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Miyamoto, Masao (J. W. Carpenter, translator), Straitjacket Society: An Insider's Irreverent View of Bureaucratic Japan, Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1994, 197 pp., $22.00 ($9.95 paper).
The original Japanese title Oyakusho no Okite means "the code of bureaucrats" or its implicit meaning is "unprotestable ritualistic rules of a ministry." This indicates Dr. Miyamoto's critical view toward the disciplines dominating work and lifestyle not only in traditional Japanese organizations but also in the Japanese society at large. He joined Japan's Ministry of Health and Welfare (MHW) in 1986 after spending 11 years in the United States. In the United States, Dr. Miyamoto was an assistant professor in psychiatry at Cornell Medical College and New York Medical College. When he returned to Japan, he became a deputy director of the Mental-Health Division of MHW (book cover).
This book is edited from his series of stories published in Monthly Asahi, a magazine issued by a leading Japanese newspaper company. An episode in each chapter is comical, but together they reveal the reality of Japanese society under its tacit rules. Work style at the ministry office is described from the psychiatrist's perspective. It gives good explanations why Japanese bureaucrats work late at night or even on Sundays, but cannot make practical changes quickly. The key word is "groupism" underlying social norms of the Japanese. The title of chapter 2 is "Welcome to Groupism" and chapter 6 is "The Masochistic Personality and the Psychology of Bulling." At the end of chapter 2, the author concludes, "In the name of tradition, an anachronistic system reigns supreme, and individual members of the group keep a close eye on one another; as a result, even if someone has an opinion of his own, he dare not utter it for fear of what people will say" (71). In chapter 6, Miyamoto says "There is an unwritten law in the bureaucracy that basically says, 'Thou shall not be different from thy co-workers'" (139). Although these interpretations are constructed from his everyday working life with colleagues which was illustrated very humorously in the book, they shed light on problems in the Japanese bureaucratic system that influence their work and family life as well as international trade unbalances due to unchangeable regulations.
His experience is not unique. When a...