Articles Trade & Economics

From elementary school to college

Hiro grew up in the Tokyo-Osaka corridor that contains most of Japan's population. He is the son of middle-class parents who wanted him to follow the ideal model of Japanese society, creating a context that would allow him to make a desirable life in Japan. For many years, Japanese parents have been asked in national surveys what career they wish their sons to pursue. Becoming a government official has always been their first choice; their second choice is becoming a salaryman.

Hiro's parents never sat down with him and talked about his joining a particular company. Nobody says to a child, for example, "Someday you will go to work for Mitsubishi Bank if you just do these things." His parents simply told him that he would be safe and secure if he went into a corporation. His parents knew, and Hiro picked up, that there is only one way forward, one right process to follow.

In the United States, for instance, someone can spend years pursuing his talent and interest in drawing, but during or even after college, he can change his mind and decide to go into business. There are many different paths to becoming an executive in Western societies, particularly in the United States, but this is not true of Japan. If you meet a Japanese salaryman, you know with certainty that his career did not suddenly happen; he can be a salaryman only because he has been on the right track for a long time.

Excerpted from Inside the Kaisha: Demystifying Japanese Business Behavior, Chapter 1, by Noboru Yoshimura Philip Anderson (c. President and Fellows of Harvard College, 1997 ).

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