ABSTRACT

This chapter traces the evolution of employment relations in Japan, and the main actors under the ‘classic model’ of ‘Japanese-style’ employment. The Meiji period saw a momentous transformation in Japan, as the feudal order was consciously dismantled and a new industrial order was constructed under the banner ‘Japanese spirit, Western technology’. The relationship between ‘Japanese spirit’ and ‘Western technology’ was hotly contested, but also encouraged considerable experimentation and improvisation. The late 1910s and 1920s, then, saw the early budding of ‘Japanese-style employment,’ as well as a distinctive producer-oriented capitalism whose legitimacy depended on its contribution to larger national goals. A. Gordon argues that Japanese employment relations are the result of pre-war management initiatives, wartime bureaucratic decrees and early post-war worker pressure, subsequently reshaped by management. The ownership structure of Japanese firms underwent an enormous shift after World War II as the holding companies of zaibatsu – financial or business groups – were dismantled and shares were dispersed.