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> The Japanese government isn't saying "Let's get rid of pointless meetings and busy work!" Maybe, but if you've worked in Japan, or even just living here, you
by brigandish 5y ago
> The Japanese government isn't saying "Let's get rid of pointless meetings and busy work!"
Maybe, but if you've worked in Japan, or even just living here, you know about the long, pointless meetings, desk warming and busy work. Thus, it's highly possible the government is saying "let's get rid of pointless meetings and busy work". Things are that top-down here that often companies won't do anything unless the government has said something (and it's likely that it was the big companies that control the politicians that told them to say it).
There are plenty of examples of this kind of thing, one is when the government had to do the same to force companies to let/get employees to use their holiday entitlements. Western principles such as truth, innocence and self-reliance aren't foundational here - the moment you accept that you understand so much more about the culture, in much the same way you won't understand Buddhism if you use a mental model constructed out of your understanding of Christianity.
- qwerty456127 5y ago> Western principles such as truth, innocence and self-reliance aren't foundational here Then what is?
- vict00ms 5y agoI'm 4th generation Japanese-American, and in no way whatsoever qualified to answer your question, but I'll gladly do it nonetheless: they prioritize the collective over the individual.
- brigandish 5y agoThis is entirely correct, it seems you are displaying the kind of humility that would make your ancestors proud!
- toyg 5y ago> Western principles such as truth, innocence and self-reliance aren't foundational here ... nor in the West, to be fair. Lies and cheats are commonplace in any Western workplace. I think you are over-generalizing. Self-reliance is big in Japan too, even while egoism is not - it's drilled into people basically from birth, with things like students cleaning their own schools. Innocence is always politely expected until openly questioned, at which point it turns almost automatically into guilt; but it doesn't mean it's not "foundational" - in fact, it's much more entrenched, it's just that the act of questioning it carries so much more weight on all sides (an unfair accusation, if determined, would be extremely shameful) that nobody wants to go there until absolutely necessary. They just play the game with a slightly different set of practical rules.
- brigandish 5y agoPerhaps I should've used the word ideals instead of principles, as you're right, plenty of liars and cheats around (we're all human). Aside from that I'm happy with what I wrote. You can't have innocence and truth as fundamental ideals of a shame culture.
- wst_ 5y agoJust a nitpick. We all are playing the same game. Any society is a set of abstract rules and beliefs. We may agree or disagree about the rules on the other side of the globe, but nonetheless we all are bound by some rules.