> “While Western society is individualistic and non-hierarchical, Japanese society is collectivist and hierarchical,” explains Hiroshi Ono, professor of human r

> “While Western society is individualistic and non-hierarchical, Japanese society is collectivist and hierarchical,” explains Hiroshi Ono, professor of human resources management at Hitotsubashi University, who specialises in Japan’s work culture. “Thus, many people refrain from taking holiday because their bosses do not take holiday, or they are afraid that it will disrupt the group harmony.” Just FYI, this is complete pablum. While it’s true that Japanese society has a collectivist bent, that this by default maps to some authoritarian business culture, elides the political and ideological project of the right wing in Japan. Prior to the war and up into the 1970s, Japan was a hotbed of radical politics and labor activism that roiled the country. Unions dominated many industries, socialists and communists won major parliamentary victories, and Japanese thinkers and activists were on the vanguard of many left wing movements. This state of affairs was, however, completely unacceptable to the US. And so they proceeded to massively subsidize right wing politicians, work with organized crime to intimidate and disrupt unionized workers, and gather intelligence against opposition to the LDP’s rule. https://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/09/world/cia-spent-millions-to-support-japanese-right-in-50-s-and-60-s.html https://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/09/world/cia-spent-millions-... So if you want to understand why the country has devolved into this kind of crushing exploitation and culture of suffering, you really need to begin with the fact that the US rehabilitated a bunch of fascists, helped orchestrate their rule over the postwar order, and crushed all meaningful challenge to this state of affairs. There’s nothing inherent to the Japanese people that makes any of this necessary.