Wa(Harmony) That Creates Mutual Support in Japan - And How This Harmony Constrains Japanese Society

The word "wa" (和) means harmony in Japanese.

In Japan, "wa" is most commonly used in contexts related to harmony - like "heiwa" (平和, peace) and "chowa" (調和, balance) - referring to "a state where multiple different things combine and maintain equilibrium in harmony."

Beyond that, "wa" is also used to represent Japan itself, as seen in words like "wafuku" (和服, traditional Japanese clothing like kimono) and "washoku" (和食, Japanese cuisine).

As these examples show, Japanese people culturally value not having different things exist separately, but rather having them cooperate and merge with each other to maintain overall harmony. They see this as the ideal "harmonious state" that should be applied to every aspect of life.

In manufacturing, for instance, this means "products that are closely and efficiently integrated without waste, creating well-balanced results."

And in human relationships, it means "ensuring that actions and words within a group stay within certain boundaries according to predefined rules and order."

And in human relationships, it means "ensuring that actions and words within a group stay within certain boundaries according to predefined rules and order."

While the concept of wa in manufacturing is certainly important, today I want to dive deep into "how Japanese people perceive wa in human relationships."

Do Japanese People Value Harmony in Relationships for Historical Reasons?

Why do Japanese people value wa so much?

The root causes often discussed include historical factors that have existed since ancient times: "Japan being an island nation that historically faced few foreign invasions," "practicing polytheism by believing in multiple religions like indigenous Shintoism and Buddhism that came via China," and "needing to prioritize family and clan as units of belonging."

However, as anyone who has actually come to Japan or interacted with Japanese people knows, Japanese companies now employ more and more foreign workers, and they're constantly exposed to competition and negotiations with overseas companies.

And while Japanese people do practice multiple religions, most Japanese aren't particularly devout - they visit Shinto shrines for New Year's, hold Buddhist funerals, and celebrate Christmas even if they're not Christian.

Moreover, Japan has rapidly shifted toward nuclear families (just parents and children), with fewer people living with grandparents and weakening ties with extended family.

Given all this, while some historical influence certainly remains, it's hard to explain why modern Japanese people value wa solely based on ancient history, religious perspectives, or the family system.

In this social context, I believe there are two fundamental reasons why Japanese people value group harmony in human relationships.

Consciousness of Wa Through School Education

The first reason is school education. From a young age, Japanese people are taught to value groups in human relationships through actual group activities at school.

For example, Japanese schools provide many daily events involving collective work. Students clean their own classrooms and school buildings together as a class, and during lunch time, they take on different roles to serve meals and clean up.

Additionally, after regular classes, there are activities called "club activities" where students collectively learn sports, music, drama, and other subjects.

Through these activities, Japanese people learn two major things:

First is the consciousness that "you must take the same actions as others." For instance, during lunch, everyone must finish eating and clean up by a set time. While actual punishment is rare in modern times, Japanese people are taught that they should feel a kind of shame if they can't coordinate with others. For more details, see the article "Does Japanese Shame Culture Really Exist? A Japanese Perspective on Understanding Shame"

Second is the consciousness that "you must respect predefined hierarchical relationships and rankings." In club activities, just being one year older creates a senior-junior relationship based on age. Using respectful language toward seniors becomes semi-mandatory, and through these visible hierarchies, Japanese people develop a strong awareness of maintaining order within groups.

Through all this, people unknowingly receive education from childhood that "wa = following behavioral and hierarchical rules within groups," and as a result, Japanese people come to firmly value such harmony as something that must be maintained within groups.

The Significant Benefits of Maintaining Wa

The second reason is that maintaining predefined behavioral rules and order within groups has long directly benefited individuals in society.

This strength of collective harmony still exists, particularly in rural Japan. For example, in small businesses and family enterprises, it's still considered natural for children to inherit their parents' businesses.

Moreover, in rural areas, opportunities for people from completely different regions to enter are still limited. Through participation in traditional community activities like neighborhood cleaning and year-end/New Year meetings that serve as greetings, daily relationships and business transactions are still partially maintained.

Through these experiences, Japanese people understand as reality that following predefined hierarchies and behavioral rules within groups brings major benefits to individuals and families, which leads to their emphasis on wa.

This consciousness of maintaining wa often appears as benefits in Japanese people's daily lives. For instance, the existence of community bonds helps maintain local security so children can move around safely, and even when disagreements arise, they can move quickly to action without major relationship breakdowns.

The Collapse of Wa in Communities and Business, and Declining Benefits

However, recently, even among Japanese people, the importance of maintaining wa has been diminishing. Two major factors are involved in this change.

The first is the collapse of local communities. As mentioned earlier, belonging to local communities helps maintain local security and allows people to enjoy close relationships.

But now, even living in the most remote countryside, people can build relationships with others throughout Japan via the internet. Even when maintaining community and family relationships, moving and new people flowing into the region can instantly eliminate long-built relationships.

Also, within the limited relationships of local communities, taking the same cooperative actions as others is required more than necessary. Even when someone has interests in different fields or possesses talents and abilities that exceed those around them, predefined order and hierarchical relationships can hinder those talents from flourishing.

The second factor is the massive increase in work and business opportunities. While it's obvious now, seeking business opportunities in major cities like Tokyo and Osaka, or internationally, yields much greater profits than accepting limited local work.

And as Japan's economy faces prolonged low growth, losing domestic business opportunities more than ever and being strongly pressed to secure business opportunities including overseas markets, continuing to maintain wa and act within limited groups is creating significant economic disadvantages.

In Conclusion: Should Japan Continue to Value Wa for the Future?

I heard a story about Japanese people who, after watching a soccer match overseas, cleaned up trash from the stands before leaving, even though their team had lost, and this was praised internationally.

As a Japanese person myself, I can easily imagine that if someone next to me started picking up trash, I would probably start picking up trash too, thanks to the group behavior learned through school education. The Japanese consciousness of wa - taking coordinated action and group behavior with those around us - runs that deep.

I feel that this could become a powerful force that creates a big wave and exerts influence throughout Japan when the entire country needs to cooperate to achieve one major goal.

I sincerely hope that a society continues to exist where the Japanese ability to naturally cooperate with each other and support one another as easily as breathing can be utilized going forward.

On the other hand, as Japan's economy has realistically stagnated for decades, I feel that wa has been playing an excessive negative role as chains that preserve traditional order and rules, rather than cooperatively helping new behavioral initiatives from younger generations.

Given this reality in today's Japan, I think what's strongly needed in the short term is a society that temporarily forgets the importance of wa, removes past order and rules, and allows people to freely challenge new things without being bound by traditional wa - even if this temporarily creates major distortions in society.

Thank you for reading.