ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the Japanese context—which, following the 'economic miracle' since second World War, has long been aligned with the most prosperous global capitalist economies. It explains how, in the context of Japan, the idea of 'Asian values' maps onto and re-fashions issues of contemporary business ethics in particular ways. In circling historical points of transition, the chapter examines the prospects of a genealogical account of Japanese business ethics—that is, not a teleological account of history, but one that unfolds in different directions and at varying speeds, which nonetheless inform the contemporary Japanese context. The brief history of Japanese business ethics foregrounds three instances of transition or transposition: the incorporation of Buddhism, the Edo era and the Meiji restoration. One of the driving factors for Japanese corporations engaging in corporate social responsibility practices was a relationship between business and society specific to the Japanese context.
