Japan's social globalization and cultural transformation

Globalization

There are several examples of Japan struggling with the social impacts of globalization. Recent scholarly and media coverage has highlighted some of these impacts, and they all seem to be fairly negative. One of the major issues is that Japan had a closed culture, so it developed in a manner that allowed Japanese society to address all of its different issues. Globalization changed Japanese society, and this has led to a number of these issues going unaddressed.

Webster (2001) discusses how Japanese business culture has been impacted by the changes brought about by globalization. It is known that Japanese companies where among the early adopters in the mid-20th century of the multinational or international business model. As a result of this, they have gained significant experience, but that does not mean that there are not problems. Webster notes that many Japanese managers working overseas struggled with culture shock and find that overseas placements are substantially challenging on both a professional and personal level.

One of the key themes of this article is that Japanese managers are not especially adept at adapting, that instead the Japanese culture remains dominant and this has posed some significant challenges. Just as foreigners who seek to do business in Japan may find it challenging, likewise Japanese managers struggle when adapting to an overseas context.

Sato and Ahira (2004) note that there are some benefits to globalization in Japanese society. They conducted a study that compared socioeconomic mobility in Japan to that in South Korea, a country that they felt undertook some key stages in globalization earlier. What they found was that Japanese society is just now starting to see some of the socioeconomic fluidity that has been more present in Korean society to this point. What this means that that people are able to move up and down the social ladder.

An interesting theme -- though not a key one -- is that Japan globalized later than Korea. The path of economic development actually had Japan as ahead of Korea, but the country remained largely closed. The studies that showed how much trouble Japanese managers abroad have even today is enlightening. Perhaps the long history of being a closed society has made Japanese culture inherently more insular and less adaptable, and this explains in part the very slow transition to the globalized world. Class mobility -- or meritocracy -- is a concept closely tied to globalization, with its neoliberal competitive mindset. For Japan, which has traditionally relied on Confucian ethics that emphasize relationships and one's role in those relationships, this is a stark change of philosophy. Globalization, therefore, is challenging to Japanese society, but eventually that society will be pulled towards a greater degree of globalization, including such things as middle class fluidity.

In a third article, Krever (2013) notes that there is a high level of tension currently between Japan and China. This tension has a long predecessor, back to the first half of the 20th century, but it is only heightened by globalization and intense geopolitics thereof. Several factors complicate this scenario. First is that both countries now have access to highly sophisticated weaponry. The second is that both countries are supported by allies from around the world. Japan can count on the backing of the United States, for example. This is because there is interest on the part of a lot of countries in potential oil and gas reserves in the contentious South China Sea. Because of the economic repercussions of conflict, arguably globalization heightens conflict. Thus, Japan becomes the center of a potential major conflict in the South China Sea.

Commonalities

There are a few commonalities that can be found in these examples. The first is that Japan is challenged by globalization. Arguably, the story of Japan succeeding in the globalized environment through its exports is an old one -- still valid, but less newsworthy. Instead, the news covers the other aspects of Japan and globalization. The country struggles because globalization is both changing the internal structure of Japanese society and it is also changing Japan's position in the world. Globalization changes geopolitical systems, requiring nations to lock themselves into blocs of allies, and this heightens the conflict between Japan and China, which was strong enough already.