...More Globalization To Solve Japan's Prolonged Economic Stagnation: 2020 Tokyo Olympic, Establishment of Foreign Companies and Cultural Reform/Cultural Ramification Before Japan was globalized it was secluded from the rest of the world for nearly two centuries from1603 to 1868. This time period was called the Tokugawa Period. Even though Japan closed its ports to foreign trade, it was self sustainable and independent. This self sustainable society was maintained through its unique producer-consumer relationship and the "reuse recycle" practice in commerce due to the island's limited resources. Repair merchants such as tinker, ceramics repairers and truss hoop repairers supported a society where nothing was thrown away but instead carefully repaired and reused until the products were truly un-amendable. For example, tinkers used special techniques and charcoal heat to weld holes in pots and kettles with other metals; ceramic repairers glue broken ceramic pieces together with sticky rice and applied heat; paper makers buy used papers and blend them to make a variety of paper from writing paper to toilet paper (Staff). The Tokugawa Period served as a model of a flourishing sustainable society to the Japanese. After Japan was introduced to globalization during the Second World War, the nation benefited from becoming a export driven economy, business policies such as the lifetime employment policy promoted the efficiency of the company, and the cultural influences on business management...
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...Cultural Perspectives of Japan William Earl Barnes Jr. Abstract Japan is an island country sited east of the mainland of Asia. It is made up of a long, slender group of islands. The four main islands are Honshu (the largest), Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku. There are more than three thousand smaller islands. Together, they have about the identical land area as the state of California. Across the Sea of Japan to its north and west are Russia and South Korea. To the east, where the sun rises, Japan borders the Pacific Ocean. The Japanese call their nation Nippon, which means “Land of the Rising Sun” Japan has a remarkable landscape. Mountains and hills cover most of the land. A chain of mountains runs down the middle of Japan. Snow-capped Mount Fuji, Japan’s highest peak, towers over Honshu Island. Swift streams flow from the mountains into the sea. Thick forests cover the mountainsides where deer and monkeys make their homes in the spring; the countryside is colored pink and white with the blossoms of plum and cherry trees. In southern Japan, summers are long and hot. In the north, winters are cold and snowy. Central Japan has an enjoyable climate, with warm summers and cool winters. The country is often shaken by volcanic explosions and earthquakes. Japan’s first powerful rulers were chiefs from the Yamato region. During the Yamatos’ rule, many visitors from other lands came to Japan. Scholars from china brought the Chinese writing system in the 400s. They also brought...
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...Style of Japanese Corporate Management Image of Global Exposure Less than 20% of sales are made in Japan, while markets in emerging countries are expanding. Ratio of employees with foreign nationality is more than half and all functions are being multi-nationalized. Sales companies: Localization is further promoted but also integration with service deposits is facilitated. In order to focus on maintenance and service business in the future, these bases and technologies are developed by the company itself. Factories: More globalized division of labor is promoted. Corporation with factories in Japan is also enhanced. R&D: They have a history of more than ten years. Research and development are divided. Japan is responsible for application research, and basic research is optimally deployed. (By intensively supplying manpower and money to ventures and research bases for cutting-edge technologies mostly in the U.S. and maintaining the sensitivity of the antenna at a higher level, access to world-class intellects is enhanced.) Japan still plays the central role with its ability for concurrent development, and development unique to each location is conducted locally. Global headquarters (Japan) is specialized in coordination among functional regional headquarters and global control. Only some parts of it employ bilingualism. At the same time, regional headquarters in Japan is also established. Leaders are frequently exchanged across borders. A certain number of employees with ...
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...Question #1 Ancient Japan throughout history has been regarded as an autonomous and sovereign country, which successfully rid themselves from the influences of the Western world and the Asian mainland before the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry in 1853. However, considering the origin of the nation’s religion, livelihood, and trade system, this statement may not be as accurate as believed by today’s society. Every civilization is influenced—at least in some aspect—from other empires, even an island (like Japan) isolated from all neighboring domains. Nonetheless, this widespread declaration may be present due to what is known in Japan as the Edo Period, where the Shoguns attempted to separate the kingdom from the rest of the world. By the time the Tokugawa family rose to power in 1603, religion in Japan had already been established. The faiths of Buddhism, Christianity, and Confucianism were all existent, each being introduced to Japan by different nations. Buddhism, which originated in India, made its way across Asia, reaching Japan in the 6th century from Korea. Japan similarly was exposed to Confucianism by the Chinese not long after the philosophy grew in popularity. Moreover, Christianity arrived in Japan from visiting European countries, first introduced by Portugal in 1543, who were interested in “converting the countrymen to the faith of Christ” (153). Europe managed, by 1614, to have approximately 1% of the Japanese population following Christianity, achieving this...
