Competence Archives - Page 5 of 7

Promotion Messengers

On May 30, 2018, the Japan Sumo Association held its ranking committee and then an extraordinary meeting of its board. The board approved the promotion of Tochinoshin to ōzeki by unanimous decision.

Then messengers from the association went to his stable. Izutsumi Oyakata told him: Zenkai itchi de ōzeki ni suikyo saremashita. “You have been recommended for ōzeki by unanimous decision.” Tochinoshin answered with a formal speech of acceptance, the kōjō: “I humbly accept. I will keep my stable master’s teaching and devote myself to training, so that I become a model for wrestlers.”

The Vocabulary of Alignment

Suriawase (すり合わせ): rubbing together. Comparing several proposals or opinions and adjusting them to one another. A dictionary of everyday expressions adds: adjusting the differences in people’s opinions and perceptions until they share an understanding and a direction.

Jinarashi (地均し): leveling the ground. Preparing in advance so that something goes smoothly, as in iken chōsei no jinarashi o suru, leveling the ground for coordinating opinions.

The Vocabulary of Caution

Ishibashi o tataite wataru (石橋を叩いて渡る): to tap on a stone bridge before crossing it. Even a bridge that looks solid is checked for safety first. Doing things with caution on top of caution.

Sonae areba urei nashi (備えあれば憂いなし): if prepared, no worries. A person who is always ready for an emergency need not worry when one happens.

Nen ni wa nen o ireyo (念には念を入れよ): add care to care. In important matters, take great care that no mistake happens, and then check once more.

Creative Ideas at Toyota

In 1951, Toyota began an activity in which employees submit creative ideas for improvement. Today it is called the sōi kufū teian seido, the creative idea suggestion system. In March 1953, Toyota adopted the company slogan Yoi shina, yoi kangae, good products, good ideas.

The cumulative number of suggestions passed one million in 1974, ten million in 1984 and forty million in 2011.

Small Things Piled Up

In October 2004, Suzuki Ichirō broke the major league record for hits in one season. Afterwards he said: Chicchai koto o kasaneru koto ga, tondemonai tokoro ni tadoritsuku tada hitotsu no michi nan da na to, ima, kanjite imasu. “Now I feel that piling up small things is the only way to reach an extraordinary place.”

Sources give his words in slightly different forms.

Three Years of Rice

Meshitaki sannen, nigiri hachinen: three years cooking the rice, eight years shaping the nigiri. The saying describes the long apprenticeship of a sushi chef.

On October 29, 2015, the entrepreneur Horie Takafumi attacked it on Twitter: “Sushi restaurants that are any good today don’t do such leisurely training. Sense matters more.” The news site J-CAST reported on the dispute that followed.

Grass Pillow

Natsume Sōseki’s novel Kusamakura (Grass Pillow) appeared in September 1906 in the magazine Shin Shōsetsu. It opens: Chi ni hatarakeba kado ga tatsu. Jō ni sao saseba nagasareru. Ikiji o tōseba kyūkutsu da. Tokaku ni hito no yo wa suminikui.

“Work by reason, and corners stick out. Pole along on feeling, and the current sweeps one away. Insist on one’s own will, and life grows cramped. In any case, the world of people is hard to live in.”

Prior Review by the Party

Before the Japanese cabinet approves a government bill, the bill is first approved inside the governing Liberal Democratic Party. This is the jizen shinsa-sei, the prior review system.

The usual view dates it to a letter of 1962 from Akagi Munenori, chairman of the party’s General Council, to Chief Cabinet Secretary Ōhira Masayoshi. One study argues that it began in 1955, when the party was founded and approval by its Policy Research Council became a condition for a cabinet decision on a bill.

The Village Meeting

In the folklorist Miyamoto Tsuneichi’s Wasurerareta Nihonjin (The Forgotten Japanese), the chapter “In Tsushima” describes a village meeting, the yoriai. The chapter draws on his experience during a survey of the island in 1950.

“When a village decides something,” he wrote, “everyone talks for as many days as it takes, until everyone is satisfied.” The book collects the series “Toshiyoritachi,” published in the magazine Minwa from 1958 to 1960, and other essays.

The Managing Directors’ Meeting

Many large Japanese companies have a jōmukai, a meeting of the managing directors. Unlike the board of directors and the shareholders’ meeting, it is not required by law.

Japanese encyclopedias describe it as the place where matters that the board will formally decide are discussed in substance. There, nearly all important management decisions are made.