Consensus Ideal Archives - understand-culture

The Group of Five

In April 2000, Prime Minister Obuchi Keizō suffered a stroke. According to Kamei Shizuka, Chief Cabinet Secretary Aoki Mikio, now acting prime minister, called four other leaders of the Liberal Democratic Party to a meeting late at night: Mori Yoshirō, Nonaka Hiromu, Murakami Masakuni and Kamei himself. They became known as the gonin-gumi, the group of five. Newsweek Japan recalls that the media of the time accused the five of settling the next prime minister among themselves.

On April 5, a meeting of the party’s members of both houses, held in place of a party convention, elected Mori president unanimously. The first Mori cabinet took office the same day.

Class Discussions

Japan’s national curriculum includes gakkyū katsudō, class activities, in which pupils discuss the problems of their class and solve them. A guide of the National Institute for Educational Policy Research from July 2013 says that these discussions build good relationships and an attitude of taking part in society. It adds that they develop, across differences, “the language ability to form a consensus.”

The Principal Presides

Japanese schools may have shokuin kaigi, staff meetings. The national regulation quoted by the Hiroshima Prefectural Board of Education reads: an elementary school may have a staff meeting “in order to contribute to the smooth execution of the principal’s duties.” It continues: “The staff meeting is presided over by the principal.”

Hiroshima’s own rules define the staff meeting as an auxiliary body of the principal.

The Wisdom of All

Panasonic quotes its founder, Matsushita Kōnosuke: Shūchi o atsumeta zen’in keiei, kore wa watakushi ga keieisha to shite shūshi ikkan kokorogake, jikkō shite kita koto de aru. “Management by everyone, gathering the wisdom of all, is what I kept in mind and put into practice as a manager from beginning to end.”

He also said that the more the wisdom of all employees is used in management, the more a company develops. At a policy meeting in 1957, he said: “Matsushita Electric is managed by the wisdom of all.”

Left to the Chair

On March 7, 2019, a joint meeting of the Liberal Democratic Party’s health and labor division and its subcommittee on pharmaceutical affairs reviewed a bill to amend the pharmaceutical law. It agreed to leave the content to the division chair, Koizumi Shinjirō, and others. The headline in a trade newspaper noted that objections had also been raised.

A political science paper describes the party’s principle: approval in each division of its Policy Research Council, then unanimity in its General Council. These decisions, the paper says, have worked as de facto party discipline.

The Gathering of the Gods

In the Kojiki, Japan’s oldest chronicle, the sun goddess Amaterasu hides in the Rock Cave of Heaven. Yaoyorozu no kami, Ame no Yasu no kawara ni kamutsudoi tsudoite. The eight million gods gather in assembly in the dry bed of the river Yasu in heaven.

There they ask Omoikane, the god of wisdom, to think out a plan.

The Charter Oath

On April 6, 1868, Emperor Meiji presented the Charter Oath at the imperial palace in Kyoto, before the court nobles and the feudal lords. It was sworn to heaven, earth and the gods. Its first article reads: Hiroku kaigi o okoshi banki kōron ni kessu beshi. Assemblies shall be widely established, and all matters shall be decided by public discussion.

The Sacred Decision

On the morning of August 9, 1945, Japan’s Supreme War Council met to decide whether to accept the Potsdam Declaration. Prime Minister Suzuki Kantarō could not bring the members to a conclusion, and the meeting broke up at 1 p.m.

At an Imperial Conference in the early hours of August 10, the members stood three against three. The Emperor then gave his decision, the seidan. A second seidan followed at the Imperial Conference of August 14.

A decision by the Emperor himself was the exception. It happened twice in four days.

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 Seventeen-Article Constitution

The Seventeen-Article Constitution, which the Nihon Shoki dates to 604 and credits to Prince Shōtoku, ends with this rule: Sore koto wa hitori sadamu bekarazu. Kanarazu shū to agetsurau beshi. Matters should not be decided by one person alone. They must always be discussed with others.

Its first article opens with a related idea. Harmony is to be valued, and avoiding opposition is to be the principle. Other early sources date the text to 602 or 605.