Part # 1

Cities and nature in Japan

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Most of Japan's 128 million inhabitants live in a few densely-populated parts of the country. By linking those dense populations together - nearly 40 million people in greater Tokyo with 20 million residents of Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto - the railway helped to shift business patterns, making day-trips between Tokyo and Osaka possible.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/06/economist-explains-7

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http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Energy_Resources_Materials/Environment/What_China_can_learn_from_Japan_on_cleaning_up_the_environment_2191

2 events cleaned the air in Japan

Event # 1A popular protest that forced government policy to change. The country’s first proper environmental laws were passed in the early 1970s, when its first environment agency was created.

Event # 2The revaluation of the yen combined with the oil shock and the ensuing inflation. This sudden change in Japan’s circumstances brought about an abrupt switch in its industrial structure. The low-cost model was dead. Capital investment in heavy, polluting industry began to drop. Energy had become more expensive, and new taxes made it more expensive still. Companies adopted energy-saving and more efficient technologies and started to make products, especially cars, suited to the new, cleaner times. Also at this point, electronics companies, encouraged by the government, made big investments in new high-tech gadgetry, which led the economy in a new direction.

Davies, Roger J. & Ikeno, Osamu: The Japanese Mind, p. 10

Japan is also a mountainous country and does not have a great deal of inhabitable land; as a result, people had to live close together in communities in which everyone was well acquainted with one another.

The concept of harmony, or wa, became an important factor in Japanes life, helping to maintain relationships between members of close-knit communities.

Mountains

The geography of Japan is said to have a great influence on the development of many of the country’s customs and cultural values, a social theory known as geographical determinism.

First, Japan is an island country, and because of the dangerous and unpredictable seas separating Japan from the Asian continent, Japanese culture was able to develop in relative isolation, free from the threat of invasion from other countries.

Thousands of islands

Davies, Roger J. & Ikeno, Osamu: The Japanese Mind, p. 9-10.

The 4 largest islands account for 97% of the Japan’s land area.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan

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Part # 2

People living in Japan

Population of Japan

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ja.htmlhttp://www.economist.com/node/17492860http://truenomads.com/interesting-facts-about-japan/

Year Population

2014 127 million people.98.5% are Japanese.

2050 89 million people.

Japan is the worldwide poster child for aging societies. The CSIS Global Aging Initiative predicts that by 2040, nearly 45% of its population will be over the age of 65, up from an already astounding 24% today.

In short, Japan is projected to have the highest old-age dependency ratio in the world and, as a result, will face monumental economic and political dislocations in the very near future.

http://gsi.csis.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=49&Itemid=78

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http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2014/12/japan-graphics

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http://www.businessinsider.com/japanese-words-with-no-english-equivalent-2014-4

Some Japanese expressions

Doumo – Hello, thanks, and hello and thanks.Ozappa – Working in broad strokes.Bimyou – Subtly, not right.Irusu – The “the lights are on but nobody’s home” fake-out.Chu to hampa – Not quite one thing, but not quite the other, either.Majime – Earnestness for the 21st century.Otsukaresama desu – You’re probably tired, and I think that’s great.Yoroshiku onegai shimasu – I hope things go well, even if I’m not exactly sure what those things are.

Part # 3

High power distance

Japan is an exemplar of an authority-ranking nation in which bowing was the preferred mode of interaction for centuries.

The basic idea is that the subordinate bows lower than the superior.

Martin J. Gannon: Paradoxes of culture and globalization, p. 35.

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Japanese workers are polite

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In Japan, the status of teachers is high.

Hofstede, Geert: Cultures and Organizations, p. 334.

http://endlessinnovation.typepad.com/endless_innovation/2008/09/innovation-and.html

Master sushi chefs choose everyelement of the menu for guests.

Susi

Omakase

In Japan, you are expected to receive a business card reverently. You should grasp it with both hands, touch it with the sensitive tactile pads of your thumb in tandem with at least two fingertips of each hand, and give it a careful reading.

In a still more reverent display, you'd involve all 5 fingers, again of both hands, in the holding. The more tactile hands-on attention you give the business card, the more respectyou show.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/your-body-work/201009/how-hold-business-card

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd7kwcVVw3w

If, in Japan, someone says ”I’m not totally happy with your idea”, that means that person thinks it’s the worst idea he/she has ever heard.

Edward de Bono

Selbst in Landesteilen, die vom Erdbebenunbehelligt geblieben sind und in denen die Menschen nicht aus Angst vor einerradioaktiven Wolke aus Fukushima den Gang auf die Strasse meiden, ist von “Atomkraft, nein danke!” nichts zu hören.

http://www.nzz.ch/aktuell/international/japan--kein-land-der-atomkraftgegner-1.9907344

Part # 4

Relatively strong group orientation

Japan’s special blend of collectivism focuses on devotion to the group. Individualism is an alien notion to the Japanese worker, whose personal success is measured by the prosperity of the entire organization.

Loyalty and devotion to the group is not an option in Japan, but a given.

