| A | B |
|---|
| Japan has been incredibly successful in | reinventing itself after the disaster of WWII |
| Japan has always been | resource poor |
| After the war, Japan and the USA became | very close economically and politically |
| high cost of living reduces buying power | to 70% of the USA |
| Families used to large, but are now small | net loss in population growth |
| Avg. Japanese worker | works 6 more hrs. a week than their American counterpart |
| Imitative | Copy success; Teach conformity and compliance to a successful model; Beginning to change as young Japanese behave more “western” and individualistic |
| Preventive | Prefer long range over short range planning; Foreknowledge over postmortem analysis; Can be very cautious and careful |
| Pragmatic | Focus on the common good rather than individual freedoms; High personal savings rate; Higher interest rates on loans than USA |
| Obligative | Very strong sense of duty and honor to others; High respect for authority; slackers are not tolerated; assumes everyone will try hard to do their best every time |
| Inquisitive | Very knowledgeable of other cultures; English lessons are mandatory; most take another language too; |
| Nihonjin-ron | debate over Japan’s role in the world |
| Education | Lower % in college than USA; 15 is drop out age; Entry into HS is not automatic; must take and pass very hard entrance exams and graduation exams; Many attend “cram schools” (juku) instead of playing sports or working; Go to school for over 200 days vs. USA’s 180; 75% attend voluntary Saturday school; very few have jobs; Teachers are well paid and held in high regard; Japanese teens have higher suicide rates and ijime (bullying) of weak students is common; Japanese college, however, is relatively laid back and easy |
| Everyone receives the same | pay and promotions at the same time |
| Many “live at work” | do not marry until 30 for men, and 28 for women |
| 30-35% | of marriages are still arranged |
| Women are still seen as | socially inferior to men |
| Shinto is the official religion | but Buddhism most common |
| Very low rates of violent or “public crime” but | higher rates of “white collar” or private crime |
| The Diet | The National Parliament is divided into the House of Representative and the House of Councilors |
| Has had a very pacifist foreign policy | many now want to reexamine this part of the constitution due to changes in the region |
| Government and big business work very closely | very large bureaucratic structure slows policy changes and decision ma |
| Japan’s government must spend a lot | on natural disaster preparations |
