The salaried man in Japan.pdf

Media

Part of Panorama

extracted text: ■ An interesting and highly informative paper on the status of the salaried man in Japan and the effects on the social changes taking place in that country. THE SALARIED There is a species of ani mal which seems to think alike all over the world, ir respective of an immense diversity in environment. It is called the salaried man. Since I have occupied va rious positions in three coun tries — Japan, Australia and the United States — I believe I have some qualifications for making such a statement. When I was in a bar in Washington or Melbourne, I often thought I was back in Tokyo as my colleagues held forth, at great length, on the boss’s lack of brain power. (Strange to say, a boss is an idiot in every country.) And recently, I head a. section head in an American office in Tokyo reproaching female secretaries for their irregular attendance and for indulging in idle chatter during work ing hours. They obeyed his instruction for two weeks, but by the third week they had returned to their former ways. I have often seen Jap anese secretaries display the MAN IN JAPAN same tactics: when a thun derstorm comes, don’t move, keep quiet for a while, and let it pass. Salaried people of any race have the same instinct. The most impor tant topic of office conversa tion everywhere is promotion or demotion. There are differences, how ever, between salaried people in Japan and those in other countries. They spring main ly from a different historical and social background. First comes their relation with their employer. Japanese salaried people usually stay at one company for their en tire working life. In Japan it is still thought to be a vice to change one’s em ployer, although the concept is now rapidly changing, tie cause of the post-war econo mic and social revolution. When I was with the Cen tral Bank of Japan, then re garded as one of the most conservative organizations in the country, my colleagues September 1967 43 used to tell me with a tone of self-pity that the bank was like a lukewarm bath: if one stayed in it, one would never feel comfortable, but if one dared to emerge from it a cold would surely ensue! This is the wisdom of life challenged and proved by the sad experiences of many daring Japanese. In fact, if a Japanese moves to another company, he will lose, first of all, seniority. He may get a higher salary, but his in tangible prestige and status at the second company will be seriously handicapped, be cause he is a newcomer. He must wait several years, or indefinitely in most cases, be fore he is treated on the same footing as colleagues with a greater length of service. It is still a. basic practice in most Japanese offices for salary, promotion, retirement allowance and various fringe benefits to be determined by length of service. This discourages mobility of la bour and inevitably streng then the sense of dependence on the employer. Many Jap anese salaried people live in company-owned houses or flats at a nominal rent. (In big cities where the hous ing shortage is acute, and rent is exhorbitant, this is a great benefit.) All or part of their fares to and from work is paid by the company. They can make purchases at a discount at a company store. The company serves luncheon in its dining room, and provides free sporting or recreation facilities. Flower arrangement, calligraphy, for eign languages and other arts are taught by companypaid teachers. Once or twice a year, the staff members of a department or a section enjoy a week-end sight-seeing trip, staying at a club-house owned by die company or at an inn specially reserved by it. Senior offices play golf at clubs where the company has corporate membership and dine with customers at luxurious restaurants where the bill is picked up by the company. When a young man and woman marry, he or she will ask a boss of the company to act in a nominal capacity as a marriage gobetween. (The role is very similar to that of godfather in a Western country.) When a Japanese man reaches retirement age, usual ly fifty-five, the company, if 44 Panorama it has an affiliated company, will find him a job in it where he can stay for several years, though on a lower sa lary, until replaced by some body else from the parent company. Thus, the life of Japanese salaried people can not be separated from the company, and this explains why human relations in a Japanese office are very sub tle and intricate. “Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil” is an accepted philoso phy. On the other hand, compe tition, the struggle for power, is severe, as the arena is con fined. Personal ties form the most effective weapons. Fac tions exist in perhaps every company in Japan: graduates from the same university, people frdm the same district and so on. When I was a youthful officer in one com pany, I once visited a senior officer at his home on a per sonal matter; some months later, I found to my great surprise that his opponents suspected me of belonging to his faction merely because of that one personal visit. Japanese salaried people spend a great part of