. That being said, cultures vary greatly worldwide; some customs that are normal to Americans may seem strange to those living in Japan such as entertainment in America and Japan, Respect for Women in American and Japanese Cultures, and The Individual in America and Japan. To begin with, American and Japanese cultures both place an emphasis on film and video as a form of entertainment. In America, it’s not unusual for the media to pay a great deal of attention to new film releases and upcoming television premiers. Similarly Japanese culture focuses on motion pictures for entertainment, mainly through the promotion of “anime,” the Japanese contribution to the animation industry. Much like animated Disney movies are prominent in American culture, anime films are a common appearance in Japanese culture. Anime films are so popular, in fact, that they’re even viewed in the United States, creating a link between American and Japanese culture. America and Japan may share similar interests regarding entertainment, but one must remember that the two countries are at opposite ends of the world, creating differences in the way people live in the two areas. Perhaps the greatest difference between Japanese and American culture is the fact that Americans seem to have more respect for women...
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...Perspectives 9/3/2013 Elizabeth Glasser Japanese Culture I am choosing to do my session long project on Japan. I think Japan is a very interesting and beautiful place. No other country in the world has experienced such a confluence of tradition, technology, and circumstance. Japan is the hub for cutting edge technology; it is the only country that has witnessed the wrath of the atomic bomb, and it has the most massive economy in the world. The Japanese have interesting and amazing traditions that have been passed on from generation to generation for thousands of years. Japanese people can be very modern but till hold onto traditions that have been passed on for centuries. They wear amazingly beautiful clothes, have interesting art techniques and have one the largest markets for music. Japan is also known for their Geisha girls, martial arts, and bizarre foods. Origins “The Japanese Archipelago includes more than 3,000 islands, covering a total area of 377,835 square kilometers. The four main islands, from north to south, are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu” (Szczepanski, n.d.). There is evidence that people inhabited Japan 30,000 years ago. According to Szczepanski (n.d.), these people were called Jomon and were hunter and gatherers who lived off the land. Japan first appears in the historical records of China in about 300 BC. There are many theories regarding the evolution of Japan. The most popular is that “Japanese gradually evolved from ancient Ice...
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...coasts and valleys." Japan has a fascinating and multifaceted culture; on the one hand it is steeped in the deepest of traditions dating back thousands of years; on the other it is a society in a continual state of rapid flux, with continually shifting fads and fashions and technological development that constantly pushes back the boudaries of the possible. It could therefore be said that Japan is a country of stark contradictions and is in part this that makes it such a fascinating country to visit and unique tourist destination. If you are looking for something different you are sure to find it here! People One people, one race? Japanese people appear at first glance to be one of the most socially and ethnically homogenous groups in the world. It is reasonable to equate Japan’s rapid post-war economic development to the 1990s with social solidarity and conformism. Despite labour shortages since the 1960s, authorities resisted officially sanctioning foreign workers until the 1980s, relying on increased mechanization and an expanded female workforce instead (1). Until recently, Japanese workers have associated themselves primarily with the company they work for – a businessman will introduce himself as ‘Nissan no Takahashi-san’ (I am Nissan’s Mr Takahashi). By extension, we might get the idea that a Japanese person subordinates the self to the objectives of society. In 2008, however, long-serving Japanese politician Nariaki Nakayama resigned after declaring that Japan...
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...the Japanese were and still are one of the biggest investors in Thailand, under this cross-cultural context; the Japanese management system applied in Thailand is mismanaged. In the article Culture and Conflict: Japanese managers and Thai subordinates, Fredric William and Jun Onishi did their research based on the cultural dimensions of Hofstede’s conceptual framework, it conducted a study on possible conflicts between Japanese and Thai subordinates when they have different perceptions. The research provided evidences that the expectation of Japanese managers and Thai subordinates adapting in a different cultural context are reversed according to three aspects which are culture characteristics based on Hofstede, Japanese HRM system, and unique Japanese social and business practices. The authors collected data from ten Japanese manufactures to research and find the differences in real situation. From the culture dimensions, we can see the differences as follow: 1) Thai subordinates have higher power distance, they believe that company should have clear hierarchy. 2) Thai are less individualistic, they prefer to receive instructions than come with own ideas. 3) Japanese have higher masculinity, they always work voluntarily on weekends. 4) For the uncertainty avoidance, Japanese managers prefer specific company rules but Thai subordinates prefer flexibility. 5) Thai subordinates do not like long-term work plans which the Japanese managers set for them. The Japanese HRM...