Levine, Robert: A Geography of Time, location 2894.

http://www.tsunagujapan.com/19-things-that-i-miss-about-japan/

Japanese people show respect for other people

Face-to-face conversations are vital for the Japanese, doing business with someone you don’t meet regularly in person unthinkable.

Far more important than a good product is the

atmosphere and harmony (in Japanese: ”Wa”)

in the cooperation – in other words, no wa = no joint project, however good the data may be.

http://www.ethlife.ethz.ch/archive_articles/090410_Globetrotter_Ostermeyer_Japan_tl/index_EN

Japanese consumers prefer their vacuum cleaners quieter and less powerful with smaller motors than the American vacuum cleaners.

Tom Kelley: The Art of Innovation, page 166.

Individualists and collectivists among Japanese adults

Matsumoto, David Ricki:The New Japan, p. 46.

Individualists and collectivists among Japanese students

Matsumoto, David Ricki:The New Japan, p. 45.

Young people in the West generally try to achieve independence from their parents at a relatively young age.

In Japan, many young people remain dependent until much later in life.

Davies, Roger J. & Ikeno, Osamu: The Japanese Mind, p. 22.

The nail that sticks upis quickly hammered down.

Levine, Robert: A Geography of Time, location 214.

A well-accepted Japanese saying

The Japanese culture appreciates and

respects silence as part of a conversation.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tim-berry/in-business-and-speaking_b_520379.html

Deutsche Manager wenden 60-80% ihrer Arbeitszeit dafür auf, unternehmensinterne Wiederstände beim Verlauf von Entscheidungs-vorgängen aufzulösen, während japanische Führungskräfte demgegenüber nur 20-30% der Zeit in Anspruch nehmen.

Feldmann, Thomas: Kultur als Determinante der Wirtschaft? Unternehmensphilosophien in Japan.

Hofstede, Geert: Cultures and Organizations, p. 336-337.

With Japanese participants, the giving and receiving of personal feedback appeared virtually impossible.

The receiver of feedback felt that he must have insulted the sender in some way.

People in Japan are often afraid that they will act inappropriately, that they will be criticized.

http://home.sandiego.edu/~pavett/docs/msgl_503/dim_of_cult.pdf

The longer the duration of the respondent’s pause before offering a ”hai” (yes), the greater the likelihood that he/she means ”iee” (no).

Levine, Robert: A Geography of Time, location 883.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2014/12/japan-graphics

Part # 5

High degree of masculinity

In Japan, a woman’s marriage chances diminish if she has a career of her own.

Hofstede, Geert: Cultures and Organizations, p. 154.

Female managers are virtuallynonexistent in Japan.

Hofstede, Geert: Cultures and Organizations, p. 117.

Female graduates and post-graduates in % of total graduates

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https://twitter.com/davos/status/426041675459596288

https://twitter.com/wef/status/426043410026602496

Further inspiration

http://www.slideshare.net/frankcalberg/gender-diversity-9869793

Part # 6

A combination of1. rules / effiency / order / traditions, and 2. innovation, for example process

innovation and technological innovation.

3 examples of attention to cleaning in Japan

1 person cleans a street in Shizuoka city, Japanhttp://youtu.be/QuWp3gTrpV0

1 person cleans a Shinkansen train wagon with 100 seatshttp://en.rocketnews24.com/2014/04/27/race-against-the-clock-shinkansen-staff-have-just-7-minutes-to-get-bullet-train-ready-to-ride/

Fans cleans up waste after a sports eventhttp://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/worldcup/world-cup-2014-japanese-fans-clean-stadium-after-losing-21-against-ivory-coast-9539793.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_companies

Many of the oldest companies in the world are located in Japan.

Nobody wants to talk about shutting down plants in Japan, because it is something which is sacred.

http://www.inc.com/bill-snyder/carlos-ghosn-nissan-dont-fear-making-waves.html

Every class you would take in how to do business in a global environment would say to respect local cultures. But had Carlos Ghosn followed conventional wisdom, he might have failed. “You cannot shut down a plant in Japan. You cannot dismantle the carry-through in Japan. You cannot challenge the seniority system in Japan. You cannot put younger people in top jobs in Japan.” I mean, the list of what you [could not] do was huge, Ghosn said.

Still, Ghosn defied Japanese business etiquette. He cut 21,000 Nissan jobs - or 14% of the total workforce – shut 5 domestic plants, and auctioned off prized assets such as Nissan's aerospace unit.

http://www.inc.com/bill-snyder/carlos-ghosn-nissan-dont-fear-making-waves.html

Japanese companies have traditionally adopted a lifetime employment system, although this approach has recently been collapsing.

Davies, Roger J. & Ikeno, Osamu: The Japanese Mind, p. 20

Example of tradition: Tea ceremony

http://youtu.be/K16i2rlW9l8http://food.japan-talk.com/food/new/japanese-tea

When Japanese have meetings, the most junior people get to give their views first, so they can speak freely.

http://youtu.be/f9rtmxJrKwc minute 29.

John Cleese

3 out 4 Japanese households have an electronic toilet

http://www.japan-talk.com/jt/new/20-common-features-of-Japanese-toilets

Vending machines are common in Japan

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There’s strong focus on robot research in Japan.