From: fester@etorofu.island.COM ()
Subject: Re: Please give your opinions...
Originator: fester@etorofu
Organization: Island Graphics, Marin County, California
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 20:31:08 GMT

In regard to the recent discussions about this article, I WILL give my
point by point opinions on it. I have only the "1/2" part of the article,
so if someone would email me, or repost 2/2, I'll get to that. As the 
article is extremely long, I will not comment on the whole thing at once.
One thing to get out of the way immediately: most of the valid points in
this article were presented first and better, as well as thoroughly 
documented, in Karel van Wolferen's _The Enigma of Japanese Power_. I find
the lack of attribution of the original author of this post to be guilty of
intellectual dishonesty by virtue of taking passages out of that book without
giving that author credit.


> POLITENESS AND CODED LANGUAGES, A BACKGROUND:

>      Japanese communicate with each other and the outside world a bit
> differently than we do. This is often a cause for misunderstanding between
> our two peoples. 

Most nations have different forms of communication, especially in the
subtler aspects.

>      Because Japan was a communal society, a way of speaking in a way not
> to directly offend the other person (who they still had to live close to
> after a discussion had finished) has developed over time. There is even a
> Japanese word, called 'Tatemae,'  which refers to this kind of phrase.
> These kinds of phrases are a type of 'lie' in order to be polite. Often,
> when Japanese use words like 'goal' or 'difficult' in reference to a
> request you make, this is tatemae. 

Again, this is not unique to Japanese culture. Most cultures have manifestations
of this in various forms, and to various degrees. PERHAPS Japan has this to
a greater degree than other nations/cultures, but that's about it.

>      Some recent examples from the evening news will make this point
> clear. Recently, George Bush went to Japan to open the Japanese market to
> US goods and to get the Japanese to use more US made car parts in the cars
> they sell to America. When he left the Japanese Prime Minister said the
> agreement they reached was 'a difficult goal'. This is Tatemae code for
> we have no intention of meeting your demand'. But of course, the Japanese
> PM would not say this directly to George Bush, who is president of
> America. This would be extremely impolite and Mr. Miyazawa could never say
> such a thing directly to an individual of such prestige. The Japanese PM
> s thus in a difficult position. This is an occasion for Tatemae.
> Foreigners (especially Americans) who don't use Tatemae have extreme
> difficulty to understand its usage. Later, when the 'promise' is broken,
> Americans often end up thinking they were lied to by the Japanese when
> this was never the case. Really, the Americans were supposed to pick up on
> the Japanese polite refusal, but failed to because they took what the
> Japanese said literally.

If this is the case, then the Americans were at fault for not picking this
up. When I was in Japan during Hirohito's funeral, NHK had an interview
with Peter Jennings where, for some unexplained reason, he went into great
lengths about his feelings regarding the US-Japan relationship and ended his
speech with "That is my honmae, not my tatamae". If an airhead like Jennings
(sorry) can pick up the term/concept, certainly members of our government
should be able to do the same, and react accordingly.

>      As an other example, an agreement was reached where Japanese would
> allow more US made computer chips to be sold in Japanese products.
> Recently the Japanese have said this goal would be 'difficult' to reach.
> This is code for 'we will renege on the agreement'. If you know about
> Tatemae, it is much easier to know what the Japanese really plan on doing
> when faced with a politically difficult position as well as what they
> might be trying to say when they talk on television.

This is due to the fact that the people who implemented the agreement were
not necessarily those who would implement its realization. Ie, the government
put the agreement into effect, but it is the individual companies who must
make the required purchases. Note: the companies involved have recently
promised to do more toward fulfilling the agreement, and sales of US chips
have in fact increased, though not to the level in the agreement.

>      Finally, a claim is often made by cornered Japanese officials that
> 'Japan is at a crossroads' and the problems described in this article are
> being resolved today and the Japanese market is opening, but it takes time
> and Americans must be patient for Japan to succeed at this difficult task.
> They have been saying this for the last 20 years.

Agreed.

> DISCRIMINATION:

>      Although the Japanese are individually are very polite people, Japan
> is a very racist country, maybe even more so than we are. The common name
> > for foreigners is 'gaijin' in Japan. This is a racial slur somewhat in the
> way 'nigger' refers to a black person in America. There is however a
> polite form of this word, 'gaikokujin', which means literally 'outsider
> person'. 

The term gaijin is not at all equivalent to 'nigger', and, as it applies to
no specific race, it is preposterous to consider it as such.

>      When you enter a rental agency to rent an apartment (the only way to
> get a place in Tokyo), some of the rental books say on the cover 'no
> gaijin'. If you are a gaijin, you cannot rent anything in these books.
> This type practice seems to be very widespread in Japan.  

This is true.

>      Discrimination does not extend only to foreigners. Looking through
> any major newspaper, you will see ads which ask for Japanese only (no
> foreigners), men only, young women only, or people of a certain age. I
> brought some of these ads back with me. Discrimination doesn't seem to be
> illegal in Japan. A law does exist however stating that it is a Japanese
> goal not to have discrimination (hint:this is Tatemae). This 'anti-
> discrimination' goal/law does not seem to be enforced in any way. 

This is true.

>      Other races are ranked in a kind of social order in Japan, first is
> Japanese, then white people, then other asians, then all other races
> besides black people, who are last.

This largely depends on the circumstances. And note that blacks, especially
American blacks are considered quite highly by some, and that undoubtedly
the "bottom of the ladder" is people from Pakistan, Iran, India, etc.

