The Hidden Dimensions of Japanese Administration: Culture and Its Impact

To what extent does traditional Japanese culture influence the behavior and actions of public administrators? How are decisions made in the bureaucracy? Why are Japanese administrators so committed to their everyday work? Jong Jun and Hiromi Muto try to answer these and other questions through an understanding of idiosyncratic aspects of administrative culture. Since the basic purpose of their study is to explore the qualitative and tacit elements of administration, they do not attempt to test the research questions analytically and empirically. They argue that while the sociocultural elements promote the processes of participative decision making, group orientation, loyalty, and harmony, Japanese administrative culture can be a hindrance to individual creativity and critical thinking, interagency coordination, citizen participation, and innovative policy development.