Industrial relations in Japan: legacies and innovations

Abstract

This paper provides a comprehensive overview of industrial relations in Japan over the nearly forty years since the end of World War II. Four aspects are identified, which in succession emerged to the fore and have since been assimilated as integral parts of the industrial relations picture as we find it today. Namely, the present pattern of industrial relations should be best understood as a historical, cumulative product of several layers of joint efforts of the Japanese labour and management involved. Discussions will be focused on the private sector where shifting emphasis can be most clearly identified. Figure 1 shows the correspondence between such evolving features and their chronological time sequence.