Japan: A Culture of Hierarchy and Egalitarianism 

I’ve always wanted to be one of those people – those self-improvement influencers – who go to bed very early, wake up very early, and accomplish a full day’s worth of work by the time their colleagues and competitors are sipping their first cup of coffee.

That was one of my motivations when, in 2000, I started an email advisory newsletter called Early to Rise.

I believed then that early rising was key to success in every aspect of life, business and personal, and I believe it now. But my ability to follow my own advice is, as it has always been, less than perfect.

Still, I keep trying. And I’m happy to report that, thanks to 13 hours of jet lag between the US east coast and Japan, I’ve finally been practicing what I preach. For all but one of the days since we’ve been here, I’ve been going to bed at about 7:30 pm and waking up at about 3:30.

K is keeping a later schedule by about three hours, which works out well for me. I’m on my laptop by 4:00 or 4:30 am, which gives me about four hours of work time before we have breakfast together.

You can do a surprising amount of work in four hours. Especially when you are working so early that there is no threat of being interrupted by anyone.

On Day One of this current trip to Japan, I wrote about some of the many things I admire about the Japanese way of life. “Clean, quiet, orderly, and civilized,” I said. “Those are my impressions each time I visit.”

A few days later, K and I were able to be not just observers but participants in that culture.

Taking a break from my business-related commitments, we took a one-hour train ride southwest from Tokyo to Hakone, a quaint little town set amidst lush green hills that reminded me of Hawaii, where we spent two days in a ryokan, a traditional Japanese spa. This one was particularly luxurious, providing an exceptional level of serenity, beauty, and comfort.

If you ever have the opportunity to visit a ryokan, I hope you take advantage of it. It will be a cross-cultural experience that you’ll never forget.

This is what you can expect…

When you enter a ryokan, you temporarily leave your native practices at the door and immerse yourself, as completely as possible, in authentic Japanese traditions. (Cultural appropriation is not frowned upon by the Japanese. On the contrary, it is considered a requirement for their guests from other cultures – an indication of courtesy and good breeding.)

There are three traditional clothing options at the ryokan, all of them provided for you to wear during your stay. A yukata (cotton kimono), which can be worn most of the time while enjoying the spa’s amenities. A more formal kimono, which is preferable for dinners – and, I have to say, made me feel like Japanese royalty. And for sleeping, what seemed to be white silk pajamas that made me feel much more important than I do sleeping in my underwear.

Wearing street shoes indoors – anywhere indoors – is strictly forbidden, as is walking barefoot outside of a shower or spa. This is in line with the general Japanese culture of cleanliness, but is just as much a matter of doing everything, and especially the small things, properly.

Dressing in traditional Japanese garments while at the ryokan is a matter of respecting tradition to the max, which you will understand if you’ve ever practiced Japanese martial arts taught by a Japanese sensei. But it is not something to fret over. If you make a mistake, none of the staff will correct you. You are, after all, an honored guest. It would be an insult.

Another custom that courteous guests adhere to is bowing – what the Japanese do not just in place of shaking hands, but every time they come upon someone, on purpose or accidentally.

There is an etiquette to this, too – in particular, the depth of the bow.

How deeply you bow is a function of several things, including whether the situation is casual or formal, or whether one party has erred in some way or even inadvertently inconvenienced or embarrassed the other. But it is also a matter of hierarchy.

Traditional Japanese culture is founded on the principle of hierarchy. There is also a very strong egalitarian aspect to it, which, I would argue, is in some ways stronger than the American idea of equal rights under the law.

A quick example (that I might have written about before): About 20 years ago, I was in Tokyo to meet with the president of the first- or second-largest publishing company in Japan at his headquarters. The entire process of having such a meeting is very involved, as it requires a formula for when and how you meet, an exchange of gifts, and then all sorts of conduct and courtesies on the part of the foreigner if he has any hope of doing business there.

I spent several days meeting with various executives of the company prior to the day I was to meet the president. I was very much aware that we were both CEOs, which means something in business hierarchy. But I was equally aware that his business was ten times larger than mine. Nevertheless, I felt he treated me with the same respect that I conveyed to him.

After the meeting, we had a lunch planned at some nearby restaurant. It was to be him and me, plus two other senior executives. As we exited the elevator, we could see a man sweeping the floor in front of us. A moment later, he noticed us, stood up at attention, and bowed deeply in our direction.

If you were a graduate of Harvard or Brown today, you would say his response was a deplorable vestige of colonialism and hierarchical discrimination.

But something else happened immediately after this simple working man bowed to his company’s president. The president bowed back to him. The president’s bow was not nearly as deep. It was nevertheless an acknowledgement of the floor sweeper’s existence and an appreciation of the role he was playing in the business and, really, in the hierarchy of the world.

Now imagine a similar scenario taking place in America. As the president and his entourage exited the elevator, the floor sweeper would have stopped his work while they passed, but without looking at any of them. And they would not even have noticed him.

So, you tell me: Which of these two scenarios is more egalitarian and respectful?

This curious blend of egalitarianism and hierarchy that I see here in Japan interests me and I’m going to keep looking into it. But it is already clear that respect for hierarchy is a very essential attitude that binds other attitudes, such as human equality and dignity, tightly together in a rational way. (And from what I already know of Japanese history, the Japanese political system, with a parliament and a king, is reflective of that.)

More of my thoughts about Japanese culture next time…