Deciphering Social Change in Japan

1. Japanese society is changing in many ways. Let me just give you some concrete examples and let you decipher their meanings. To begin with, most Japanese companies have in some way adopted payment on a performance-basis as opposed to the traditional system of higher pay for seniority. Mergers across keiretsu are taking place. The governor of Tokyo, Mr. Shintaro Ishihara, proposed a tax on large financial institutions based on their gross income and this will be implemented.

About thirty percent of newly employed university graduates leave their jobs within three years. Foreign-affiliated companies which have been known to adopt non-Japanese—perhaps unstable—employment practices have become one of the most popular type of company sought out by graduating university students for employment.

Airfare deregulation has produced many types of interesting fares. I understand one airline discounts tickets by twenty-six percent if you purchase the tickets on the internet. Another airline company gives a discount for those who are travelling to take care of sick parents. Taxi fares have also been liberalized.

There is much less social sanction for not getting married or not having children. Women on average bear 1.38 babies in their life and, as a result, Japanese society is rapidly becoming an aging society—probably at the fastest rate among the advanced countries. People under fifteen years old comprise less than fifteen percent of the Japanese society; people above sixty-five comprise about seventeen percent. So basically, there are more people above sixty-five than people under fifteen.

The newly elected governor of Osaka, Ms. Fusae Ota, is the first female governor in Japan. As you might have read in the recent Newsweek article, female entrepreneurs are flourishing. Another statistic shows that women in their 50s and 60s travel the most of all age groups across gender. If you look at their home pages on the internet you can spend hours just hopping from one page to another.

As of April 1^st, a new law for greater decentralization was implemented giving more authority to local governments.

2. The extent and speed of change in Japanese society. You may be wondering how far and how fast Japan is really changing. The answers would vary according to where you stand in the society, whether you are a loser or a winner, of course. Because the changes are major and really painful, resistance is mounting. What is certain, however, is that, despite one’s position, society as a whole understands and accepts that Japan will have to change. In my opinion, Japan is irreversibly set for change. The problem, however, is the speed of change. It is too fast for some people, but it is too slow for others, including myself.

3. The implications of change for Japanese society. The upside of this change is that stronger competition, individuals willing to take more risk, a more balanced relationship between the national and local governments, and non-traditional and active women are all bringing innovation, growth, and vitality to Japanese society. The downside is that there is a widening gap and loss of homogeneity among individuals and, for that matter, among prefectures, cities, and towns. The differences are widening between those, for instance, who are innovative and non-innovative; between those who are educated and non-educated; and between those who are IT literate and non-IT literate. Increased diversity is also affecting traditionally accepted values and the cohesion of the society.

4. Remaining tasks for Japanese society to tackle. Japan is still in search of the right balance between the government sphere and the private sphere. Perhaps the government is still playing a larger role than it should in many fields. Somewhat related to this point, we have not yet created a new and effective governance system for the changing responsibilities of the government and the private sector. As individuals are exposed to greater risks and have to assume a greater amount of responsibility—instead of leaving that to the government or to the companies as we used to—each one of us will need a personal guiding principle or philosophy on which to base our decisions. This means that perhaps the education system should focus more on teaching such values as independence, self-discipline, and innovation.

Nevertheless, as gaps between different groups widen, Japan as a society will still need some core values to unite our society. Some decades ago we had guiding principles or philosophies such as emperor, family names, honor, or shame, as described by Ruth Benedict in her novel, The Chrysanthemum and the Sword. For some time we have been losing these values and for some time to come in the future, Japan and the Japanese people will be in search of them.