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ABSTRACT. Business ethics in Japan has developed in five stages. Especially in the last stage (in the 1990s), there have appeared two clear-cut trends in business ethics activities: positive and passive. For the rise of business ethics, the passive trend is much more important. Once entered the 1990s, an increasing number of business scandals have been revealed. Because of this, the Japanese business community cannot but help take business ethics much more seriously than it ever has.
Not only business practitioners but also business ethicists have inaugurated a variety of ethics-related studies and activities. This article mainly puts focus on the studies, which have been done in the 1990s. At the end of the article, ethical challenges, which the Japanese business and academia meet presently, are described.
1. Working definition of business ethics
In the 1990s, more and more Japanese are seeing "business ethics" as an established discipline. In spite of this trend, there is no unanimous agreement on the definition of business ethics. One thing that most Japanese business ethicist can support might be that a definition and usage that are similar to those of their American or European counterparts.
Even if I do not have a clear-cut definition of business ethics, in order to describe "business ethics in Japan" mainly its history, activities, publications, and challenges, I would like to clarify at least two points of the usage. The first is an epistemological meaning of "business." The second is a tentative definition, which might give a convenient framework for describing business ethics in Japan.
1.1. Epistemology of economy and business
In Japanese, the word "economy" is read as keizai. Keizai is a compound word consisting of kei and zai, originally stemming from the Chinese word, ching-chi. While kei means "governing the world in harmony," zai means "bringing about the well-being of the people." Therefore, in this sense, the word "economy" does essentially include "morality" or "ethics" in its wide and fundamental meaning and scope (Dazai, 1972, p. 16; Hiroike, 1976, pp. 386-389).
The word "business" is read as keiei. This word is also composed of two parts: Kei and ei. Whereas kei is a shortened form of keizai, Ei (itonamu or itoma-nashi) means "making ceaseless efforts to achieve." With these meanings in...