Lecture 2003-01-20
Japanese Society: Continuity and Change
Professor Chie Nakane


Annual General Meeting

The evening's main event, after the Annual General Meeting, was a lecture by the noted social anthropologist Prof. Chie Nakane, on "Japanese Society: Continuity and Change". Dr. Nakane began by saying that she has sometimes been asked if she would rewrite her book "Japanese Society", which she had written over 30 years ago, but in fact there was no basic change to write about, and it was more a matter of continuity. The period of economic expansion after World War II, which continued until the collapse of the bubble economy, saw the extreme crystallization of what she had described in her book as the "vertical society". This society had two distinguishable aspects: the ranking of individuals within a certain group,  and the closed nature of each group. Such a system depended on the individual's remaining permanently within the one group, as in the practice of lifetime employment. The individual's affiliation to a group was the primary feature of Japanese society, and furnished him with his identity; thus a sumo wrestler, for instance, was introduced as coming from a certain heya. Among professionals the teacher-disciple relationship formed the core of the group formation, and a combination of these groups together made up an association, through which the individuals were located and identified. (But the individual does not directly belong to the larger group; in a business, for instance, he will be a member of a section within a department within a division within a company within an industry.) In this connection it was interesting to note the Japanese reaction when Mr. Koichi Tanaka was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. People were at a loss as to how to identify him, as he was not a member of the Japanese Association of Chemistry, and had graduated from a Department of Electrical Engineering, not Chemistry!

The political world is noted for its habatsu ('factions'), and to understand political workings it is important to know to which habatsu a person belongs. These groups are known among themselves as mura, because in the olden days peasants were known by the name of their village, in contrast to the situation in China and Korea where each person had a surname showing his patrilineal descent. In the industrial and commercial world, the company was a person's most important affiliation, or rather, his section within the company. In the wider environment, each group was in intense competition with every other group, forcing each individual in the group to exert himself to the utmost for the success of the group. To obtain success they may commit offences against business morality or actually break the law. This will not be known to those outside the group, though those in it may suspect other groups of the same practices, and be indignant when they themselves have been singled out  for punitive action.  This lack of transparency has bred a mentality and a mode of behaviour that deviates from that of society at large, and may even lead to vice. An important recent development has been the increasing clamour for greater transparency.

In this connection, Dr. Nakane explained one of the traditional business practices now considered to be notorious: that of  'collusive bidding', which relates to tendering for a contract. Entitlement to participate in such tendering belongs only to members of a fixed closed group, and the commonest case is that of construction companies. When a tender is invited, the group will decide among themselves which company will make the winning bid. This serves their purpose in that it gives each company, large or small, the change to obtain a contract; but it is now regarded as an illegal practice, giving a company a chance to benefit itself by offering an unfair price.

Japan is now undergoing a certain change, though it is one of degree rather than of structure. With the country facing the greatest recession ever to hit it, the shady practices that were previously invisible are now coming under scrutiny, and it may be that Japan is moving into an era of greater disclosure. Business practices that were once considered characteristic of corporate Japan are now being re-examined, in particular the lifetime employment and seniority systems.  The "restructuring" of companies, which has especially meant the discharging of those in senior positions, has led to a widespread apprehension that the changes now taking place will threaten the Japanese lifestyle and social order, and change fundamental values. However, Prof. Nakane did not feel that the changes would entirely transform the character of the Japanese group system and values.

It is notably the companies engaged in the international sector that are having to change their way of operating in order to conform to international standards.  The practices adopted by those businesses that are in the vanguard of international competition will eventually affect domestic practices, but in the meantime we are likely to see a widening gap between those sectors that have adopted the international norm and those that still maintain a domestic flavour. Services totally geared to domestic consumption, such as government, education, the media and politicians, will surely need more time to adapt, especially as 99% of their activities are carried out in the Japanese language and in terms of the existing social system.

