Prince Shotoku (574-622) was featured on Japan's ¥5,000 bank notes printed from 1957-1986.
"Harmony is the greatest of virtues,"「和を以て貴しと為す」said Prince Shōtoku (574-622), according to historical lore. Thus, Japanese society has historically upheld "Wa" (和, harmony) as its highest value, viewing the preservation of order and social cohesion as a supreme virtue.
This cultural orientation prizes group stability, averting confrontation and competition. Systems such as seniority-based hierarchy (nenko joretsu) and the use of honorific language (keigo) serve as institutional and linguistic mechanisms to maintain this order, permeating every corner of society.
Further, the Japanese language omits addressing the subject in speech. This creates a sense of communal and shared understanding.
However, this virtue of harmony simultaneously inhibits the development of leadership and fosters a structural weakness: the lack of autonomous decision-making.
Japanese people often defer to a higher authority as a natural reflex. They resist the idea of younger or unconventional individuals assuming leadership roles. In international affairs, Japan frequently postpones its own decisions and instead formulates policy in response to external pressure. At the root of this phenomenon lies a cultural vacuum in leadership.
The Samurai Society and the Elimination of Gekokujō
The phenomenon of gekokujō, the overthrow of superiors by subordinates, emerged as early as the Heian era (794-1185). At that time, rival imperial lineages and regent families manipulated succession. It reached its height in the Sengoku period (1467-about 1600), when ambitious warlords like Oda Nobunaga toppled their superiors in a meritocratic reordering of power.
To suppress this turbulence, Toyotomi Hideyoshi issued the 1588 "Sword Hunt Edict," stripping farmers of weapons and symbolically fixing the boundary between warrior and commoner. Meanwhile, the Tokugawa shogunate institutionalized order through sankin-kōtai and the Buke Shohatto, dispersing feudal power and sacralizing hierarchy.
These measures transformed the memory of centuries of upheaval into a cultural fear of reversal, embedding a legacy that still prizes stability over flexible leadership in Japanese organizational life.
Honorific Language and Power
The Japanese honorific language system reinforces hierarchical relationships by constantly signaling the speaker's status and social position. Far from being mere etiquette, it functions as a power control mechanism, a linguistic legacy of the samurai era. Through keigo, roles of leadership and subordination are linguistically prescribed. As a result, younger or unconventional leaders are easily excluded, making leadership experimentation difficult.
This linguistic constraint is especially evident in workplaces and educational settings. Discomfort in using keigo toward younger superiors, resistance to being instructed, and the tendency to "read the air" to avoid direct leadership all contribute to organizational rigidity. While language preserves order, it simultaneously creates a structure that obstructs the cultivation of adaptive leadership.
Dependence on External Pressure
In the vacuum left by the abolition of the ruling Samurai class, the deeply rooted cultural tendency to defer to higher authority extends into international relations, where Japan often looks to "global superiors" for guidance. Policies are frequently shaped in response to the preferences of the United States or international institutions, rather than through Japan's own autonomous decision-making.
This is not merely a diplomatic strategy. It reflects a cultural void in leadership.
Structural Disintegration Under Globalism
Over the past 30 years, Japan has undergone gradual structural disintegration under the influence of globalist neoliberalism. Since the 1990s, policies such as deregulation, privatization, and the promotion of free trade have been introduced under the banner of "enhancing international competitiveness." These changes have transformed traditional Japanese systems in sectors such as labor, agriculture, healthcare, and education.
Examples include the privatization of the postal system, revisions to the labor dispatch law, and the restructuring of domestic markets by global corporations. All of these were driven by external pressure. These policies were not born from internal deliberation or autonomous judgment, but rather from a posture of responding to external demands or importing solutions.
This phenomenon reveals the absence of a "supreme decision-maker" within Japan. It reflects a cultural structure in which leadership is sought but not assumed. The seniority system and honorific language reinforce a hierarchical culture that discourages individuals from making decisions and taking responsibility. Consequently, even at the national level, Japan has developed a structure of dependence on external authority.
Reconstructing a Path to Autonomy
For Japan to assert genuine influence in the international community, a redefinition of its cultural structure is essential. The values of Wa and autonomous decision-making are not mutually exclusive ー they can coexist. A cultural shift toward nurturing the ability to think and decide independently, while maintaining social harmony, is urgently needed.
This requires creating environments across education, business, and politics where young and unconventional individuals can experiment with leadership. Only when failure is tolerated ー and challenge is rewarded ー can Japan move toward autonomous governance, free from external pressure.
In language education as well, emphasis should shift from rigid honorific forms to open dialogue and expressive clarity, regardless of rank or seniority.
Leadership with Harmony
Japan's seniority-based culture and honorific language system offer the virtue of stability and order. Yet this very order inhibits leadership development and creates a structural weakness: the lack of autonomous decision-making in global affairs.
The samurai-era system of eliminating gekokujō continues to be reproduced through language and institutions. This also legitimizes the exclusion of young and unconventional leaders.
To overcome this cultural structure, Japan must embrace diverse leadership models and foster a society that values independent judgment, unencumbered by external factors. Only then can the nation claim its voice on the world stage and shape its own future.
RELATED:
- Oda Nobunaga Through a New Lens: Historians Are Overturning the Old Narrative
- Rethinking Sakoku: Soichi Suzuki on Japan's 'Closed Country' as a Strategy for Survival
- VIDEO | Veteran Journalists on Key Political Tests of 2026
Author: Yozo Naotsuka
