About Japanese companies and Japanese business people
What is Nengajo? 年賀状 ねんがじょう

Nengajo 年賀状 ねんがじょう Nengajo is New Year’s card in Japan. The custom of sending nengajo traces back to the Meiji period (1868-1912), when postcards were first issued in Japan. Until then, people visited their relatives and acquaintances to greet them at the New Year, but nengajo enabled people to do so by sending cards. With […]

Read more
About Japanese companies and Japanese business people
What Is Division System?

Konosuke Matsushita: Vitalizing the Division System (divisional system) By M. Emi The Konosuke Matsushita Museum (Osaka, Japan) is currently presenting a special exhibition entitled "Konosuke Matsushita: Vitalizing the Division System", which will be available to the public until June 29, 2013. “This is one of the major exhibitions at the Konosuke Matsushita Museum in 2013. […]

Read more
About Japanese companies and Japanese business people
Business Training in Japan Is Not Popular. OJT Is Popular. Why?

By R. Kopp Allow me to share three recent incidents related to training that took place at Japanese companies in the U.S.: An American discovered that his Japanese colleague wasn’t happy for him leaving the factory floor to come attend a training session. A training session was scheduled that seven Japanese were supposed to attend, […]

Read more
About Japanese companies and Japanese business people
Nitobe Inazo and "Bushido"

Who is Nitobe Inazo? The author of "Bushido" Inazo Nitobe, author of “Bushido, The Soul of Japan”, which was published in 1899 and became a worldwide best-seller, was an important figure who represented Japan. Although this book, which was the first English-language text to systematize Bushido1, was originally written to explain the moral framework of […]

Read more
About Japanese companies and Japanese business people
What Is Shakuhachi?: The Blue-eyed Shakuhachi Player Who Continues to Create New Musical Instruments

Shakuhachi player and maker John Kaizan Neptune In a house surrounded by bamboo forest in Kamogawa City, which is located in the southeast corner of the Boso Peninsula, Chiba Prefecture, lives a foreigner who unduly suits an outfit of samue robes paired with a tenugui towel. John Kaizan Neptune, who came to Japan 40 years […]

Read more
About Japanese companies and Japanese business people
Japan’s Eco Busines: Saving the Earth and Saving Money

From Solar Panels to Spaghetti Noodles, the Color of Japanese Business Is GREEN By Tom Baker When you get behind the wheel of your car, turn up the air conditioner at home, or pop open a cold drink, are you destroying the environment? Many people worry about the impact of such activities, but most of […]

Read more
About Japanese companies and Japanese business people
What is the Most Popular Sports in Japan?

DO HOUSE conducted a survey of 1,198 people above age 20 at the end of February, in which it asked people which sport they wanted their children to engage in. The three most popular responses were 1) swimming (replied by both sexes); 2) soccer replied by males and martial arts (such as karate, judo, kendo […]

Read more
About Japanese companies and Japanese business people
A Long-term Vision for the Future: A Message for Mankind 5,000 Years from Now by Konosuke Matsushita

Konosuke Matsushita's 250 Year Plan Konosuke Matsushita’s vision didn’t just stop at business management; it extended to government and politics, and even to human happiness. At 37 years of age, Konosuke Matsushita announced a 250-year plan for Matsushita Electric (now Panasonic). He declared that the mission of industrialists was to establish an earthly paradise suffused […]

Read more
About Japanese companies and Japanese business people
Why Do Japanese Like Open Plan Offices?

Why Do Japanese Like Open Plan Offices? Why hasn't telecommuting taken root in Japan, even in the midst of a pandemic? Here is an answer. By R. Kopp For the American coming to work at, or even visiting, a traditional Japanese office, it’s a shock.  Rather than the individual offices or cubicles that are typical […]

Read more
About Japanese companies and Japanese business people
All About OTAKU: Tokyo Otaku Mode

otaku

Read more