Japan, Problem-Solving - understand-culture

Prevention Measures That Did Not Work

In 2016, a special investigation committee reported on improper fuel economy testing at Mitsubishi Motors. It considered that many points were in common with the causes and background of the company’s earlier recall cover-ups. After those cover-ups, the company had taken measures to prevent a repeat. They neither corrected nor prevented the new problem.

The committee wrote that the earlier prevention measures had been of no use at all in preventing the problem or finding it early. Because the case of 2004 had concerned the improper handling of quality information, the company’s awareness of the problem had stayed limited to quality information.

The Vocabulary of Surface Fixes

Kusai mono ni futa o suru (臭い物に蓋をする): to put a lid on what stinks. The magazine DIME explains the proverb as covering the source of a bad smell, instead of removing it, so that the smell does not escape. It means hiding what is inconvenient, so that it does not come to light.

Taishō ryōhō (対症療法): symptomatic treatment. In medicine, it treats the symptoms, not the cause of a disease. The Daijisen dictionary gives a second sense: handling a matter by responding to what appears on the surface, apart from a fundamental solution.

The Deming Prize

In 1951, the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers created the Deming Prize, an award for people and companies that have contributed to quality control. It honors W. Edwards Deming, the American statistician who came to Japan in 1950 and 1951 to teach quality control.

In a chapter posted on the union’s website, the quality pioneer Ishikawa Kaoru writes that Deming gave the royalties from the record of his lectures to the union’s managing director, Koyanagi Ken’ichi. The union then announced the prize.

The Essence of Failure

In May 1984, the publisher Diamond brought out Shippai no honshitsu: Nihongun no soshikironteki kenkyū (The Essence of Failure: An Organizational Study of the Japanese Military). Its six authors include Nonaka Ikujirō.

The description of the 2024 Chūkō Bunko edition says the book brought social science analysis into the study of war history for the first time. It examines six operations as cases of failure: Nomonhan, Midway, Guadalcanal, Imphal, Leyte and Okinawa.

Decided Before the Meeting

In June 2026, the business site Diamond Online published an article by Sakata Kōki, a partner of the consulting group IGPI. Its title asked why Japanese meetings fail when they start with the conclusion. Kaigi no ba de kimaru yō de ite, jitsu wa kaigi no mae ni kimatte iru. “It looks as if things are decided in the meeting, but in fact they are decided before it.”

Sakata describes the essence of nemawashi as sharing the question in advance, so that everyone concerned can discuss on the same assumptions. He advises against trying to persuade everyone in the meeting. Before the meeting, the question should be shared and the atmosphere prepared.

A Meeting Without Papers

In 2014, the magazine President reported a rule of Toyoda Akio, then president of Toyota. Participants in his Tuesday morning meeting were not allowed to bring materials. He said: Sorera o mitomeru to, jizen ni nemawashi o shite, shiryō o buka ni tsukuraseru koto ni naru tame, jikan ga muda ni nari, nakanaka honne ga tsutawarinikui. “If we allow them, people do nemawashi in advance and have subordinates make materials. Time is wasted, and true opinions are hard to get across.”

Asking the Boss

An article in President Woman advises on consulting a boss. A bare “what should we do?” is the weakest form. Better is to add one’s own plan: Watashi wa kō shiyō to omou no desu ga, dō deshō ka. “I am thinking of doing this. What do you think?” Better still is to offer two options for the boss to choose from: Dochira de ikimashō ka. “Which way shall we go?”

Another guide, on the site of the magazine Oggi, recommends the more polite ikaga deshō ka when asking a superior for an opinion in a formal meeting or on an important matter.

Ganbarō KOBE

On January 17, 1995, the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake struck Kobe. In the season that followed, the baseball team Orix BlueWave wore a patch on the right sleeve that read Ganbarō KOBE. Let us keep at it, Kobe.

That year, the team won its first Pacific League title since moving to Kobe. In November 1995, the players, among them Ichirō, held a victory parade in uniforms that carried the same words.

Persistence on the Report Card

One of the viewpoints under which Japanese schools assess pupils is shutaiteki ni gakushū ni torikumu taido, the attitude of tackling learning on one’s own initiative.

A document of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government explains how it is judged. Teachers look at the pupil’s nebarizuyoi torikumi, persistent effort, in gaining knowledge and skills, and ask whether the pupil tries to adjust his or her own learning along the way.

Inamori’s Equation

Inamori Kazuo, the founder of Kyocera, described it with a formula: way of thinking times enthusiasm times ability. Ability and enthusiasm each run from 0 to 100 points. Way of thinking runs from minus 100 to plus 100.

A book of his sayings, quoted in President, draws the conclusion: Sainō wa netsui de kabā dekiru. Talent can be made up for with enthusiasm.