JAPAN (After WW II)  A new constitution made Japan a democratic nation.  All power was taken from the emperor and placed in the hands of the people, this governing body was called the Diet.  Democratic features such as elected representation & the right to vote at the age of 20.  All people are equal under the law & are guaranteed civil rights.  Discrimination is illegal.  Japan was forbidden to have any army or navy except a small self-defense force.

Government  Principal goal of the government is to promote national economic growth.  The government provides money, loans & tax breaks to companies to promote research & productivity.  Made it hard for foreign products to compete for the Japanese market by establishing high tariffs. Taxes have been lowered due to complaints from other countries.  Do not have to pay for heavy defense spending.  Japan invests more money in research than other countries.

Urbanization  More than ¾’s of all the Japanese population live in cities.  The cities are large & crowded & face pollution problems.  Housing shortages exist & living spaces are small & expensive.

Education  Japan places a great deal of emphasis on producing a well educated population.  Students attend school 6 days a week & have short summer vacations.  They take competitive examinations to get into the best high schools & universities.  More than 99% of the people can read & write

A Comparison of U.S. & Japanese Education U.S. JAPAN Literacy Rate Length of School Week Days in school year High School graduates Attending College 99%99% 5 days 5 + ½ day Sat 180 days240 days under 80%over 94% 58%48%

Workplace  Workers place great emphasis on the group or team effort.  They tend to identify strongly with their employers & usually work for the same company throughout their careers.  Management often consults with workers to obtain their ideas for improving the workplace & production.

Work Force  Japan’s work force is literate, well- educated & highly skilled.  They tend to work longer hours than we do here in the U.S.  Workers are not generally fired when business is slow; instead the company will train workers for a new function before it will dismiss them.  Employees have deep loyalty to their company.  Japanese labor unions accept change & introduction of labor saving machinery without resistance.  Japan has fewer strikes than U.S. or Europe.

Management  Managers tend to be highly innovative & creative.  They have one basic aim; to produce the highest quality goods at the lowest possible prices.  Borrowed U.S. methods of quality control & improved upon them.  Managers take a personal interest in the lives of their workers, which strengthens company loyalties.  Differences between managers & workers are resolved by compromise instead of conflict.

Status of Women  Since 1947, women enjoy equal rights by law.  On average, women earn much less than their male counterparts.  There are some women in professions like teaching & medicine, but few that are in management.  Married women still stay at home to supervise their children’s education.

Trade Imbalance  Japan sells more goods to the U.S. than the U.S. have sold to Japan creating a trade deficit of tens of billions of dollars each year.  This money enables Japan to purchase raw materials, like oil, from other countries.  This is the concept of interdependence of nations in a global economy.  Americans spend more & save little.  Japanese spend less & save more.  Trade agreements have been reached to resolve the trade imbalance.

Traditional Arts  Japan blends modernization with traditional values such as:  The Tea Ceremony – performed slowly, restfully to promote meditation  Flower Arranging – emphasizes symbolism  Origami – folding paper into shapes  Kabuki Theater – all-male cast wearing masks & elaborate costumes  Haiku Poetry – simple & graceful poems reflecting on beauty of nature & life  Martial Arts – judo, karate, sumo wrestling reflecting earlier influence of samurai warriors