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Seven Falls, Eight Rises: A Thematic History of an Enigmatic People
| Article
# : |
10687 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
Date : |
1 / 1986 |
4,359 Words |
| Author
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H. Neill McFarland
H. Neill McFarland is a professor of History of Religions at
Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University in
Dallas, Texas. Originally presented as a paper at the tenth
International Conference on the Unity of the sciences in 1981,
this article was published in Volume II of the proceedings of
that conference by theInternational Cultural foundation Press
(New York, 1982), and is reprinted by permission. |
Among the nations of East Asia, Japan most consistently holds the attention of the West, but remains a perennial enigma. The character of the Western view of Japan clearly reflects puzzlement. It is a mixture of widely varied moods and attitudes: respect, consternation, admiration, envy, amazement, fear, resentment.
On two points, however, there is considerable unanimity: first, the West is impressed by the rapidity and magnitude of Japan's economic recovery and expansion; second, persons who once condescendingly regarded the Japanese as only skillful copiers now study Japanese management and production techniques as potential models for reviving their own stagnant, non competitive industries.
Numerous books, articles, lectures, and seminars are being devoted to understanding the forms and formulas of Japan's success. Persons from the West seeking to visit industrial establishments in Japan have become so numerous that they cannot all be accommodated.
As a result of such intensive inquiry nearly every interested person in the West now knows that Japanese society and its institutions are paternalistic, that decisions are made more often by consensus than by individual fiat, and that a concern for long-range viability generally outweighs an interest in short-range profitability. However, there still remains the problem of finding in these circumstances models that are transculturally transmissible.
Behind the forms and formulas of Japanese enterprise lie subtle and spiritual factors that are difficult to identify and understand and may be
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