These days there are increasing opportunities for contact with other countries, and more people are able to speak English; and yet there are very few who can communicate lucidly with their foreign counterparts. It is amazing that in this age of the Internet Japanese are still very much living in their own world, and can even access overseas information on the Internet through the medium of Japanese. Before there is any possibility of fundamental change in Japan, more Japanese will need to be exposed to practical dealings with their counterparts in foreign countries and not just tourist travel, and those people will need to come to occupy important positions in Japanese organizations, rather than being regarded as outside the mainstream.

There are two more structural factors making it difficult for Japan to play a full international role. The first is the absence of an intellectual elite,  which impedes the formation of horizontal relationships across groups and also the fostering of leaders who will match their counterparts elsewhere. Nor are there any quality newspapers which might create an informed elite; intellectuals and general public alike are served by the same nationwide newspapers and broadcasts. The second is that the Japanese group structure makes it difficult for the leader to make his own decisions freely; the vertical society does not mean that power resides at the top, and it is difficult for anyone outside to understand where the decisions are made. The man at the top has an external role, rather than authority over his subordinates. This is often exemplified by the case of the chairman or president of a prestigious company having to resign because of a crime committed at a branch office (of which he had no way of knowing). The greater the effect of such an incident on the general public, the higher the position of the man who has to resign to take responsibility. In this system the man at the top is inhibited from taking any drastic action, for fear of being confronted with strong opposition which may jeopardize his own position. By nature Japanese are conservative, and like to preserve the status quo; they feel that any change should be gradual, like the change in the seasons. Today, people are becoming increasingly irritated and frustrated by the resulting economic stagnation, and lack of political leadership. The Prime Minister constantly speaks of taking bold moves, but his pronouncements have yet to produce any fruit.

In conclusion, Prof. Nakane spoke of another factor that must not be overlooked -- the demographic one. Most Japanese are worried that the low birthrate will cause a labour shortage and sap Japan's economic vitality. But traditionally Japanese organizations have been overstaffed, as a means of providing jobs for all. A lower birthrate might provide an opportunity to increase efficiency and reduce overheads, as well as making use if the workforce of women. Depending on one's perspective, seemingly negative factors can be turned into positive changes. Any change requires a willingness to make sacrifices during the period of transition, and can only take place under certain external social conditions. In this regard, Prof. Nakane said she felt the changes she had been talking about would do no more than inject a certain flexibility into the Japanese social fabric, and loosen up the mechanisms of the closed group to a certain extent.

Dr. Berendt then invited questions, which Prof. Nakane had said she would especially welcome. Asked whether the case of Carlos Ghosn being brought in to restructure Nissan Motors did not run counter to her comments on group psychology, she said that it had been successful because there was an entirely new "man at the top"; and that if a foreigner became part of the group he -- or she -- was not treated differently from any other member of the group. The second question was about the Shinsei Bank, created by an American buyout; was the new bank regarded askance by the Japanese business community because it was being un-Japanese by refusing further credit to bad debtors? Prof. Nakane replied simply that one could not generalize; each case was different. To a question about loyalty, she replied that it was a word she did not use in the context, for example, of lifetime employment; it was simply the natural attitude to have. Asked about women's roles and what changes she had seen at the university of Tokyo, she said that there were now more women professors, and they were not discriminated against as they were in some other countries. However, in Chicago in 1959, she had been surprised to be excluded from a party of male professors simply because it was "stag"! (This clearly gave food for thought to quite a number of people in the audience!) She gave several reasons for the low birthrate. One was that women weren't so ready to marry and in any case were marrying later. The working situation was also unfavourable; if woman had children and wanted to go on working , it was difficult to get domestic help or find good nurseries and preschools  --  and the husbands did not help at home.

In conclusion Dr. Berendt called on Mrs. Hisami Kurokochi to propose the vote of thanks, noting that she had been Japan's  first woman ambassador just as Prof. Nakane had been the first woman professor in the University of Tokyo. Mrs. Kurokochi thanked her for an intellectually stimulating and, at the same time, intimate lecture. During her professional life, she said, she had often needed to explain Japanese life and society to foreigners, and Dr. Nakane's book had proved very useful. She had recently re-read it and found that, thirty years after it was written, it was still so relevant, especially the chapter on "leadership".