Reconciling Japanese Archival Traditions
with the New Demands of the Global Age:
Focusing on Business Archives in Japan
2016 ICA CongressSeoul Korea
Friday, September 9, 2016

Takeo KatohPresident
National Archives of Japan

Stack area of the National Archives of JapanAll Rights Reserved Copyright © NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF JAPAN 2016

Table of Contents
I Business Archives in Japan
I-1 Fostering and Maintaining Corporate Culture
I-2 Contributing to Corporate GovernanceI-3 Business Archives for the Future
II Japanese Initiatives to Improve Archival Systems
II-1 Commitment to Saving Historical Materials
II-2 Initiatives to Improve Archives
II-3 Launch of the New Building for Archives Project :the Starting Point of the New Era

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I-1 Fostering and Maintaining Corporate Culture1)
1) The Commitment to the Compilation of “CorporateHistory”

 Business archives
1) Minutes of board meetings and financial statements
prepared, preserved, and published due to legal
reasons2) Summaries on the business activities of a company
from its establishment to the present
3) Archival records on histories of the industry, orhistories of economic communities that the company ispart of4) Autobiographies of inspiring managers
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I-1 Fostering and Maintaining Corporate Culture1) The Commitment to the Compilation of “CorporateHistory”

 Many corporations compile commemorative“Corporate History” book on their 50th or 70thanniversary Large corporations with long histories makegorgeous books and distribute them to their clientsand customers
 These corporations often have their own office forcorporate history
 Some corporations maintain theirown museums to exhibit businessarchives and old products
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I-1 Fostering and Maintaining Corporate Culture2) People love reading autobiographies of inspiring

managers

 Famous autobiographies of Japanese inspiring
managers : Eiichi Shibusawa, who founded many
companies during the Meiji period, Kōnosuke
Matsushita, the founder of Panasonic Corporation,
Kazuo Inamori, the founder of KYOCERACorporation
 Companies in Japan compile “Corporate History”
more enthusiastically than other countries
 Japan has the greatest numbers of “long-standingfirms” which is relevant to Japanese companies’
views to value “Corporate History”
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I-1 Fostering and Maintaining Corporate Culture3) Building up Corporate Culture Every corporation has its corporate philosophy orcorporate culture based on the characteristics built
up with its long history
 Japanese business community has a tradition ofvaluing corporate culture Compilation of “Corporate History” has a clear role inconveying the corporate culture to both inside andoutside the corporation

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I-1 Fostering and Maintaining Corporate Culture4) Supporting an Employment System That IsUnique to Japan
 Respect to corporate culture is deeply committed toemployment system in Japan Japanese unique employment system:
To start working for a company after graduation andcontinue working with the same company until one’s
retirement at the age of 60 or 65
 Companies with this type of employment system treat
their young and old employees like members of afamily and the system helps to build the corporate
culture This corporate culture continues to grow fromgeneration to generation and becomes the company’sDNA7All Rights Reserved Copyright © NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF JAPAN 2016

I-2 Contributing to Corporate Governance1) Promoting Access to Corporate Information Leads to
Build Trust with Stakeholders
 Disclosure of corporate information aims to enhance
corporate governance and ensure accountability
 Providing correct corporate information leads to build
trust with stakeholders
 Japanese companies only became aware of theimportance of accountability
 Stakeholders started to insist that the records on themanagement decision-making process were asimportant as the records on the final results after the1990s
 It is now widely understood the importance ofpreserving background documents on all businessactivities

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I-2 Contributing to Corporate Governance2) Contributing to the Globalization of Companies
 The globalization of business activities increased therecognition of the business records
 It is hard for individual business persons overseas tounderstand the relationship between Japanese corporate
culture and the employment system including “lifetimeemployment“. “salaries based on seniority system”, and“internal labor unions”

 In order to improve oversea stakeholders’ understandingof the business strategies of Japanese companies, it is
crucial to give them a better understanding of the uniquecorporate culture in Japan, and business archives canplay an important role
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I-2 Contributing to Corporate Governance3) Good Records Management Assists Good CorporateGovernance Many cases on accounting errors or defects in products
were reported and it turned out that such companies
often had operational difficulties due to a lack ofevidential records of their business activities
 Discovery of a product defect may sometimes lead to a
spread of rumors and it may cause heavy damages tothe companies
 To prevent such damages, it is indispensable tomaintain accurate and complete records on productquality and disclose them
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I-3

Business Archives for the Future Business archives can play an important role inconnecting the past, the present, and the future of thecompany’s activities, as well as providing evidence tojustify its business operations
 The status of business archives within a company is
not that high
 Heads of corporations need to recognize theimportance of archives for the corporate governanceand to show leadership to strengthen the function ofBusiness Archives in the future

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II Japanese Initiatives to Improve Archival Systems
II-1 Commitment to Saving Historical Materials
1) The Long History in Preserving Materials in Japan Japan has a rich 1,000-year tradition of record keepingfrom the early 8th-century
 After Meiji Restoration in1868, about 150 years ago,
Japan eventually became a modern nation under theimperial sovereignty, however, the opportunities forcitizens to participate in politics were very limited

 In 1945, Japan’s defeat at the end of the World War IIchanged the traditional form of government completelyand a more democratic chapter in the nation’s history
began
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II-1 Commitment to Saving Historical Materials2) Continuous Fight to Protect Records from Disasters While historical records have been preserved over theyears, the country’s frequent natural disasters haverepeatedly destroyed valuable materials of our history
 Apart from losses due to natural disasters, tremendous
amount of records were lost in the devastation ofJapanese cities by the air attacks of World War II
 These national experiences of losing valuable records
have a significant impact on how to protect records

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II-2

Initiatives to Improve Archives

 After the World War II, Japan experienced remarkableeconomic development. However, in terms of archival
systems, the interest level from the public was low
 Basic principles of democracies had not been fullyrecognized by Japanese citizens
 It took more than 40 years after the war for theJapanese government to start a real commitment on
improving archival systems and developing legal
regulations on records management- Public Archives Act 1987
- Act on Access to Information Held by AdministrativeOrgans 1999
- Act on the Protection of Personal Information 2003
- Public Records and Archives Management Act 2009
(came into force in 2011)14All Rights Reserved Copyright © NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF JAPAN 2016

II-3 A New Building for Archives - Starting Point of the New Era

 Currently, the national project of “building a newnational archives as a national monument” is movingforward The project is not merely about building a new facility,but has great impacts on improving the management ofpublic records and archives in Japan
1. Under the government's leadership, the importanceof management of public records and archives will
be more widely recognized across the country
2. This project will be regarded as a model casethroughout Japan for facilities and functions in local
archives around the country
3. It is expected to enhance the human resources thatare currently insufficient all over the country
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Conclusion

 “不易流行 continuity and change”

While protecting a tradition that have been kept for along time, one must flexibly adapt oneself according tochanging times by not being stuck in old habits Both corporations and governments should bear inmind this proverb in order to keep growing in the newera
 Archives that will have one of the most important roles
in supporting the growth of both corporations andnations*** Thank you very much for your kind attention.
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