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...Case Study 1: Matsushita’s Culture Changes with Japan Japan suffered one of the worst economic hit in history when the economic bubble deflated steeply in the 1990s. Stock prices and real estate slumped enormously mostly due to domestic monetary policies. As a result, companies in Japan faced financial trouble which triggered the cultural change in Japan. Before the Economic crisis, employee and the company have a particularly close relationship. The company is involved in the live of the employee. For example, a lot of companies require their employee’s manager to sign before they can rent an apartment. On the other hand employees are also very loyal and obliged to their company. With the company’s guaranteed lifetime employment policy, few employees will fancy changing jobs. Moreover they work hard in response to the generous benefit by the company. However after the economic crisis, companies cannot afford to pay that many benefits to the employees so they finally had to lay them off, which they never did. This cultural change propagates to traditional value change eventually when employees see that loyalty does not guarantee anything. Since then, younger employees started to think more about individual as opposed to group. Japan is moving towards more individualism than collectivism after the economic bubble. Nonetheless, this is a good opportunity for Japan to adapt to the globalization world and be more competitive. The cultural change will lead to greater mobility...
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...aftermath of the tsunami of March 11, 2011, the people of Japan have not only the challenge of redevelopment but the safety from Fukushima and strength to build a healthy psychological future. When Fukushima Daiichi was designed and built with information of tsunami hazard, there were no known large tsunamis that hit that particular part of the coast (Noggerath 39). Once the news of the nuclear disaster was being announced it brought a series of new tragedies to the community. They were evacuated from the surrounding area of the nuclear plant because of the release of radioactive materials. Many are not able to come back to their homes due to the decaying contaminates emitting radiation. Although evacuations were set forth immediately, those that have been exposed will suffer a great deal of health problems. Cancer and tumors are likely for those who were exposed to high levels of radiation. Other problems facing many is the psychological repercussions leading to “stress related symptoms such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (ptsd), and medically unexplained physical symptoms”(von Hippel 33). There are services provided to those that want or need them provided through UNICEF, Association for Aid and Relief (AAR), and Red Cross. The shattering destruction brings survivors of the tsunami together to rebuild, mend their hearts, and live with uncertainties of toxic contamination. Japan has gone through the...
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...When Japan is mentioned, the first picture painted in ones mind is the look of the ancient temples, a mountainous terrain covered in mist, bullet trains among other famous features. These are among the unique aspects that are synonymous with the Asian nation that today is one of the leading economies in the world. Like other countries however, Japan has its history and the general information that one has to take a detailed look at in order to understand the nation well. Japan is an island nation that lies in the eastern side of Asia continent in the Pacific Ocean. It neighbors countries like China, North Korea, South Korea, and Russia which are to the east of Japan, while on the south it borders Taiwan. Japan stretches from Sea of Okhotsk in the north towards south up to the East China Sea forming a chain cluster of islands those total up to 6,852 islands that together are known as the Japanese Archipelago. Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku are the four largest islands in the mountainous nation of Japan accounting for around twenty seven percent of the whole land area. In total, Japan sits on 377,915 square kilometers with land forming 364,485 sq km and water occupying the rest 13,430 sq km. Comparing the area occupied by the whole of Japan to an equivalent in the U.S, it is said to be slightly smaller in size than the state of California. This island nation has a relatively long coast line that stretches for 29,751 km. Legendary stories trace the creation of the nation...
