Phum : Why you should read Japanese Ways

 

Have you ever thought about why Japan is successful as one of the leaders of tech-innovation countries? In brief, Japan is a small country on a small island with limited resources such as land, oil, and even electricity. Besides, even though the Japanese lost and were badly damaged by World War II and two nuclear bombs. After the terrible tragedy, Japanese surrendered in World War II, but they still didn’t surrender to enhance their country and were able to recover very quickly, until they became one of the most powerful countries in the world. At the present, as a developed country, Japan has succeeded in developing and continually improving various principles and social norms to arrange its limited resources efficiently. Also, you can see how their lives are enriched by such things as welfare benefits, high-tech innovation and easy access to public transportation. So, reading about Japanese ways, as a successful developing country, should broaden your perspective and provide you with some benefit from their effective and productive principles and concepts.

As a consequence of limited resources, the Japanese created an effective management system and principles to bring all their supplies and resources to their greatest advantage. To illustrate how well they perform, Toyota is the best-case study. Toyota is a great multinational company which is well-known all over the world for its high potential to expand their manufacturing base in various countries. Behind their success, they have to have principles and management methods to manage and improve their production lines. For example, the worldwide management method called Just-in-time or JIT is applied to manage products finished on time and reduce waste time. And other methods to get rid of other waste which is non-value-added activity, irregularity of the production line, and overburden of tasks. All these methods have been used in every factory that Toyota has, including Thai for sure.

Not only are these methods used to increase their product yield, but also household waste has effective ways to be managed. To improve the recycling system, there are rules and regulations that Japanese must follow in order to recycle waste as much as possible. Every household has to divide waste into its types before dropping out into the areas that the government allows. You can scarcely see a pile of garbage littered on the side of the road without a proper container.

Furthermore, in the social norm aspect, being on time to a conference or business meeting is very important. Lateness is totally not acceptable in Japanese culture. Generally, Japanese culture shapes people to be extremely strict with rules and regulations, especially the elderly. They call this Zero-late. The Japanese don't understand why being late is acceptable for Thais, and they think it's ridiculous that Thais have gotten used to being 15 or 20 minutes late. This is only understood by Japanese who have lived in Thailand and have experience in severe traffic. You can simply find the zero-late rule in every school, institute, and university that is involved with Japanese culture.

In summary, their concept of management, such as zero-late and other effective concepts, could be a perfect role model for the Thai government. Additionally, a lot of factories and businesses adapt or use the original concept in their systems. Some universities also added Japanese concepts into the curriculum, such as the Toyota Production System (TPS), a productive practice usually used in the Toyota company. In the end, I don’t insist that Japan is better than others, but I just recommend that Japanese concepts and culture are worth learning.