their lives in this sort of office at mosphere. When, however, they leave their ultra-modern offices for the sanctuary of their homes they encounter some thing different. The Japan ese family, once the citadel of the traditional system, is now quickly changing its character. A family consist ing of grandparents, parents and five or six children is no longer prevalent, and an average family is now com posed of parents and one or two children. The birth rate in Japan fell from the high est level to the lowest in the world during one decade after the war, a change which reflects the growth of indivi dualism. Accompanying the simpli fication of the family struc ture, the status of women, particularly of wives and younger females, has been greatly enhanced. Now a husband, tormented by the office atmosphere during the day, has to contend at home with female and younger members of his family who have absorbed all kinds of free, democratic thinking through television, radio, newspapers, magazines, films or school lectures. Ironically September 1967 45 enough, the products of mass media which are churned out by big companies reflect nothing of the medieval at mosphere in which they are produced. A father can no longer hope to dominate his family as in the old days. Nowadays many husbands and fathers have to work in the kitchen or tend a washing machine at week-ends or take the family out to amusement centres. If they try to tell the family that they have to rest to build up energy for their jobs, they will be talked down very promptly. In fact, Japanese husbands and fa thers themselves are changing their way of thinking. A sample s urvey conducted among 2,300 male workers in Tokyo irl 1961 showed that 57 per cent considered that fenjoying life was more im portant than occupation.. When questioned about their objective in life, 61 per cent chose the happiness of the family, 23 per cent indivi dual pleasure, 7 per cent the wish to make a contribution to society, 6 per cent wealth, and only 1 per cent fame. This emphasis on pleasure and happiness especially of the family, has undoubtedly become more pronounced in the past six years. Before the war, the happiness of the family meant maintaining the order of seniority at home — the prestige of pa rents, and children loyalty to their parents — but it now means enjoyment of life by the whole family. Post-war economic pros perity has greatly improved the living standards of Jap anese salaried people. In 1965, 90.3 per cent of the non-agrarian families owned a television set, 62.4 per cent a refrigerator, 72.7 per cent an electric washer, and 41.4 per cent a vacuum cleaner. The rate of car ownership is also rising, and the English word “leisure” is being na turalized, though it is pro nounced re h jar. Material progress is thus re-modelling the family life of Japanese salaried people, who now spend their time at home in almost the same way as their Western counter parts. They like to watch television. They like to grow flowers in a small garden. They like to chat with friends on harmless subjects. They like to read about 46 Panorama disasters or conflicts (some where else) in newspapers. They like to take the family to holiday resorts from time to time. And yet it is true that Jap anese salaried people live under two sets of different principles: a quasi family system at the office and an individualistic life at home. They are, as it were, amphi bious animals living on land and in water at the same time. But it would be a mistake to think that they can move from one type of life to another without difficulty or pain. There is an undeni able contradiction and it tells on their nerve, even if not all of them are aware of it. You will find a tremendous district of Tokyo and other number of small bars in every Japanese cities and may won der how so many bars can survive. They thrive because it is here that large herds of amphibious animals congre gate nightly to ease their mental tension and enjoy a brief escape from the contra diction in their lives. Since the quasi-family sys tem at the office tends to frustrate a Japanese salaried man’s legitimate ambition, he tends to turn to his fa mily.. and derives increasing satisfaction from pursuing individualistic and material istic pleasure at home. In the long run, however, it is unthinkable that the quasifamily office system can be sustained indefinitely. Recently, I talked with a few top-level businessmen about the future propects of the Japanese economy. There was a striking unanimity of opinion among them. They were all worried whether Japan would be able to maintain its present econo mic progress when indivi dualism expanded among workers. They said: “When the present generation of diligent and obedient workers is replaced by younger indi vidualists, we just don’t know what will happen.” But one thing is clear. Japanese salaried people will, sooner or later, be complete ly domesticised in the West ern way, and it will be very difficult to distinguish them from their counterparts in the rest of the world. — By Sen Matsuda in the Hemi sphere, July 1967 issue. September 19^7 47
Rights