What is a team work?

R Hannnam (1993) argues that Japan is a collective society. Japanese education system also focus on team work. In school athletic competitions, the accent is on winning team, not individual. At school, all students need to wear uniform. Not only school, but even at office, employees including senior need to wear uniform. In western companies, it is usual that senior have own office rooms. However, in Japanese companies, even you are senior, you will have desks in the same room of other juniors. Some Japanese companies have morning exercise. This is mandatory for all employees. There is no exception for seniors.

This might be true that Japan is a collective society. However, I think, it does not mean that we are good at team work. Because of collective society, we are good at adjusting to others, eliminating our emotions, and not loosing others' faces. But it is not team work. Real team work is to make something, which is impossible for individuals, possible by working together. Team work expects that if five people work together, output will be for more than five. However, Output of Japanese team work can be for five or even less. This is because we are losing the opportunities of growing up together in return of adjusting to others.

Non-adversarial comunication

There are many paradoxes in many aspects of Japanese life. The first paradox to note is that for all Japanese, there are two aspects to everything - a front and a back. There is the side which is visible and a side which cannot be seen but which it is assumed those conversing are aware of - en though it will not specifically be mentioned.

Instead of shaking hands, it is customary to bow as a form of greetings. Bowing is characteristic of the Japanese because it is a non-contact greeting. Studied have shown that the Japanese touch each other deliberately far less frequently than Westerners. Japanese bowing is a prelude to conversation which may precede business meeting, and it is similarly a signal of non-aggressive intent on meeting which is carried through into their verbal dealings with each other.

The non-combative analogy applies to Japanese communication. The Japanese try to conduct their conversations to avoid anyone obviously losing face. The use of non-adversarial communication among the Japanese is also influenced by the lack of precision of their language. Japanese have to communicate by not only using their characters and words, but by considering the nuances, the context and positions of the words in what is said, and their feelings about how the speaker has spoken.

Because Japanese have to clarify the meaning to themselves before responding, they do not respond immediately. 'Think before you speak' is natural for the Japanese. Thus, for the Japanese, it can take rather longer to talk things over or to reach a conclusion than it would using a Western language.

(R Hannam, Kaizen for Europe, pp21-26)

National Isolation

Under Tokugawa Shogunate, Japan closed our port and banned to contact to foreigners. The formal isolation of Japan and the Japanese lasted for 250 years. We came to think that they had little to learn from the rest of the world. Foreigners were known as 'outsiders' or 'barbarians' and were looked down on.

Even within Japan, mobility was not encouraged, so transport did not develop. Bridges were not build as these were seen as a threat to security. Thus, by the middle of the nineteenth century, Japan was a land of contrasts- culturally advanced but little science and engineering.

The beginning of the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate and its isolationist policies came in 1853 when US warships under Admiral Perry arrived in Yokohama Bay and demanded trading and other bilateral relationships with Japan. The British and French subsequently arrived and Japan had to bow to further pressure and start to deal with more foreigners. This abrupt contact with the rest of the world and with the technology that West possessed cane as a profound shock to Japan. The lesson of these encounters for Japan was that it realized that technology was power.

Shogun feudalism was ended by a samurai rebellion in 1868, known as the Meiji restoration. The power was restored to the Emperor and a move towards a more open society developed.

(R Hannam, 1993, Kaizen For Europe, pp12-14)

Three Religions in Japan

The Japanese have two long-established religions, Shintonism and Buddhism. However a code for living and rules of conduct for day-to-day life are also provided by the sayings of Confucius. Confucius does not involve the worship of God, but still it will be classified as a religion because people respect for his teachings. These three do not seem incongruous for the Japanese to follow. It is not necessarily always to distinguish among them.

Most religious festivals in Japan are Shinto festivals. Weddings are Shinto occasions, whereas funerals are Buddhist. While Shintoism relates to Gods and their festivals, the teachings of Buddha and Buddhism relate to the worship of God and how to live everyday life. Shintoism does not set codes of behavior. Buddhism preaches a high moral code and a way of life and meditation leading to enlightenment. Confucious’ sayings cover many aspects of living, but are particularly noteworthy for his teachings on good government and the duties of rulers to those they rule. His teachings of particular relevance to this review of the Japanese relate to the following virtues: thrift, filial piety, work, loyalty, good government.

Confucianism and Buddhism came to Japan from Korea and China in 6 & 7 centuries. At this stage, Japan realized that they were backward compared with Korea and China. Exchanges of priests and scholars took place to improve the education and skill including understanding of politics and government, execution of the arts and craftsmanship, and improvement of agricultural techniques. As Shintoism did not have teachings on how to live, Buddhism has influenced Japan more. Under Buddhism influence, art, calligraphy, poetry, dancing and architecture have flourished. However, science and engineering were not part of the Buddhist tradition and remained very rudimentary.

(R Hannam, 1993, Kaizen for Europe, pp9-12)