Peter Matanle

Japanese Capitalism and Modernity in a Global Era: Re-Fabricating Lifetime Employment Relations

In Japanese Capitalism and Modernity in a Global Era, I argue that Japans lifetime employment system is not collapsing under the various pressures of globalization and modernization, but that it is developing gradually and that it continues to work well for the salarymen that work within it. Consequently, I argue that Japans capitalism and modernity remain differentiated from its western counterparts in many crucial ways. However, pressures for convergence towards the Anglo-American system remain, and in future Japanese corporate managers will find it harder to maintain such distinctiveness.

The Great East Japan Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Meltdown: Towards the (Re)Construction of a Safe, Sustainable and Compassionate Society in Japan's Shrinking Regions

Japans rural regions have been shrinking for the entire post-war period, and successive efforts to revitalise rural society have failed. This article examines whether the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, and the subsequent meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, present the Japanese state and society with a watershed opportunity to rethink regional revitalisation and national energy procurement strategies. The article begins by summarising the events of March and April 2011, examines possible approaches to the reconstruction of communities in the Tōhoku region, and critiques problems of governance in post-war Japan that the disaster reveals. It concludes by pulling together the information and analysis presented into a discussion of the prospects for achieving the three-point vision for a safe, sustainable, and compassionate society that Prime Minister Naoto Kan set the Reconstruction Design Council.

Men Under Pressure: Representations of the 'Salaryman' and His Organization in Japanese Manga

In this paper we analyse representations of the Japanese salaryman and Japanese organization in Japanese manga, or graphic novels, during the turbulent decades from the mid-1980s to the present day. We argue that manga presents salarymen protagonists in a sympathetic yet not uncritical light, and that it displays support for and criticism of both the Japanese and American organizational models. In addition, we describe how these manga offer important critical challenges from the world of popular culture to the direction of change in Japanese business organizations since the 1980s. Moreover, we suggest that the manga may also provide salarymen with opportunities for critically re-evaluating their own working situations and for developing methods for surviving and thriving under the pressures of working within contemporary Japanese business organizations.

Organic Sources for the Revitalization of Rural Japan: The Craft Potters of Sado

Abstract The population and society of Sado Island are declining at an alarming rate. Much of this decline has been due to endemic outward migration of the islands younger people to Japans large urban areas in search of opportunities for tertiary education and salaried employment. Even though opportunities to find work in Sado do exist, these are in occupations that younger people currently find unattractive. Moreover, education in Sado currently does not serve local circumstances and needs well, being organised primarily by and for the urban centre. This research starts by presenting an overview of the issues surrounding population, education, and employment on Sado, and then moves to presenting a case study of the life and work of Sado Islands craft-potters. The article uses statistical data from official bodies and unstructured interviews with the islands residents as empirical support for its theoretical discussions. The article concludes by hinting at a possible stabilization of the population through a combination of educational reform, craft-based employment re-generation, and taking advantage of emerging trends in world tourism.

The habit of a lifetime? Japanese and British university students' attitudes to permanent employment

Abstract This article presents an analysis from a social constructionist perspective of data collected from British and Japanese university students on the desirability of lifetime employment at a single organization. The article emphasizes two related processes and in so doing helps to account for the diversity of employment structures both between and within the two countries as well as the persistence of lifetime employment in Japan. First, it shows that the two groups display some similarities in their attitudes but that their assumptions about employment practices in their countries may differ. These lead the two groups to develop the belief that they may be offered different outcomes and, thus, the students develop different conclusions as to the desirability of lifetime employment for themselves. Second, the research shows some differences in the students approaches and these too lead them to reach different conclusions about the desirability of lifelong employment. In addition, the research highlights how, in both Britain and Japan, medical students expectations are at times at odds with those of their colleagues in other subjects, and this may have important consequences for our understanding of how the respective employment systems are reproduced over time.