Commentary | Internet: Causing a Paradigm Shift in Japanese Culture

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A monthly column from the Asia Pacific Management Forum

Commentary by Boye Lafayette de Mente June 1977

Internet: Causing a Paradigm Shift in Japanese Culture

There is growing evidence that of all the influences to impact on Japan since the opening of the country to the outside world in the mid-1800s, the Internet may turn out to be the most powerful and change the culture of Japan more rapidly and more deeply than anything in the past.
Use of the Internet for personal communication and to publish and retrieve information is diametrically opposed to virtually every custom, rule and process that has been the hallmark of Japanese society since ancient times. The Internet simply by-passes every aspect of the traditional Japanese way of doing things. It totally ignores the stylized, rigid, hierarchical form of behavior that has traditionally characterized the Japanese. It does not require introductions, contacts, bowing, or the use of honorific language. It eliminates the need for the extraordinary emotional investment that is involved in making and sustaining in-person relationships in Japan. It removes bureaucratic barriers to obtaining commercial and government information.
For the first time in the history of the country, the Internet is making it possible for the Japanese to act as individuals, to behave in a rational, objective way, and therefore to accomplish a great deal more in less time than in the past. This freedom from traditional cultural restraints and the extraordinary efficiency that results is a heady brew for the Japanese, and is one of the primary attractions of the Internet. It is also a boon to non-Japanese because it is eliminating many of the cultural barriers that have made dealing with Japan so uncertain, time-consuming and often frustrating.
Boye Lafayette De Mente

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