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...beings such a small island Japan is actually has a huge cultural impact on the world. Most of it's early cultural has been influenced by other countries and empires mainly China and has since the early B.C era of times has evolved into the prosperous culture we have today. Japan today is rich and diverse and unique from any other Asian country and culture today. In Ancient Japan before the the establishment of city states, Japan was no different from any other early civilization were they had many hunter gathering villages and tribes. The men in this culture typically Hunted and the women stayed at home and harvested and domestic work. The thing that make Japan so unique is that other early civilization did not put such a heavy influence on pottery and art like the early Japaneses did. This period in Japaneses history is known as the Jōmon period. Art in this era is consisted of pottery and vases decorated in many beautiful gems such as Jade. Even there weapons had an artistic appeal to it. This early Art influence has molded Japan into the innovative country it is today. The Heian period is noted as the peak of Japan ancient culture were its art and literature are still a very influence part of today's culture. During this time the Chinese involvement in Japan had reduced to a minimal and many Chinese invention were expanded upon and made better and more useful. This advancement of already useful goods is tradition that still has strong impact in japans culture today. With the...
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...For Japan, China was the largest export market in 2009 (its share 18.9%, Source: Ministry of Finance Japan). China is a manufacturing base for Japan. For cost reduction, many Japanese companies set up their own factories in China. Since these factories cannot purchase all the parts locally, especially high-tech ones, Japan provides raw materials ,parts and manufacturing equipment to China and then these factories assemble and export them as finished goods to United States, Japan and so on. In fact, the statics below shows that intermediate goods (raw materials) account for 72% of the current export to China. 22% of the remaining 28% are capital goods like manufacturing equipment. 【Breakdown of export amount from Japan to China in 2009, US$Billion】 Breaakdown Amount share Intermediate goods (raw materials) 88.1 72% Finished goods Capital goods 27.7 22% Consumer goods 6.47 6% Sum 122.2 100% Source: Ministry of Finance Japan I think there are two factors which affect the relation of trade between Japan and China: One is increase in China’s labor cost and the other is the appreciation of Renminbi against US dollar and Japanese Yen. 1. Cost competiveness Japan has prioritized on China when it does production transfer to overseas countries, because China has cultural proximity, language similarity (both countries use Chinese characters) and closeness of geographical distance with Japan. Above all, the most important advantage China has is its...
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...Rising Sun On the furthest eastern hemisphere lies a small country called Japan. With an estimated population of 127 million, it is about the same size as the state of California. Even though there are limited English speaking establishments, Japan is an amazing place full of adventure because there is so much to see, since it is a country that never sleeps. During my high school days, my goal was to go study abroad in Japan. Ten years later, here I was, 6,300 miles away from San Francisco, California. I have just gotten of the plane, after a long 12-hour flight of excitement and anxiety. As I was grabbing my luggage to depart the airport, I found myself wondering about how I am going to adapt to this new culture. I was excited to explore Japan; first thing first was to obtain my rail pass. Since Japan is too small for every household to own a vehicle, the best way of getting around was by train. I made my way to the self-serve ticket booth, and proceed to purchase a transit pass. At first, it was confusing because I did not know what I was supposed to do since everything was written in Japanese. As I stared at the screen, there was a button that read “English” in the upper right hand corner. With some relief of not having to verbally or physically ask someone about how to purchase a transit card, I quick click on the “English” button. Well what did you know; I was able to understand what the buttons on the screen after all. I pressed the button that says “new card”, then...
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...I was given the pleasure of interviewing Kai, who is one of my co-workers. She teaches Intro to Computers. While interviewing her, one thing that stuck out to me was she said that she learned things about Japanese culture from her parents growing up, but that she learned it from just simply watching them. Such as, taking off shoes at the door and eating with chopsticks. These sorts of things were second nature and just a way of life. This made me think about my own life and how most things about my own culture, which I have learned, are things that I picked up at a young age by just following in my parents footsteps. Kai also spoke about how her family was very strict growing up. She compared her upbringing to the kids at our school and said they get a lot of slack and how parents seemed less involved. She felt her family expected nothing but the best out of her. This seems to be something that is pretty consistent amongst the Japanese American culture. They tend to hold careers, school and hobbies at high regards. They feel that anything you are partaking in should be done to the best possible standard. This way of thinking has translated into her classroom. She holds her scholars to a high standard and takes the proper steps if these standards are not met, with phone calls home and setting up parent conferences. Something else that I found interesting is that, even though a great number of the Japanese Culture immigrated to America in the late 1800s (McGoldrick, 2005)....
