JAPAN: Culture After BUSHIDO

Japan fascinates the world — yet remains one of the most misunderstood countries on earth. Why is silence valued over debate? Why does consensus take so long? Why do Japanese professionals apologize when they have done nothing wrong?

Japan: Culture After BUSHIDO answers these questions with clarity and depth. Author Kohei Shinkai spent 40 years working across 60 countries as a product designer and business executive. He bridges personal experience and academic rigor by applying Hofstede's Six-Dimension Model of Culture to compare Japan with 25 countries — from the United States and China to Brazil and Belgium. For each, he pinpoints the value gaps most likely to cause friction and offers concrete solutions.

But this is far more than a business manual. The book journeys through Japan's cultural landscape: the world's oldest companies, the poetry of haiku, the philosophy behind washoku and wabi-sabi, and the deep roots of omotenashi hospitality. It also confronts Japan's challenges head-on — the gender gap, low English proficiency, lagging digitalization — with the same honesty and data-driven analysis as the strengths.