Search

This paper investigates how and why the Japanese model has undergone changes in the context of its internationalization, during which foreign countries, particularly the U.S. and Germany, adopted Japanese methods, departing from their own traditional models at the turn of the twentieth century. By examining the dynamic processes of these transformations in national models, this paper critically reviews prevalent paradigms of neoliberalism and institutionalism, proposing an alternative of "mutual learning by reflexive agents." By exploring the dynamic processes of the Japanese model's internationalization and transformation, in which the Japanese model fell into crisis and underwent transformation in the changed context of international competition caused by the internationalization of the Japanese model, this paper proposes a new conception of "mutual learning by reflexive agents" in the context of international competition, in which agents, inspired by foreign competitors, critically reconsider their own institutions and, in turn, generate a new divergence in the process of creative learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The globalization of audit markets not only provides an opportunity for the U.S. Big 4 auditors to establish international expertise through global networks, but it also exposes them to reputation risk arising from the acts of their local partners. We analyze the audit failure of ChuoAoyama, one of the Japanese Big 4 audit firms, and find that its credibility impairment reduced security prices of not only the clients of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), their U.S. affiliate, but also the American clients of all other Big 4 auditors affiliated with the Japanese Big 4. Because the quality of the U.S. audit firms is perceived as superior to that of auditors in other countries, we also analyze the premiums arising from the affiliation with the U.S.-led global audit firm networks. We compare the effect of Andersen’s audit failure with ChuoAoyama’s in Japanese capital markets and find that the magnitude of negative market reactions is larger for Andersen’s failure than for ChuoAoyama’s. Together, these results suggest that global audit firm networks have created a network-wide reputation for their services that is susceptible not only to audit failures of the U.S. Big 4 but also to those of non-U.S. affiliates and that there is a quality premium for the U.S. Big 4 in Japanese markets. Our results provide a rational explanation for PwC’s aggressive efforts to temper the negative impact of ChuoAoyama’s failure on their reputation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purpose of this article is to look at the internationalization of both Japanese faculty members’ teaching and research activities and their affiliated institutions, as well as their views on international connections between research universities and non-research universities based on major findings from the latest national survey which was implemented in 2011. The study begins with a brief introduction to the research framework and methodology. Then by dividing all Japanese universities into two types—research universities and non-research universities—it examines important observations about the teaching and research activities which were undertaken by individual academics and occurred in their institutions, as well as individual academics’ attitudes toward international issues. The study concludes by providing two major findings: First, the overall internationalization of Japan’s universities is primarily concerned with the attraction of foreign students to Japanese campus and sending out Japanese students to other countries at an institutional level, while at an individual level, a majority of academics are still receptive to new ideas from foreign books and journals in comparison with their views on other international connections; second, there appears to be a much higher level of international activities in which respondents from research universities are involved and which are carried out in research universities. Furthermore, the study presents some implications for research, policy, and institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since their entry to Japan in the latter half of the 19th century, coffee and coffee shops have been closely linked to the economic, political, and socio-cultural change undergone by the Japanese society. The cafés themselves have gone through numerous transformations in order to address the various social needs of their patrons. Today, coffee shops occupy a significant niche in the Japanese urban lifestyle. However, the cultural ‘baggage' of coffee as a foreign commodity still plays a central role in generating its consumer appeal. Coffee is a global commodity whose value on the world market is surpassed only by oil. Moreover, due to its peculiar historical background, it became a beverage charged with a wide range of cultural meanings; tracing these meanings in different contexts can shed light on the way cultural commodities ‘behave' in the globalized world. In order to examine the niche that coffee occupies in the Japanese consumption scene, I will analyze the manner in which representations of coffee are constructed and translated into a consumer experience. Through the case of coffee in Japan I will try to demonstrate the process of ‘movement of culture', whereby the relevance of a foreign commodity in the local context is determined by the complex interplay between two culturally engineered binary entities of ‘global' and ‘local', ‘foreign' and ‘native'. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article examines the causes and consequences of the dramatic growth of precarious employment in Japan since the 1990s. In response to heightened competition associated with globalization, Japanese firms adopted cost-cutting policies to remain competitive, especially in terms of reducing wage outlays. As a result, companies hired fewer regular workers and increased the proportion of temporary workers. Based upon the breadwinner model, Japan mandated social insurance benefits only for regular workers, creating a significant incentive to hire more temporary workers. The lack of economic security among a significant portion of the labor force has repercussions for many young people, who are now marginalized as nonregular workers and are delaying or avoiding marriage and family formation. This trend is exacerbating the low fertility rate and also means that government social policies relying on a supportive family are at odds with emerging social realities. With low wages and limited social support, the working poor are becoming entrenched in poverty. Furthermore, a gender bias in social spending and taxation is pronounced in Japan, and that adversely affects women workers, especially single mothers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article examines the corporate re-imagining of ‘the nation’ by focusing on the representation of Japanese school sporting culture, bukatsu, through Nike advertising in Japan. Bukatsu serves an important site for the analysis of cultural globalization because it is located not only at the global–local nexus but also at the intersection of Japanese traditional principles, youth culture and sporting practice. Using a multiple-method approach including contextual and textual analyses, along with interviews with advertising personnel, the article reveals that values, experiences and identities of the local cultural intermediaries play a key role in reflexive, yet subjective, incorporation of bukatsu lifestyle within a television commercial in Japan. Thus, it is argued that the subjectivity and reflexivity of the local cultural intermediaries need to be considered as key constituents for representation of national identity within the discourse of corporate nationalism. Overall, the article highlights the complex, interdependent and reflexive relationship between the global and the local by examining links between the ‘glocal’ advertising representation and Japanese sporting identity within the ‘circuit of culture’ (du Gay et al., 1997). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article explores the relationship between Japanese workers’ persistent inner-worldly asceticism and today’s globalizing economy. The interplay of values and corporate cultural practices, global market forces and individual health outcomes is illustrated in the case of an Osaka stockbroker killed by overwork (karôshi) during the 1990 Gulf War and resultant collapse of Japan’s ‘bubble economy’. The analysis centres on corporate documents and events which publicly valorized the broker as the embodiment of the ideal employee. The tradition of discipline, dedication and deference that he came to symbolize interacted with inequalities in the global division of labour to produce tragic consequences for him and his family. Viewed through historical, micro and macro lenses, the negative potential of such ascetic work ethics comes into focus. But the analysis also shows how such cases become catalysts for social movements that emphasize the value of care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study analyzes how the emergence of dominant models in higher education and power they embody affect non-Western, non-English language universities such as those in Japan. Based on extended micro-level participant observation in a Japanese research university aspiring to become a "world-class" institution, their struggles and the quest for new identities are examined. The prevalent and oft-referenced university rankings and league tables give rise to de facto global standards and models, against which traditions of national language education and research as well as self-sustenance in human resources are challenged and tested. Such new modes of objectifying academic excellence alter domestic academic hierarchies and internal dynamics within universities. This study uses these insights to look critically at new dimensions of knowledge construction and an emerging hegemony in today's global higher education context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is incorrect to view globalization as a disorganizing influence on national society. National society as an outcome of modern industrialism is a substructure of the nation state. Japan's history proves Gellner's thesis that the concept of nation was formed at the stage of industrialization. If we interpret Parsons's concept of the societal community as emphasizing the increasing importance of the integrative function during the age of globalization, it would seems to suggest that, in agreement with MacIver, community is not disorganized by globalization. Although an East Asian Union, corresponding to the European Union, is not possible at the present stage, the importance of Japan's dual relation with the West, on the one hand, and with the East, on the other, is on the increase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article traces the origins of the recent growth of homelessness in Japan to the following three structural changes that occurred in the 1980s in association with economic globalization: (a) a shift from a manufacturing to a service economy, (b) urban redevelopment, and (c) government policy shifts toward deregulation and privatization. The study indicates that a growing segment of Japan's low-income workforce has been subject to exclusion from employment, housing, and welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the importance of country-of-origin effects and of universal contingencies such as industrial recipes in organizational practices at the international level of multinational enterprises. This is based on a study comparing European (Finnish, French, German, Dutch, Swiss, Swedish, British), American and Japanese multinational enterprises. Although multinationals are highly internationalized by definition, our study shows their organizational control practices at the international level to be more than anything else explained by their country of origin. Universal contingencies such as size and industry, on the other hand, are more related to internationalization strategy. Internationalization strategy and organizational control are associated with different sets of variables; to this extent they appear more decoupled with regard to each other than the literature suggests. Multinationals appear to follow tracks of coordination and control in which they have become embedded in their country of origin. Nationally specific institutions and culture have to be interpreted as particularistic but universally practicable facilitators of internationally competing organizational practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the diffusion of Japanese television programs in Hong Kong and China. It demonstrates how dramas designed for the Japanese younger generation proliferated in the form of pirated video compact disks (VCDs), without being on the air and without marketing campaigns. Far from being cultural imperialism pushed from the economic center, the Chinese people have actively initiated the in-flow of these dramas. The complex combination of local demand, digital technology and the Chinese people’s highly developed literacy in regard to Japanese popular culture made this flow possible. Tokyo was not even participating in the diffusion when the dramas crossed the border into China. To better illustrate globalization processes, this article argues that we should not focus solely on the story of corporate-led cultural flow, but should also examine its twists and turns from the perspectives of unforeseen consumers and unauthorized intermediaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article seeks to draw attention to the phenomenon of the so-called 'borderless athletes' who transcend ethnicity or national borders in the sporting world. This approach applies Fukuoka's (1993) conceptual framework to clarify how the identities of these 'global' athletes are defined and accepted within Japan. In general, the article focuses on the naturalization of 'sports stars' in Japan in terms of governing bodies and sports associations. In particular the study examines the case of Canadian-born players in Japanese ice hockey, the strengthening of nationalism in the case of soccer star Waguner Lopes and the role of the media. Overall, the article addresses the assimilation of particular foreign athletes as a result of globalization into the Japanese sporting world and their sub-sequent transformation within local Japanese culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The convergence argument in the debate on globalization regards globalization as a structural change. Globalization, however, is as much a structural change as a social construction - an imagined order of the future that involves value judgment and an ideological stand. Through an analysis of the ideological conflicts in the politics of Japan's national response to the challenge of globalization, the article shows that the convergence argument is being challenged on four specific issues in Japan: the universal model of market economy conflicts with the search for national identity; the big bang strategy that asserts a radical turnover of the national economic system is discredited by the holistic view of the economy that emphasizes the social embeddedness of the economic system; the new interpretation of the Japanese economic system as a product of wartime control contradicts the widely held image of postwar Japan as a democratic country; and the efficiency principle for future economic governance is challenged by the established norms concerning equality. This study indicates that the convergence argument in the debate on globalization faces strong resistance from the deeply institutionalized beliefs in the national economic system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]