Article: Author says Japan needs to rebuild on samurai tradition

Global Arizona: Author says Japan needs to rebuild on samurai
tradition

Jan. 23, 2005 12:00 AM

success, samurai code


Boye Lafayette De Mente'sfirst book, on the etiquette and ethics of
doing business in Japan, is such a classic that it sold like crazy
and is now in its sixth edition.

Forty-six years later, the Paradise Valley resident and Japan expert
has added to his string of books with The Japanese Samurai Code:
Classic Strategies for Success,due out this spring from Boston-based
Tuttle Publishing Co. Inc.

In the new book, De Mente details nearly 40traits of the samurai
that he says have shaped present-day Japanese thinking and behavior.

"In my judgment, it was the influence of the samurai class over 800
years that molded the common Japanese into what they are today," De
Mente said.

Foremost among the samurai traits, De Mente says, are perseverance,
diligence, obsession with detail and obsession with quality.

Such traits were instilled early in samurai clans. Boys began sword
training at age 7, and for the next eight years underwent extensive
physical and mental training before they could be recognized as
samurai.

The closest American parallel, De Mente says, might be the Navy
SEALs or other specialized units in which young participants are
trained for years under extreme challenges and high expectations.

A samurai had to win to be able to survive, and the samurai class
put that kind of intensity into its training of other Japanese, he
said.

"When you transfer that to business, it becomes a very powerful
motive for success," he said.

And since the bubble burst on Japan's economy about 15 years ago,
regaining the samurai spirit has been a common topic of discussion
and concern there, De Mente said.

"The older Japanese recognize that if they lose more of the samurai
code, then Japan is in for trouble," he said. "Without that
attitude, they're just going to be another kid on the block."

Even given the emergence of China and India, De Mente counts Japan
as down but definitely not out of the economic picture. Japan is
still the world's second-largest economy, and it is very good at
research and is making breakthroughs in vital areas such as biology
and materials, he said.

Japan was Arizona's eight-largest market in 2003, taking $466
million in exports from the state.

De Mente graduated from Jochi University in Tokyo and lived in Japan
for more than 20 years. Now 76 years old, he still returns two to
four times a year to the country that has become his life's work.

"I encourage people to study the cultural history of countries
they're interested in," he said. "Without that insight, it is
extremely difficult to be communicating on the same channel."

- Jane Larson