This is Why Democracy and Virtue Thrive in Japan
Japan’s population may be astoundingly 92% urban, but it gets its wisdom from its ancient rural forebears.
Democracy thrives in Japan.
Despite my complaints about the terrible inefficiencies of Japan’s bureaucracy and its unnecessary ministries that interfere with the free market, the spirit of dialogue and mutual sacrifice is alive and well — across the countryside of Japan.
It is well known that central authorities do come down from on high and that external private actors collude for authorization to build and develop. But at the local level — where neighbors collaborate on each other’s behalf — rural people do not act as if it’s a dog-eat-dog world. They showcase a loyalty to each other.
While hou•ren•sou (報連相 meaning to report, contact, and consult) is a business concept, but is innately acted out in Japan’s rural villages. If anything, Tomiji Yamazaki (who coined hou•ren•sou) simply articulated the ancient wisdom of Japan’s rural forebearers into a pithy, easily-digestible phrase.
