Japanese Industrial Relations Revisited

It has been pointed out by many people — and it is generally agreed — that the most salient features of Japanese industrial relations are the nenkö system (seniority-based system) and lifetime commitment in employer-employee relations and by the enterprise-based union system in labor-management relations. However, two qualifications are required as I see it. First, though the nenkö system and lifetime commitment are closely interrelated with the enterprise-based union system, it has not been fully examined which of them is more fundamental. What follows is based on an assumption that the nenkö system is more fundamental. Second, it has been increasingly questioned whether the nenkö system and lifetime commitment are really unique to Japanese industrial relations. Indeed, it is exactly the point that I would like to clarify in this paper. However, as a point of departure let us assume for the sake of convenience that the nenkö system and lifetime commitment are unique to Japan. This is because, for one thing, it is generally believed that these are the salient features of Japanese industrial relations and, for another, they are the first of Japanese industrial relations that have been brought to attention.