This is also one of the reasons an apology generally comes together with a deep bow in which the person recognizes his or her mistake.
On the other hand, Japanese obsession for quality definitely has its roots in the Japanese obsession for perfection. Ever since its creation by gods, Japan was seen by its inhabitants as being a privileged, perfect nation. Such a nation could only produce, in its turn, perfect products. In modern times, this tendency to continuously strive for perfection was translated into the need for constantly high quality on all production.
Additionally, this is also tied to the sense of duty that goes back to the samurai and warrior tradition. As such, while working for your company, you can only give it your very best and the sentiment of honour cannot allow you not to abide by quality principles.
III. Sugimoto sustains that despite the outward appearance of Homogeneity, Japan contains many diverse subcultures for family, work and labour, popular culture and friendly authoritarianism.
In my opinion, Japan in the 21st century is already an entirely heterogeneous culture, with individuals that are more and more cosmopolite. The first argument we can consider is the emergence and penetration in the Japanese society of the Western pop culture. More and more, young people have adopted Western norms in terms of dress, music or behaviour. On the other hand, many of the individuals over the age of 40 have remained committed to traditional values in terms of family and entertainment, to mention just two examples.
Japan continues to dynamically transform itself while still retaining traces of previous characteristics in terms of business elements and managerial approaches. Just until a couple of years ago, almost all Japanese companies had a clear set of rules and customs that included lifelong employment, promotion according to age etc. Nowadays, many of the Japanese companies have found the need to revert or, at least borrow, Western business practices, such as promotion...
Carlos Ghosn was 45 years old when he became chief operating officer of Nissan, an age where, according to Japanese tradition, he would have probably had to be somewhere in the mid-levels of company management. On the other hand, we still have companies that have retained previous traditions and still abide by them. All these types co-exist on the market.
Family life is also transforming, but, at the same time, still remaining the same in some areas of society. Up to a couple of years ago, growing the children was almost a strict duty of the Japanese wife. Now, more and more, we see fathers with their children out in the park or at school. Nevertheless, in some cases, things have remained the same as in the past and change is difficult to make its way. This is why, in terms of family life as well, we can discuss a high degree of heterogeneity rather than homogeneity at the level of the Japanese society.
As for authoritarianism, we need to point out that in some areas of the Japanese society, a certain flexibility in applying imposed rules can be noticed. On the other hand, the traditional society has remained strong in imposing its established perspectives.
As such, pointing to those mentioned previously, we can argue that, as Sugimoto showed, the Japanese society is now a pluralistic one (Sugimoto, 2003) and this is enough to argue that it is no longer a homogenous one. Its number of different manifestations, at all levels of Japanese society and in all its forms, is a clear sign that heterogeneity is now the main characteristic.
Bibliography
1. Sugimoto, Yoshio. An Introduction to Japanese Society, Cambridge University Press. 2002
2. De Mente, Boye Lafayette. Japan's Secret Weapon: The Kata Factor The Cultural Programming That Made the Japanese a Superior People. Phoenix Books, 1990.
3. Henshall, Kenneth G. A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower, Second Edition. Palgrave Macmillan; 2nd edition. 2004.
