日本人は基本的に日本人同士で仕事をしたがる。外国人を仲間に入れない傾向があることは昔から世界的に有名。日本独特な通念があるためグループ意識が極めて強いのだ。だから外国企業との合弁会社はなかなか成功しない。
　グループを大事にするのは、もちろんよいことだ。だが、犠牲にしているものもある。それは個人の意志の尊重だ。だから日本人はイワシの群れのように迎合する傾向を持つことになる。

PART TWO:
How do we achieve and maintain harmony? (4)

By Shun Daichi

6. Denial of Individualism & Freedom

There is no freedom without individualism.

In the society of Harmonism we discourage individualism and promote the group. It is most obvious when we look at decision-making in some big companies.

In those typically traditional Japanese companies nobody decides alone, but does it collectively. Therefore no one gets blamed for a mistake a group or a section makes, and you are also not rewarded when you alone contribute a lot to the organization.

If individuals push their own wishes, it tends to cause conflict among people. Therefore we discourage individualism.

Denial of individualism has long roots in the history of Japan.

In the old days, under the Tokugawa rule, a whole village was punished if one individual disagreed with the authorities. In this kind of situation no one can be individualistic. If you do anything wrong or extraordinary then not only you and your family but also all the other villagers were punished.

This tradition still remains very strong to this day.

When I left a Japanese company and went to America, my brothers and sisters complained that I was doing an extraordinary thing and therefore they would have a hard time finding a good husband or wife or job.

In Japan if one of your family violates a law then all the relatives are blamed for it. Sometimes if a son murders someone, then his father and mother kill themselves to apologize for their son's mistake. We usually criticize the family of offender anyway.

There are, of course, no Japanese laws that punish the family for the crimes committed by a family member. It is merely tradition that the family must atone for the crime committed by a family member.

Denial of individualism also leads to a denial of the merit system. In the Japanese traditional group system a boss doesn't have to be an expert in the field he works, because we work as a group so other people who know the job well may handle and help the boss.

The boss is not necessarily bright either, because of the traditional group system.

Then, why does the group system of Japan sometimes appear to work better than the merit system of America or Europe?

Firstly, a merit of the group system is that everyone can participate and won't be kicked out of the place because of their ability. Most of the people in the world are mediocre anyway so the group system benefits mediocre people, and I think 95% of the people on the earth are mediocre. I know Americans do not believe that 95% of the people are mediocre. When I live in the US, I was so surprised to find out that 95% of Americans believes themselves that they are genius.

My American friend told me that Americans believe each individual can accomplish great things if he or she finds the right path. This is true, however, I think Micaville of Italy was right when he said 95% of people do not take initiative if there life are secured.

He said 95% of people are satisfied not achieving anything great. Those people are satisfied if they have enough food and can lead reasonable life. I think those people tend to become mediocre, even though they have lots of potential.

Secondly, in the traditional group system, there are places for high caliber people and the value of those people are recognized in a long run. Therefore eventually a high caliber person becomes top of the organization.

(To be continued)