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...that is a fraction of the former two, Japan owns a great deal of its achievement to various homegrown aspects (World Bank, 2014). This essay analyzes keys aspects of Japan to get a broad overview of Japanese business culture, using the Hofstede's Model and key social institutions. II. HOFSTEDE’S MODEL OF JAPANESE CULTURE: Figure 1. Japan on the Hofstede's Model (The Hofstede Centre, 2016). Figure 1 shows Japan's scores on six dimensions of the Hofstede's Model. Based on these scores, Japanese culture is characterised by low power distance, high masculinity, high context, medium individualism, very high uncertainty avoidance, and high long-term orientation. 1. Power Distance Japan is ranked at an immediate score of 54 in power distance index. It shows that the extent between the powerful and the less powerful within institutions and organizations is neither very far nor showing immense inequality. Japan almost reaches the balance. Confucianism makes a deep impact on Japanese culture. The main effect of Confucian philosophy on Japanese business is in the development of a strictly hierarchical working environment. Decision-making process is slow because all decisions have to be confirmed by each hierarchical layer and finally by the top management. A typical style of Japanese management is Ho-ren-so. Ho-ren-so stands for Hokoku (report), Renkaku (communication, touch base) and Sodan (discussion). Firstly, the supervisor gives a general instruction to the...
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...Good morning,my dear teacher and classmates.It’s my first time to make a presentation and my topic is Japan Animation Culture Influence and my attitudes towards it. Japanese animation,which was imported into China in 1980s,was popular as soon as it was shown on TV screens in China.To some extent,we can say that Chinese youths were accompanied with Japanese animations as we were growing up.During this time,Japanese animation influenced our ideas and consciousness. First,our world views and values are influenced.For example,ONEPIECE proclaims values of friendship,effort and victory.The well-known saying of NARUTO,"never giving up"encourages youths to face setbacks in life bravely.In contrast,some dark tendency animation may misdirect teenagers' world views.Some of them become passive,unwilling to communicate with others and only abandoned to their own world. Second,culture invasion do cause blind worship.I’ve learned that some of them are crazy about Japanese culture owing to their love for Japanese animation,games,novels and so on.They talk about plots and characters of animation heatedly on BBS,post bar,Wechat groups,which may cause agreement as well as discrepancy and conflict.They wear Kimono and Japanese uniform in public.Some of them even published anti-China comments on the Internet .I don’t think it’s rational to do such things. Last,attitudes of some teenagers toward Japan have been influenced subliminally.From young age,we were taught that Japan invaded our...
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...Michael Barber Instructor Yao Younge Japanese Music Video Project October 21, 2014 Japanese Culture and Music There are many different festivals in the Japanese culture that show people how unique their culture is. One of these festivals includes The Shinto Music and Dance Festival, which is a very popular festival in Japan. The festival is for anyone to enjoy, it’s a spiritual society where all religions are welcome. The festival’s purpose is to please the gods, which is known as kagura. The Kagura den takes place at the imperial palace in Japan where it is performed every 3 years. Some of the instruments used in the festival are the takebue flutes, which are made of bamboo and the binsasara, which is a bamboo instrument that makes a cracking noise when the performer bends it. During the festival there are a line of shops leading to a Temple at the end of the lane where the final performance will occur. There are people carrying large portable shrines called omikoshi above their heads as they walk around. These shrines are of phoenix birds that are blessed by the priest. The people carry these shrines and lead a large crowd of spectators down the lane towards the temple. Lots of spectators are chanting and dancing while whistle blowers help navigate everyone towards the temple. There are many different plays and ensembles for people to watch on their way to the temple where the final performance will be. The final play that is performed at the temple is called the Orochi...
