Japan is generally thought of as a nation with deep cultural values that are embedded in its business culture as well. Hard work with an emphasis on quality has always been a key feature in Japanese businesses that drove economic growth in the late twentieth century. With an economy once projected to take over the United States as the largest economy in the world, the perception of business in Japan has always been positive. According to Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2015 ranking, Japan was the 18th least corrupt country in the world with a score of 75 (0 meaning highly corrupt and 100 meaning very clean). The United States was ranked 16th for reference. Although Japan has a good standing as one of the least
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There had been several incidents of tire failures in the vehicle and was eventually brought to the United States Congress by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Ford claimed that there was no problem with the vehicle design but rather with the Firestone tires. Firestone at the time had already been acquired by Japanese tire company, Bridgestone. Masatoshi Ono, CEO of Bridgestone/Firestone, in his first public appearance regarding the matter stated. “I come before you to apologize to you, the American people and especially to the families who have lost loved ones in these terrible rollover accidents...I also come to accept full and personal responsibility...for the events that led to this hearing.” Statements like these show the stark contrast between business leaders in Japan and America. But that does not imply that Japan is without its own faults. Despite this high notion of responsibility and honor between business and government, how is a corrupt practice like amakudari rampant throughout the …show more content…
According to the Japan Times, during 2004 to 2006, nearly 70% of the 1,968 retired bureaucrats found employment in companies they had close links with as bureaucrats. According to a review of the Associated Press on nuclear plant safety the revolving door spins freely in the Japanese nuclear industry. In the catastrophe that involves the six nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant after the earthquake-powered tsunami that hit Japan on March 11, 2011, it was revealed that the head of the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy became an advisor of Tokyo Electric Power Corporation (TEPCO), the utilities that own these nuclear power plants. The public official had become the post-tsunami symbol for amakudari, and had to resign. At the same time, top industry officials are appointed to positions on government advisory panels whose mandates are to shape energy policies. The AP review asserted that the cozy relationship between the regulators and the regulated was at the source of the failure in the safety enforcement of the nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power
There had been several incidents of tire failures in the vehicle and was eventually brought to the United States Congress by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Ford claimed that there was no problem with the vehicle design but rather with the Firestone tires. Firestone at the time had already been acquired by Japanese tire company, Bridgestone. Masatoshi Ono, CEO of Bridgestone/Firestone, in his first public appearance regarding the matter stated. “I come before you to apologize to you, the American people and especially to the families who have lost loved ones in these terrible rollover accidents...I also come to accept full and personal responsibility...for the events that led to this hearing.” Statements like these show the stark contrast between business leaders in Japan and America. But that does not imply that Japan is without its own faults. Despite this high notion of responsibility and honor between business and government, how is a corrupt practice like amakudari rampant throughout the …show more content…
According to the Japan Times, during 2004 to 2006, nearly 70% of the 1,968 retired bureaucrats found employment in companies they had close links with as bureaucrats. According to a review of the Associated Press on nuclear plant safety the revolving door spins freely in the Japanese nuclear industry. In the catastrophe that involves the six nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant after the earthquake-powered tsunami that hit Japan on March 11, 2011, it was revealed that the head of the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy became an advisor of Tokyo Electric Power Corporation (TEPCO), the utilities that own these nuclear power plants. The public official had become the post-tsunami symbol for amakudari, and had to resign. At the same time, top industry officials are appointed to positions on government advisory panels whose mandates are to shape energy policies. The AP review asserted that the cozy relationship between the regulators and the regulated was at the source of the failure in the safety enforcement of the nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power