Japan, Risk, Shared Risk - understand-culture

Joint Ventures in Construction

Large construction projects in Japan can be undertaken by a kyōdō kigyōtai, a joint venture of several builders. A document prepared for a working group of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism names risuku bunsan, spreading risk, as a purpose of joint ventures for large projects.

The same document traces the history of the system. In an entry for 1951, it lists the merits of a joint venture: greater lending power, kiken bunsan, the spreading of danger, stronger technical capacity and more experience.

Production Committee

Many Japanese anime are financed by a seisaku iinkai, a production committee. Several companies invest together, and each holds the rights for its own channel of use. The news site ITmedia notes that the system spreads risk.

The site GIGAZINE names a drawback. Every investor becomes a rights holder, so decisions cannot be made quickly.

Crossing on Red Together

Akashingō minna de watareba kowakunai: if everyone crosses on a red light together, it is not scary. The line began as a dark gag by the comedy duo Two Beat, Beat Takeshi and Beat Kiyoshi. It was printed in a book of their jokes in 1980.

Japanese Wikipedia explains the phrase this way. Even something that is forbidden can be done without psychological resistance when it is done as a group. The phrase entered the eighth edition of the dictionary Sanseidō Kokugo Jiten in 2021.

The New National Stadium

On July 17, 2015, Prime Minister Abe Shinzō announced that the plan for the New National Stadium in Tokyo would be scrapped and started again from a blank sheet.

A verification committee submitted its report on September 24, 2015. An evaluation by the Ministry of Education that cites the report names among the causes the harm of a “collective decision-making system that led to the cost increase.” It also finds that authority and responsibility had become unclear, and that those involved lacked a sense of ownership.

The System of Irresponsibility

In 1946, the political scientist Maruyama Masao published the essay Chōkokka shugi no ronri to shinri (The Logic and Psychology of Ultranationalism). A Japanese biographical dictionary sums up one of its points. Maruyama identified the musekinin taikei, the system of irresponsibility, of Japanese-style fascism and the emperor-system state.

An encyclopedia lists this essay and Gunkoku shihaisha no seishin keitai (The Mentality of the Militarist Rulers) among the analyses he published right after the war. It notes that they had a large influence on Japanese thought.

Unanimous Cabinet

Decisions of the Japanese cabinet are not made by majority vote. They require unanimity.

When a matter is settled, each minister signs the cabinet document with a kaō, a stylized signature written with a brush, to confirm that all are agreed. This has been the custom since the cabinet system began.

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.

Circulated Approval

A ringi-sho is a proposal drafted at the lower levels of an organization and passed in turn to the relevant departments and sections. Each manager adds a personal seal, the hanko. Approval builds up level by level, and final approval rests with the head of the organization.

The political scientist Tsuji Kiyoaki studied the system in Japanese government. He criticized it because it spreads responsibility across many seals.

The Vocabulary of Consensus

Nemawashi (根回し): going around the roots. In gardening, cutting the spreading roots of a tree one or two years before it is moved, so that fine new roots grow. At work, preparing a negotiation or meeting in advance so that it goes smoothly.

Sannin yoreba Monju no chie (三人寄れば文殊の知恵): when three people gather, they have the wisdom of Monju. Ordinary people who consult together in a group of three produce excellent ideas. Monju is the bodhisattva of wisdom.

Rentai sekinin (連帯責任): joint responsibility. A whole group answers for what one of its members did.

Five-Household Groups

Under the Edo shogunate, households in towns and villages were organized into gonin-gumi, groups of five. The members of each group were jointly responsible for paying the annual tax and for keeping public order.