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...up bad guys alongside her friends. Besides some embarrassing Halloween costumes this show didn’t have that much effect on my young life but it planted a seed. As I grew up and anime became more and more popular amongst my friends I became more interested in the Japanese culture and the seed began to bloom. For this assignment I decided to choose to further examine this culture using the Symbolic Interaction Theory, Structural Functionalism Theory, Social Exchange Theory and the Ecological Theory. Through this we will explore how the Japanese still live by rather traditional cultural standards compared to our own. A Factual History Japan has a land mass bigger then Germany but smaller then Calfifornia and has a population of 127.3 million residents (Sherpa, 2014). Tokyo, which contains 13 million people within the city and additional 32.5 million people in the surrounding area, is the capital city and additionally the largest metropolitan area in the world (Lovino, 2014). Due to this accommodations are cramped, doors slide open to save room, apartments can be the size of a walk in closet and hotels are developed that only offer you a capsule to sleep in (Lovino, 2014). Another famous aspect of this cramped culture is the subway system which is used by millions each day and has staff which is used to pack in passengers into the cars (Lovino, 2014). Tokyo is known for being a clean city with fresh healthy food and a cultural focus on forward thinking for both technology and...
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...important figure to the Heian period of Japan during the late 12th century and followed along with the idea of Buddhism and the continuation of Japanese styled art. During the development of Japan culture the Japanese went through many eras of changes in art and religion that led up and developed the Heian period. These eras were called the Jomon period which dated between 10,500-300 B.C. during this era clay ceramics were used especially in the northeastern portion of Japan, the Yamai period also used clay figurines. The Kofun Period was different because the “Government had developed centralized and could control the flow of resources from outlying regions to its center near Nara on the island of honshu”(Pearson Richards 5). They establishment of Haji made with a coil and slab technique. In the Asuka period they started importing three colored ware from china. However once Japan developed into the 8th century (Heian period) the establishment of dark color and green ware were seen in Japanese culture art work. Now what was the Heian period? There were to different era’s of this time the early Heian period and the late Heian era. The earlier stage of the Heian era is characterized by “attempts to the incorporate Chinese influence”(Shoten18). There was a distinct difference in the later Heian era regarding the style of the Japanese art. The works of the early Heian era were dominated by the iconography of Esoteric Buddhism. They were molded around the ideas of religion. It...
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...INTRODUCTION The case introduces us to Ken Morikawa and John Sinclair, two employees of a Japanese manufacturing plant under construction in Georgia. John Sinclair, the Personnel Manager, is keen to hire a Japanese professor to “translate their corporate philosophy”. The real question is – Can a corporate philosophy simply be translated? Will it be understood in its depth and entirety when simply converted from Japanese to English? The case does not merely deal with language. It deals with the crux of a company’s philosophy – its culture. In trying to understand how to marry Japanese and American culture in business, both Ken Morikawa and John Sinclair visit Chiba International, a success story in this arena. Before we entail to analyze the methodology used by Chiba International and put forth our recommendations, we will first explain the generic differences between the cultures of Japan and America. CULTURAL ANALYSIS We can analyze the differences between Japanese and American cultures using Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions: Japan Score: 54 A borderline hierarchical society. Business decisions are slow and must be confirmed by each hierarchical layer and then by Top management. Individualism Score: 46 Harmony of group is generally placed above expression of individual opinions. They are considered collectivist by Western standards and individualistic by Asian standards. Masculinity Score: 95 Japan is one of the most masculine societies in the world. There is a strong drive...
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...ESSAY Imagine we are walking on a crowded street in Japan; we could hardly differentiate a Japanese passerby from a Chinese passerby. An obvious reason fact for this is that both Japan and China mainland are within the same geographical area in which they are very much influenced by each other on their living lifestyles. Another reason for that is because Japanese and Chinese were interrelated in their history. In the first centuries A.D based on the Julian calendar, Japanese imported ranges of sources of ideas, production techniques and sets of material from China mainland. Stearns (2000) –‘Thus, the Japanese developed a very unique civilization from a blend of their own culture and a selective importation and conscious refashioning of the Chinese influences.’ The selecting and blending process of these two types of culture had thus resulted in the existence of both similarities and differences between them. Both Japanese and Chinese have identical features in their lifestyle, but they are very much differentiated in their diet as well as clothing. Since Japanese and Chinese are Asians, they inherited some similarities in their lifestyle in the aspect of collectivism, high-context culture and also high-power-distance which are believed to have an impact on communication as mentioned by Devito (2005). As a matter of fact, Japanese and Chinese, both practice the concept of collectivism, which can be said as a group work. Collectivism emphasizes on group goals, and success is...
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