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...To Be or Not to Be: Japan’s Reliance on Mahan’s Strategy during World War II Geographically, Japan is an island nation that is slightly smaller than the state of California, with an area of 377,915 square kilometers. However, Japan has a coastline that is almost 30,000 kilometers in length in comparison to the United States coastline, which is 19,924 kilometers in length. It is narrowly separated from modern-day Russia, North Korea, South Korea, and China by the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea. On maps the largest cities in Japan are on the Eastern side of the island chain, looking toward the Atlantic Ocean, and it boasts few natural resources, besides fishing. The geography of Japan and its proximity to its neighbors has shaped the strategic policy of Japan for centuries, and has driven the necessity of a strong navel strategy. However, it did not always have naval aims. During World War II, while Japan strongly relied on the writings on Alfred Thayer Mahan (1840-1914) in developing their national and naval strategy. However, their strategy had some fatal flaws that would prevent a victory or a negotiated settlement with the United States. Mahan is often compared to the highly esteemed Jomini and Clausewitz, who were famous for their land-based military strategy. However, many of his ideas were not new; they were derived from historical sources from which he distilled and clarified some major concepts. Mahan’s huge contribution to Navel strategy was the...
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...“England and Japan” England and Japan both, which are island nations, have a lot of difficult obstacles, which they must over come to be stable and successful nations. Both shares a rich and vibrant history but on opposite ends of the planet. They both import and export a wide variety of items from different industries. Each island nation has its own special geographic features that are unique to their own nation. England and Japan that they are on two separates sides of the world makes them vastly different in history, geographic features and exports. England, which is an island country that makes up the lower third of the United Kingdom, has geographic features that range from grass plains to mountains. Towards the south of the island you will find more of grasslands, farms, flatlands, and a hilly environment. Then if you more north of island you’ll find a rockier, mountainous environment where you find a bit less wildlife because this area is considered tundra due to the lack of rainfall in this area. While if you take a look at Japan it also is an island country but it doesn’t range in geographic features as widely as England. Japan is really limited to about two major geographic features. These features are a mostly mountain, which makes up about 70% of Japan’s land. The other major feature would be plains, which are far, and few between. Japans has a lot of different imports and exports because like England they are a island nation which lacks some resources exports...
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...Japan is the culture that I chose to explore. The Japanese diet is known to be one of the more healthy diets. Lifestyle and diet help the people of japan live longer and healthier on average. With a life expectancy of 86 for women and 79 for men. They also live longer with fewer disabilities. A few reasons for this include portion control and lower calorie foods. They eat an average 25% less calories per day then the average American. They replace high calorie snack with energy dense foods. Portion control and smaller plates are also typical in Japanese culture. Rice is also a foundation of their diet and is served with every meal. Veggies are the main theme of a traditional meal with fish and soy based products coming in next. Japan also introduced the world to sushi. Traditional sushi restaurants in japan are different then in other countries. They mostly focus on one type of fish in each restaurant. For centuries the Japanese did not eat meat. Buddhism law forbid the consumption of meat from mammals and birds. Fish was excluded but whales were mammals and could not be eaten. It was in the mid 20th century that meat was reintroduced from China and Korea. Meat is typically a new ingredient that requiring new recipes. Modern Japan incorporates a lot of foreign cuisines in to their diets. Although rice is still a main ingredient, its consumption is half of what it was 40 years ago. Japanese culture now brings in many sides dishes to their meals. Naomichi, I. (2006...
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...Executive Summary The purpose of this report is to provide analysis of the Japanese auto manufacturer’s response to the rapid appreciation of the yen during the period known as Endaka and to offer recommendations to modern day multi-national corporations who are currently operating in a volatile exchange rate environment. The method of analysis includes evaluating the circumstances that led to the rise in the value of the yen as well as the subsequent actions of the Japanese auto manufacturers during this time. The results of this analysis suggest that there are several important lessons that can be derived from the Japanese auto industry’s Endaka experience. These lessons have been used to develop several strategies that can be employed by multi-national corporations in any industry to more effectively manage the operating exposure that fluctuations in exchange rates can create. These strategies include: • Employing cost reduction methods • Increasing operational efficiencies • Investing in research and development efforts • Diversifying the markets in which they participate • Expanding production locations to low-cost sites • Utilizing financial hedging practices. This report recognizes that the method of implementation of the operating exposure management strategies discussed will vary depending upon the size, structure, industry, and nations in which individual multi-national corporations operate. However, these recommendations are presented with the intention of...
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