>      The government sometimes is a partner in racism and discrimination.
> There is an 'untouchable' sect of Japanese society in Japan. They are
> referred to as 'Burakumin' and are a particular group of Japanese of
> Korean decent. A small square on the top corner of the Japanese birth
> certificate (I saw Mutsumi's) is filled in if the person is a Burakumin,
> or is blank like Mutsumi's if she is not. This is used by the government
> and the companies to deny these people good jobs and advancement during
> their careers. 

This is wrong. Burakumin are NOT of Korean descent. The emporer, however, may 
well be.

> SHAME AND HONOR IN BUSINESS:

>      Japanese people operate on a system of shame and honor (or the
> appearance of it anyways). This developed due to the fact that so many
> people must live peacefully in crowded conditions. When something does go
> wrong, there is a lot of shame on the individual responsible. If the
> failure was bad enough, he commits suicide (a practice dating back to when
> Samurai committed suicide in front of their superiors when they were
> responsible for a major failure). Some major public figure commits suicide
> out of shame at least once a year in Tokyo.

Same happens in the US. And the Japanese instances are over-hyped.

 >     For example, while I was there, the CEO of Toyo Rubber (they operate
> as B.F. Goodrich here in America) committed suicide by jumping in front of
> the subway because profits were poor this year. A couple years back, after
> a train wreck in which some people died, the manager responsible for the
> whole affair also committed suicide.

It is difficult to see how this is relevant to the "trade war"

> HE DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM, WHY FOREIGNERS ARE SET UP TO FAIL IN JAPAN:

>      An extensive hierarchy of small distributers and shops exists in
> Japan which hinders the distribution of foreign goods. When Americans say
> the Japanese distribution system is 'difficult', 'byzantine' or 'complex',
> this is what they are referring to. In reality, the Japanese distribution
> system is fixed. This is why it is so difficult and complicated for the
> foreigner to succeed in. 

The preceding is taken almost ver batim from van Woferen's book, with no
attribution to the author.

>      Japan, being a communal society, follows a strict code of loyalty.
> Shopkeepers have loyalty to their suppliers and customers. They all have
> loyalty to the nation, Japan. Undoing this arrangement that brought the
> country and its companies so much wealth and power via the entry of
> foreign goods would be disrupt this system of loyalty. This is one reason
> it is so difficult for a foreigner to enter the Japanese market. There are
> higher forces at work too though:

The loyalty nonsense is over-done. As mentioned, some US (and other foreign)
companies have no problem in Japan (other than keeping up with demand: see
Harley-Davidson). The key, as mentioned before, is to go in with your own
distribution system.

>      How important this was became very clear when I befriended a Japanese
> government worker, Hiroshi, who explained to be how the system worked and
> why a foreigner cannot usually circumvent it. I made him the following
> proposal as an example. The discussion went something like this:

BTW, it is as difficult, or MORE difficult, for a Japanese to circumvent
this.

>      I can sell high quality made in USA GE refrigerators and Hoover
> vacuums at a much cheaper price in Japan that Toshiba and Sanyo can (this
> is in fact true). I want to start a business. I go to Japan, but no store
> will carry my products because I am a 'gaijin' (foreigner), and my
> products are foreign. Doing so would anger the domestic suppliers of these
> distributers who may hold some of the shop's loans or offer them favorable
> payment plans.

>      I decide then, I will set up my own company in Japan, open a shop and
> sell the appliances myself since no Japanese store will do so for me.
> Hiroshi said 'You can't because you are a foreigner. Foreigners cannot own
> companies in Japan'. This is in fact true. It is this government practice
> which keeps foreign business ventures in the control of the Japanese (and
> hence why they tend not to succeed). It is also the reason there are so
> many 'joint ventures' between a Japanese company and a foreign one to
> enter the Japanese market. Otherwise, the foreigner is forbidden to enter,
> or later set up to fail.  

Nope. It just takes more time and startup capital. The rewards are much greater.


[Much deleted about unfair examples. No quarrel with them, but there ARE
ways around it, and they are well-known already]

>      The Feb 10, 1992 of Time Magazine describes how a U.S. lamp
> manufacturing company encountered also exactly this problem. It took them
> 9 months to get lamps off the ship sitting in the harbor and into retail
> stores in Japan after customs, and other government agencies stalled and
> stalled (which cost this particular company lots of money).
 >     Many anti-foreign goods laws are often in the form of 'protection' to
> the consumer. These are applied discretionarily and are really written to
> hinder foreign goods from entering the market.

Which is where the long-term pressure of our trade officers actually works:
see Toys-R-Us.

>      Some of the more famous ones include a law which for many years
> banned US beef from Japan because 'Japanese intestines were too short and
> couldn't digest US beef which is too hard'. An other banned european skiis
> because the snow in Japan was 'different'. US made towels were banned
> because the fibers were 'too rough' for Japanese ears, which are 'softer'
> than ours. All foreign rice is banned for 'national security'. Rice in
> Japan as a consequence, is the most expensive in the world.

Famous, but the Japanese seem not to be listening to the beef argument, judging
by MacDonald's sales.

>      As an example of the no-foreign ownership rule, the recent baseball
> team fiasco comes to mind: Nintendo recently bought the Seattle Mariners
> Pro Baseball team. It is in great irony that it is illegal under Japanese
> law for an American to buy (very lucrative) Japanese Pro baseball teams
> (from ABC News Nightline).

It is true that a foreign firm would undoubtedly be barred from buying a 
Japanese baseball team. It is NOT true that they are "very lucrative"; some
of them are not, and are kept for advertising purposes. Finally, Nintendo
offered to move its coporate headquarters to the US, if that would make things
easier.

Mike
-- 
Disclaimer - I'm only doing what the little voices tell me to do. 
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA