“From Monday I will start a new life, I will go to the gym, do yoga, do self-massage, pump up my abs...” - each of us periodically sets some goals for ourselves and does not achieve them, postpones them to the next month, for several months, for a year . Isn’t it because this happens because we want a lot at once and plans fall on us like a heavy burden, preventing us from doing even the smallest thing in the end.

Sometimes we zealously begin to carry out our plans, but after working out, for example, 3 times a week in the gym for several hours, we give up classes for a long time. Why is this happening? Because the load is heavy, because it gets boring, and the habit has not yet been developed.

Kaizen technique or the one minute principle

There is a Japanese method called “kaizen”, which is based on the “one minute” principle. The principle of this technique is that a person is engaged in a certain task exactly One minute, but every day and at the same time. One minute of time- this is very little, which means it is easily doable for any person. Laziness will not get in your way. The same actions that you didn’t want to do for half an hour, coming up with excuses or justifications, you can easily do in a minute.

Jump rope, exercise your abs, do eye exercises, do yoga, read a book in a foreign language - when time is limited to one minute, the activities do not seem difficult to do, but on the contrary, bring joy and satisfaction. And by taking small steps, you improve and achieve great results.

It is important that you overcome self-doubt, free yourself from feelings of guilt and helplessness, and feel success and victory. Inspired by the feeling of success, you gradually increase your one-minute sessions to five minutes, and so on. Then quietly approach half-hour classes. Progress is obvious!

Kaizen originated in Japan. The word itself is a compound word, and includes two others - “kai” (change) and “zen” (wisdom). The author of this management concept is Masaaki Imai. He believes that Kaizen is a real philosophy that can be equally successfully applied in business and in personal life.

To people of Western culture, the Japanese method may seem ineffective, since in the West there is an established opinion that good results cannot be achieved without great effort. But large-scale programs that take a lot of effort can break a person and remain ineffective. And the “kaizen” principle is suitable for everyone and can be applied to many areas of life. The Japanese, for example, use a strategy of gradual and continuous improvement in management.

Lean manufacturing technology kaizen (Kaizen, Japanese for continuous improvement) - a comprehensive concept that covers philosophy, theory and management tools, allowing you to achieve competitive advantage at the present stage.

In management system practice, this concept has a synonym - continuous improvement process (German - KVP, Kontinuierlicher Verbesserungs Prozess, English - CIP, Continuous Improvement Process). In an economic sense, the concept generally refers to actions to continuously improve all functions of an enterprise, from production to management. Kaizen is a concept derived from the Japanese words kai = change, and zen = good or for the better. Kaizen was first introduced in a few Japanese factories during the economic recovery after World War II and has since spread to factories around the world. The most famous practical application of this concept was developed for the Japanese corporation Toyota Motor Corporation. It is the basis of the method Total Quality Management(English - TQM, Total Quality Management) and includes measures to prevent waste (), innovation and work with new standards.

The ideas of the kaizen system () are set out by Masaaki Imaia in the book of the same name, which was published in England in 1986. The main ones:

“Kaizen is based on the fact that no enterprise is without problems. Kaizen helps solve these problems by developing a work culture where each employee is not fined for a problem, but guarantees that it will not happen.”

• “Kaizen strategy is based on the recognition that management, whose goal is to make a profit, must set as its goal the satisfaction of the customer and his requirements.”
• “Kaizen is a customer-focused improvement strategy.”
• “Kaizen is based on the premise that all enterprise activities should ultimately lead to increased customer satisfaction. At the same time, the philosophy of the internal and external clients differs.”

Convincing evidence of the effectiveness of the lean concept is a comparison of the level of innovation in enterprises in Japan and in Western countries. For comparison: in 1989, 83% of all innovation proposals were implemented in Japan, while in Germany - 40%, and in the USA - only 30%. In Germany, there are 0.15 innovation proposals per employee per year, while in Japan this figure is over 30.

With NPU, at the center there is a person with abilities and knowledge, which are the most important capital of the company. To this we can add a positive perception of problems by the organization, since they are an incentive for improvement. What is at the forefront is not the question of who is causing the problems, but the common effort to fundamentally solve them. It is not punishment for the mistakes of the past, but the possibility of improvement for the benefit of a common future that should guide the company's thinking. The desire to recognize real problems and eliminate them for a long time is decisive!

Thus, the team of employees is seen as a source of motivation, identification, mental energy, synergy and increasing creativity. NPU means continuous, systematic and consistent work on:

• setting and pursuing goals,
• eliminating interference,
• looking for opportunities for improvement,
• preventing waste with the help of all employees at all levels, in all departments, workshops and offices.

Elements of Kaizen

For normal and efficient work in production, it is necessary to create appropriate conditions. Therefore, Kaizen is based on 5 important points.

1. Teamwork. All employees must work as a team to achieve a common goal. They are obligated to do whatever is necessary for the benefit of their colleagues and their employer company. Provides for constant information exchange, mutual training, fulfillment of duties on time, etc.
2. Personal discipline. In any enterprise, discipline is important. It ensures success. The basis of kaizen is self-discipline, which includes managing your working time, the level of quality of work, fulfilling requirements, complying with regulations, etc.
3. Moral condition. It is essential that employees maintain their high morale. Therefore, management is obliged to implement a system of effective motivation, create good working conditions, and provide for all aspects related to providing its employees with everything they need.
4. Quality mugs. The enterprise needs to organize quality circles, which include employees of different levels. Such circles allow for the exchange of ideas, skills, and everything that is required for teamwork. The functioning of quality circles allows employees to evaluate their achievements when exchanging information and strive for better results in their work.
5. Suggestions for improvement. Management needs to ensure that every employee can make suggestions, regardless of position. Even absurd proposals should be accepted and considered.

Kaizen principles

Basic:

1.Organization of the workplace (gemba), for which 5S methods are used:

• Seiri – definition of what is not needed in work;
• Seiso – ensuring the cleanliness of the workplace and equipment used;
• Seiton - putting in order everything that is used in work;
• Seiketsu – actions to standardize the first 3 steps;
• Shitsuke – support for established workplace management.

2. Elimination of unjustified losses related to:

• Unnecessary movement;
• Unnecessary waiting;
• Incorrect organization of technical processes;
• Transportation;
• Defects, defects;
• Excess inventory;
• Overproduction.

3. Standardization, which allows you to create the basis for stability in work. The implementation of standards must occur at all levels. Their improvement is carried out according to the PDCA cycle.

Important! To effectively implement a kaizen system, it is necessary to use other lean manufacturing tools, including the kanban technique.

Continuous improvement process

Continuous improvement process- This is not only the study of new methods and, but also a different form of cooperation. More local self-organization with the help of capable employees, more personal responsibility for all participants, more development of innovative potential in the enterprise. Moreover, management requirements acquire additional importance. Along with professional and methodological competence, success depends on managers having social competence. The process of changing attitudes occurs from the top down, and the best guarantee of success through NPM is exemplary leadership management. Necessary changes in the approach to work are carried out by management, setting an example for employees who learn about these changes and adopt them. The economic and social goals of the kaizen (lean manufacturing) process are the goals.

In enterprises using kaizen technology, the continuous process of improvement is a vital part of the functioning of production management. It covers:

• organization (organizational structure, distribution of responsibilities, coordination, control mechanism);
• management (delimiting goals, choosing topics, forming a team);
• qualifying activities (behavioral training, methodological training);
• systematics (regularity, documentation, coverage of work teams, tools);
• incentive system (encouragement of innovation, special systems of moral and material incentives).

5 Principles That Made the Japanese Management Model Successful and Continue to Improve the World

The Japanese have always been, are and will be very consistent. When I watched the documentary “Jiro dreams of sushi”, I was very impressed by it. Especially the story of Jiro Ono that they consider it honorable to bring any task to perfection. Even if you work as a janitor, you should not complain about fate, but should bring your work skills to perfection. The Japanese do not jump from job to job in search of the perfect one; they can eventually turn any job into the job of their dreams. Because it's all about the approach.

Why not learn from the Japanese again and try their management method, which they use in their management, applying it not only to their work, but also to themselves? I looked for information about this system on the Internet and tried to build a more individual approach from the corporate approach.

Kaizen, kaizen (Japanese 改善 kaizen?, romaji Kaizen; sometimes incorrectly "kaizen") is a Japanese philosophy or practice that focuses on continuous improvement of production processes, development, supporting business processes and management, as well as all aspects of life.

The basis of the Kaizen method consists of 5 key elements, “5 S”:

• Seiri- neatness
• Seiton- order
• Seiso- purity
• Seiketsu- standardization
• Shitsuke- discipline

These principles can be adjusted both to your work and to your life. After the end of World War II, it was thanks to the use of this technique that many Japanese companies, including Toyota, managed to quickly recover and catch up with lost capacity.

Job

If you decide to try to apply the 5 principles of Kaizen to your work, then these 5 points should take their place of honor right in front of your nose and hang there until their implementation becomes the basis of your work.

1. Sorting. You have to sit down, think carefully and make a list of what you want to improve and what you think is preventing you from working more efficiently. This principle states that an employee should not do anything unnecessary, do not do his job. Which tasks are least related to your main job?

Some parts can be reduced to a minimum (checking email, working with documents), some can be delegated to someone whose specialization they are more relevant to.

For example, in some companies it is customary for sales managers to calculate the cost of services sold, issue invoices and draw up contracts. Although in fact, invoices and cost calculations are a matter for the accounting department, and contracts are the responsibility of the legal department or, again, the accounting department. Sometimes it seems that if you do it all yourself, it will be faster and you won’t have to go to the accountants. This part, for some reason, upsets everyone, and sometimes scares us the most. But in fact, if you organize the process correctly and convey to these departments that, in fact, this is their job, things will go much faster.

Think about what is unnecessary and get rid of it. And think about what simple changes you can make to your workflow. Just as the ocean is made up of drops, global changes begin with small changes.

2. Building and establishing order After you have discarded everything unnecessary, you can streamline the work process by arranging things in the necessary order. It will be good if, at least for the first few weeks, you keep something like your work diary, in which you will write down the tasks completed, the time at which they were completed, the amount of time it took to complete them, and note their priority. As a result, it may turn out that the most important things take you the least time, and routine eats up the most, although sometimes it seems that it’s easier to first sit down, for example, to make plans for the day (week, month), in order to get the hang of it, and then Having already warmed up, do the most important things. As a result, it may turn out that you again do not have time to complete the most important things.

If you know that you usually have 2-3 complex important tasks, it is better to schedule them at a time when your productivity is at its peak. We have already published an article about “prefrontal Mondays” and perhaps this option is just for you.

3. Cleaning or “polishing”. After finishing your work day, do not forget to clean your office desk and put everything back in its place. Finding the things and documents you need is much easier when everything is where it should be.

You need to put things in order not only on your desktop, but also in your head. To do this, it would be better to take a few minutes, look at your work diary and summarize, make the necessary notes and... forget about work when you find yourself outside the threshold of your office. Because the next morning you should come to work with a clear head and fresh thoughts. We have also written more than once about the benefits of distracting from a task and returning to it after some time. This way you have a much better chance of finding an interesting and fresh solution.

4. Standardization (systematization). After you have gotten rid of tasks that are not part of your responsibilities, built your workflow and put everything on the shelves not only in the workplace, but also in your head, it’s time to make a system out of it. That is, every morning you must do everything according to this structured scheme. Follow it and you will see results.

5. Maintaining practice. Once the first 4 processes are completed, they become a new way of working for you. You must stay on track and not fall back into old habits and methods.

When you think about a new method, you'll likely be thinking about what other changes you can make to improve efficiency. And thus you will again review the first 4 aspects, making changes to the process. This way you are constantly improving your working methods. And this is the right path, because the main goal of Kaizen is constant, never-ending excellence.

It is enough to be just one step ahead. Constantly

By the way, kaizen guru Masaaki Imai, whose book “Kaizen: The Key to the Success of Japanese Companies” still remains a bestseller in business literature, spoke about the application of this method in business in his interview with Russian readers. A fragment from this interview published by the magazine “Own Business” clarifies a lot.

According to the Kaizen system, improvement of all processes in the company should occur continuously. Why does improvement need to be done every day?

Indeed, there are managers who prefer episodic improvements. We believe: if we did something yesterday, then without delay we must ask ourselves the question: “What are we going to improve today? Or tomorrow?".

Toyota began using the kaizen system 60 years ago. Since then, all of her employees have been making improvements every day. Imagine what heights you can achieve if you do something every day for decades to improve your work efficiency! Toyota's experience confirms this: the company has achieved incredible business success.

The company has reached a leading position in its sector, and today it is very difficult to compete with it. Recently, consumers have become more and more demanding. Therefore, the conditions in which companies operate are becoming more stringent. And in the future we will face even more severe competition. Therefore, those who want to succeed have only one thing left to do: always be one step ahead of the competition.

In this regard, I remember an anecdote about an American and Japanese businessman who went on a safari to Africa. They arrived in the savannah and began photographing the local beauty. Fascinated by this, they went far from their car. When the businessmen were about to go back, a huge lion jumped out from behind the bushes in the distance. The Japanese, not paying any attention to the lion, took out his sneakers and began to change his shoes.

"What are you doing?!" — the American asked in surprise. “Don’t you see, I’m changing my shoes!” — the Japanese answered calmly. The American is perplexed: “Look how far our car is! In order for the lion to catch us, we must not change our shoes, but run!” To which the Japanese replies: “To save myself, I need to overtake you by just one step!” The Kaizen system helps achieve this.

- Is it really possible to come up with and implement some serious improvements every day?!

The improvements may be small, and each one individually may not be that noticeable. But taken together they will have a significant effect. Let me give you an example.

At one of the Matsushita enterprises, large teapots were placed on all tables during the lunch break, and each employee could drink as much of the drink as he wanted. The waitresses of the company noticed that the amount of tea drunk at different tables varied greatly. They then discovered that the same customers usually sat in certain seats. Having collected and analyzed data over several days, the waitresses determined exactly how much tea should be served on each table. As a result, they reduced the brewing consumption by half. In terms of money saved, the savings were negligible. Nevertheless, at the end of the year, these waitresses received gold medals from the president of the corporation.

After all, it is precisely such step-by-step improvements that together lead to significant strategic victories. In the worst companies, employees are focused solely on maintaining existing processes—doing the same things day after day without thinking about improving them. In those companies where kaizen is used, everything is different.

Whenever a person sees some opportunity to do his job better, he must implement these changes and change the standards of performing individual operations accordingly. If a company uses kaizen, the number of staff may be reduced by 10-20%, and sometimes by 50%.

Most companies prefer to make improvements not gradually, but immediately - carrying out global transformations through innovation. What are the disadvantages of this approach?

Daily improvements do not require significant financial costs. To implement kaizen, all that is needed is for people to use their minds and concentrate on the work at hand. However, kaizen processes are often invisible or subtle, and their results are rarely immediately apparent. Global innovation always requires large investments to purchase new technologies, equipment...

Therefore, before thinking about innovation, it is better to first take advantage of the existing potential by implementing kaizen. In many Japanese companies, top managers tell workers: “We cannot allocate a large budget to implement your proposals. But you still have to make those improvements.”

In the 1970s, Toyota was led by a very talented top manager - Mr. Taiichi Ono. He always believed in the strength and talent of his subordinates and was confident that if they were given the necessary powers, they would be able to solve any problems. He often used this approach. For example, Toyota set a goal of producing 100 units per hour. Then Ohno gave his engineers the resources to produce only 90 units, but required them to produce all 100. Since they could not do this right away, they either had to work overtime or urgently come up with some kind of improvement to cope with given task. When the engineers finally figured out a way to solve the problem, he would remove ten percent of the workers from that production line and move them to another area. And from the rest he again demanded to produce 100 units of product.

Does this mean that in the kaizen system innovations are rejected as such? Looking at leading Japanese companies, one cannot say this...

To develop a company, you need both a kaizen system and innovation. It is the combination of these two approaches that allows you to achieve the best results. Imagine: with the help of kaizen you gradually rise up. Then you take a big “leap” - you introduce innovation. Then from this new height you again continue the gradual upward movement - and again make a jerk.

As a result, you find yourself superior to those who apply only an innovative approach and move in leaps and bounds. In addition, the system created as a result of the introduction of innovation will inevitably degrade if efforts are not made first to maintain it and then to improve it. The effect of innovation is gradually decreasing due to intense competition and obsolescence of standards. Kaizen helps ensure a steady rise.

These same “5S” can be adjusted to any aspect of life. For example, you want to start leading a healthy lifestyle.

The first “S”. You sit down, divide the piece of paper into two parts and write down everything that bothers you in one column, and everything that helps you in the second.

Second "S". After identifying all the positive and negative aspects, you make yourself a schedule in which you include everything useful (a walk in the park, going for a walk at lunch, etc., etc.). In addition to creating a “health schedule,” you can simply make a list of what you need to start doing. For example, make a schedule for yourself to reduce your intake of junk food to a minimum and gradually introduce healthy foods into your daily diet. This must be done gradually, otherwise the body, and behind it the willpower, will simply rebel, demanding a dose of sugar and simple carbohydrates to which it is accustomed.

Third "S". To be honest, it’s difficult for me to draw an analogue to this S, but if I were doing this for myself, I would simply include this item as “Cleaning”. Keeping it clean and tidy is very important no matter what you try to do. This applies to work and just life. Because in a cluttered room a person loses strength and the necessary mood. In addition, cleaning can be turned into an initial stage of physical exercise or made into a meditative process, when you need to focus exclusively on physical actions and completely clear your head of thoughts.

Fourth “S”. Now it's time to turn all the changes into a system. Just stick to the schedule you created and it will become your normal way of life.

Fifth "S". Look after yourself and get rid of temptations to return to your old, easier life. At first, a healthy lifestyle is not easy, because there are so many temptations around that it is difficult to resist. And improve by finding more and more new ways to make your life better.

After reading a huge amount of material, I realized that the Kaizen system can be adjusted to anything. The main thing is to follow the basic rules - get rid of unnecessary things, build a system and constantly improve it!

Reference

Companies that use this system increase the profitability and competitiveness of their business without making large capital investments. It allows you to increase labor productivity by 50-100% or more. This system is called “kaizen” (from the Japanese words KAI - “change” and ZEN - “good”, “for the better”). Kaizen is a constant desire to improve everything we do, embodied in specific forms, methods and technologies. This method is used by outstanding companies: Toyota, Nissan, Canon, Honda, Komatsu, Matsushita.

Control over the life of the Japanese has different forms of manifestation.

One reliable option is a family registration system Koseki. Koseki identified with hooray-an aspect of family structure in Japan. The basis Koseki– this is not a registration of a person as such, but of an entire family. At the same time, all data relating to each family member is entered into the card - dates of birth, presence of brothers, sisters, information about parents, divorces and other personal information that is stored in the municipal office. Koseki registers a family of two generations, that is, after the wedding, a separate family is registered and its own card is created for it.

When joining any organization or applying for a job, a Japanese person must provide information Koseki. Numerous protests by minorities such as caste burakumin who have been discriminated against based on records Koseki, did their job, and are now officially employed Koseki not required.

System Koseki is a powerful tool of mutual responsibility and increases pressure and control over all family members, since information about the deviant behavior of one of its members can affect the lives of other members when they provide records Koseki on request.

Each family is registered at its place of permanent residence and provides records when moving Koseki from the previous place of residence to the new municipal office. Thus, the state monitors the movement of all citizens and has detailed information about their lives through access to information in regional municipalities.

Every Japanese has a so-called resident card, which indicates the date of birth, gender, and until 1995, the order of birth of children in the family was indicated. For example, eldest son, youngest daughter - for children born in marriage. But if a child was born out of wedlock, it was recorded without any details as a “child,” which was the reason for constant discrimination against these citizens. After numerous protest rallies by Japanese feminists, it was decided to register all children simply as children.

Registration system Koseki traces its history back to centuries. Even in the pre-war years, Japanese clan families ie considered it their duty to serve for the good of the empire. The head of the clan, naturally a man, had considerable power; he could arrange marriages within the clan and made all important decisions.

Today the system Koseki very convenient for the state and equally inconvenient for citizens. For example, women's rights in Japan are largely infringed precisely because of the peculiarities of this system. Firstly, all heads of families, and they must be indicated in the records Koseki, ninety-eight percent are men. The permanent residence address of all members of the house, as well as the surnames of the residents, must, without any exception, coincide with the address and surname of the head of the family. A child born within three hundred days after the official divorce is registered in Koseki in the name of her former husband and is included in his family. This rule strictly applies in cases where the ex-husband is not the biological father of the child. Until recently, children born out of wedlock were discriminated against, in particular in matters of inheritance distribution.

In addition, the system Koseki It also strictly requires that all children born to a woman be recorded on the mother’s card. This rule cannot be challenged even if the mother wants to give the child away. Back in the late eighties of the last century, Japanese doctors were punished if, instead of persuading women who wanted to give birth to a child out of wedlock to have an abortion, they allowed them to give birth. Thus, women found themselves in a hopeless situation and were forced to have an abortion, even if they wanted to give birth and give the child to be raised by another family, and there were and still are queues of childless couples for adoption.

In case of divorce according to the system Koseki children in strict order corresponded from the card of the father of the family to the card of the mother, which meant that the children’s provision of their cards Koseki to enter the university could provoke discrimination against them in the selection process.

Koseki- the underbelly of Japanese society, invisible to foreigners, which, in essence, leads a patriarchal lifestyle. This system largely motivates the choice of social behavior options; outwardly, this choice may seem completely illogical to an outsider. But the system Koseki is still fundamental, because it determines the face of the Japanese and his family members, how they are represented in society and what status they have depends on it.

Competition of conformisms

How do you like such a funny phrase as competition of conformism? Conformism, I’ll explain for those who don’t really like foreign words, is the uncritical acceptance of prevailing ideas and submission to the norms of the majority. Yes, this, in fact, is a cunning Japanese trick used to ensure that the whole society obeys the same rules and itself monitors compliance with these same rules. And this is achieved through competition between competitors: whoever follows the rules more strictly and accurately than others and tracks the damned violators is the best.

In addition to such philosophical concepts as the “concept of duty,” in Japanese culture there are also specific law enforcement agencies - the police - to restore order. In addition to public institutions, where people “shackled by one chain” live and act according to the same rules, that is, in schools, companies and similar institutions, there is also supervision over the Japanese at their place of residence.

Each quarter and community are united in the so-called system khan, which includes blocks of houses, in total it includes about a dozen families. Family Association Shokai organizes local festivals, picnics during cherry blossoms and God knows what else. In addition, members of the association in their area jointly prevent crime, fight fires - in short, keep order themselves. Men dominate the association. It is the associations that are the conductors of government and municipal programs, actively cooperate with the police in investigating offenses, and provide assistance during natural disasters.

Prototype of ideology khan existed back in the Tokugawa era in the form of a system of five families who were supposed to look out for each other. In fact, the system still operates now, allowing the authorities to be present at the horizontal level and fix the rules of behavior and value guidelines of various layers of Japanese society not from above, but, as it were, from both sides, horizontally.

The Japanese system places responsibility for an individual's mistake on everyone: both members of society and the public. However, in large cities, where in some areas the rotation of residents is very high and there are many single Japanese people renting apartments in manseong, this system simply cannot exist.

Japanese society initially and systematically regulates the thinking and behavior of its members according to long-established standards, leveling everyone along the line. One of the widely used Japanese idioms deru kui wa utareru states that a nail that has popped out must be hammered in. All types of spontaneous self-expression and freedom of action are condemned.

The promoted ideology of equality and the uniqueness of Japanese national homogeneity, as well as the assertion that clan differences do not matter, is completely undisguised flattery to ourselves. It is a completely obvious fact that there is gender discrimination in Japan. To this day, women are paid less for the same work that men do. Not to mention discrimination against caste people burakumin or the Japanese, whose family included Koreans.

So, returning to friendly authoritarianism... In every block and near metro stations there is always a koban- police station. Each police officer with enviable regularity visits the houses and businesses of the quarter entrusted to him in search of suspicious elements and collects information about living and working residents. Each house receives cards with information about those who live there, including, by the way, pets. And school teachers visit the homes of their students, leaving parents no choice as to whether or not to receive guests. Teachers and parents sometimes form groups and raid entertainment venues to spy on their children. Well, probably the funniest thing, not for the Japanese, of course, is that a citizen who is guilty of something, in addition to the fine that he pays for the offense, must also write a letter of apology shimatsusho addressed to the head of the police office!

Of course, in any society there are similar types of control, but it was in Japan that this system of mutual surveillance took the form of a kind of friendly authoritarianism. He is friendly because he does not show his true face, he acts not with a stick, but with a carrot, and is invisible for the time being. Individuals and groups of people in power are presented to society and society exclusively as respected persons, and cross-sectional social connections are used to strengthen the subordination existing in society.

How to make a child Japanese

Young Japanese mothers carry their tiny children with them everywhere, or rather, on themselves. It is amazing that they begin to carry them with them almost from infancy, almost newborns. When I’m chilly in my winter jacket and I’m pulling gloves on my hands, all the Japanese babies are hanging on their mothers without socks or hats. Their arms, legs, and head are naked. In the subway, resilient babies survive blasts of cold air conditioning.

Children in schools during physical education lessons all sit on the ground, regardless of the time of year, they are counted by their heads - it’s so convenient. Such is the harsh Japanese childhood, but these are just games with the weather and climate, but the socialization of little Japanese is already something cooler than winter fun! It is the kindergarten and primary school that are called upon to make real Japanese out of children, to explain to them that the interests of society in Japan always take precedence over their own desires, and emotions should be hidden deep in the soul, and not put on display. The same applies to family.

Japan's educational system was essentially formed in the last quarter of the 19th century, and is therefore still characterized by a high degree of government intervention in the person of the Ministry of Education. Censorship of textbooks, a rigid, fixed schedule of subjects, conformist patterns of socialization of children, militaristic ethics, strict control of teachers, strict requirements for appearance - this is what school means in Japanese. What should be taught and how children should be taught is determined only by the ministry; teachers who disagree with these rules are not kept in school.

The doctrine of militarism states that the education of a loyal and worthy citizen is carried out through physical education. The most harmless manifestation of the militarization of teaching is the commands shouted before class: “Stand up!”, “Bow!”, “Sit down!” All students are ranked according to height, boys are required to wear short hair, like male soldiers before and during the Second World War. All clothing, including shoes, socks or knee socks, bags - everything should be exactly the same for everyone. Everyone does everything together, no exceptions. There is only a group, there is no room for individuality. The higher the level of Spartan discipline and uniformity, the more reliable citizens of their society the Japanese educational system will produce.

Relationships between the students themselves are built on the principle senpai, that is, the eldest, and kohai, respectively, junior. The latter must show respect, obedience and complete submission in every possible way. Quasi-militaristic seniority system senpai-kohai goes beyond the boundaries of the school, and the younger ones are obliged to bow to the elders even on the street. For example, if a junior student joins a sports club, then during the first year his sports activities will be limited to throwing balls senpai, cleaning the playground and maintaining equipment without the opportunity to practice. And sometimes clothes senpai will have to wash.

And the meaning of this state of affairs is that the student cannot, you see, become a good athlete until he develops as a submissive and obedient person in order to carry out the orders of the coach! And this tendency towards submission and servility is formed by the fact that the student is forced to do dirty and humiliating work...

Every day after school, children must wash classrooms, corridors, stairs and toilets. These responsibilities, it turns out, are intended to ensure that children, future citizens of the Land of the Rising Sun, develop a sense of obedience, responsiveness and responsibility. A favorite psychological technique of the Japanese school is reading texts out loud with the whole class. The school anthem should be sung by children in chorus at morning assemblies, sporting events and other places to promote emotional integration. Since the pre-war days, an accompaniment for morning exercises has been heard every morning on NHK - Japan Broadcasting Corporation radio. Having memorized the exercises, children still practice chanting them in groups during physical education lessons.

Slogans on the walls of schools and inside classrooms, the content of which Japanese children must determine for themselves, read: “So let’s not run through the corridors!” or: “Let’s not dirty the toilets!” Morale officers are selected in the class, who must monitor the implementation of the intended goals for a whole week. They also help teachers monitor the compliance of student behavior with school standards. It is quite obvious that all of the above has a price, you have to pay for everything. Often this price is human life.

In Japan, children and teenagers love to make fun of their peers. Ijime, that is, bullying, is one of the biggest problems in Japanese society. Every now and then there are articles in the newspapers about how classmates beat someone to death, and the one who was bullied hanged himself... At the same time, the teachers supposedly know nothing, and if they suspect and ask the victim of bullying whether this is true, the victim is sure to everything will be denied...

Schoolchildren leave schools by metro, and in the metro you can often see scenes of bullying. Moreover, the reaction of adult Japanese watching a group of guys stick out their cheeks, pull down the eyelids of an overweight boy and photograph his funny faces with a mobile phone video camera is completely incomprehensible. Adults look and smile or open their eyes slightly and continue to pretend that nothing is happening. Neither adult men, nor women who have their own children, and perhaps even this poor fellow’s peers, will show the slightest sympathy in this case. The forty-year-old man smiled sincerely, looking at what was happening - apparently, he recalled his school years with pleasure...

What do you think is most striking about the whole situation? What is most striking is the eyes of teenagers who bully... There is no anger or frenzy in them, not at all - these are the eyes of children playing an interesting game. It feels like it doesn’t dawn on them at all that they are doing something wrong, and adults and teachers are silent and don’t judge them. And the boy himself, who is being bullied, is also silent. True, he clenched his teeth so that they creaked. And then everyone is surprised that schoolchildren are suddenly hanging themselves... And the peak of bullying occurred in 1985, when one hundred and fifty-five thousand such cases were registered throughout the country...

If a person reads Japanese newspapers and is interested in what is happening in society, then the information about teachers bullying students probably catches the eye. Despite the fact that it is prohibited by law, assault does occur. For example, Yoshino Sugimoto, in his book Japanese Society, recounts how seven teachers buried two middle school students neck-deep in sand on a Fukuoka beach in the summer of 1990 because they were timid. In a 1992 Chiba court case, a student needed five months of treatment after a teacher sat him on the floor, kicked him a couple of times, knocked out two teeth and left him with a paralyzed leg. But actually, why was the massacre committed? For being late for school lunch.

What about the parents? According to a 1990 survey, only one third of parents said that assault was a highly unacceptable practice. Some parents praise such teachers for their teaching enthusiasm and good intentions.

Due to powerful childhood pressure, many students in Japan suffer from school phobia. They do not leave their rooms and do not communicate with anyone, including their parents. In 1992, the number of primary and secondary schoolchildren who attended school less than thirty days a year increased to seventy thousand.

Since the nineties of the last century, another topic has appeared on the list of problems discussed by society - enjo kosai, which means a date for a fee. This term refers to financially compensated meetings between schoolgirls in the eighth and tenth grades with middle-aged men. Such dates may, but do not necessarily include, intimate relationships. Almost all men who use this type of service are married and have children of their own. There are no exact statistics on this issue for obvious reasons, but it is estimated that about five percent of schoolgirls are involved in such relationships. The students who provide this kind of service to their adult uncles are usually members of middle-class families and are by no means poor.

There is a very beautiful, in my opinion, Japanese feature film directed by Yuri Kanchiku Tenshi no koi, or Angel's Love, 2009, which is also translated into English as My Rainy Days; this film was an absolute hit. The main role of a schoolgirl studying enjo kosai, played by the most famous and beautiful Japanese model Nozomi Sasaki in a duet with the irresistible Shosuke Taniharo.

The media has enormous influence in Japan. Once you look into fashion magazines for teenagers, you immediately come across individual pages of branded products. It works on the imagination. Secret desires and dreams arise: for example, you want to get a handbag for just two thousand or a watch for three thousand dollars. The thirst for acquiring new expensive goods must be satisfied at any cost. The bar for a schoolgirl’s needs is rising, there is no money, parents are busy and cannot pay attention to the child, and there are no moral regulators of a religious nature in Japan, so many schoolgirls get themselves a “dad,” as they call their old men for sex. For one meeting you can get from two hundred fifty to four hundred dollars. The “new dad” will also pay the mobile phone bills. These types of meetings have become possible thanks to the availability of mobile phones, they are organized with their help.

But it's not just about phones, of course. In Japan, the image of a sexy teenage girl in a school uniform is somehow especially obsessively cultivated. All video shops are filled with porn videotapes of similar content, and the schoolgirls themselves, to their credit, vigorously support this image. Their free demeanor, makeup, and skirt barely covering their panties seem to invite cooperation. Prominent political and government figures, teachers, heads of large organizations, and monks were caught having relationships with schoolgirls. Japan in 1999 joined the decision of the International Conference on the prohibition of child pornography. Sex with a teenager under eighteen is now considered a crime. But in Japan, everything is possible provided that no one knows or sees! I wonder if there have been cases where fathers and daughters met on dates?

Little Japanese

I worked part-time at an English-speaking kindergarten in Tokyo. In the group during breakfast, an Italian boy named Alessandro hit another boy, Thomas from New Caledonia. Thomas burst into tears and, wailing, began to tell the teacher about what had happened. A Japanese girl, Takai, was sitting opposite the boys at the table. Takai seemed to me so quiet and calm, a typically Japanese girl. At the moment of the quarrel, Takai’s face suddenly hardened, and from under the mask of icy calm and softness emerged wild hatred and some kind of stubbornness, unnatural for either a child or a girl, combined with incredible rigidity. It was clear that this four-year-old girl was ready to crush anyone into dust. “If you don’t apologize now, I won’t let you play on my team and will only play with Thomas and the others,” Takai said.

What the Italian Alessandro didn’t care about probably wouldn’t seem so to a harmless Japanese boy or girl. The threat to expel an offender from a group of friends is common among the Japanese. And little Takai already understood this very well.

A couple of minutes later, Thomas and Alessandro were already sitting next to each other and coloring pictures together. But I couldn't get Takai's face out of my head. In her features, so soft, tender and feminine, if one can say so about a four-year-old girl, suddenly toughness and frenzy appeared! And although Takai was only four years old, this is actually a story about a Japanese woman. Maybe you think that these are completely unrelated things? It seems to me that these are links in the same chain.

This is about the issue that Japanese women lay softly... In a normal situation this is the case, but as soon as the situation changes and it comes to a violation of justice, even an imaginary one, the Japanese woman with her hatred and vindictiveness becomes terrible in her rage.

One day a group of kindergarten children gathered somewhere. Children with teachers stood at the traffic light at the intersection and waited for the green light. I stood on the opposite side and looked at the children. They were all dressed the same, and in their hands they clutched small flags. Then a young Japanese mother with the same child appeared right next to me. They were clearly late, they looked a little guilty... Seeing the group, the mother and child waved their hands.

On the opposite side of the street, two dozen little hands with flags shot up in unison. They waved to the latecomer in greeting. These flags, so identical and flying together, contained enormous power. The enormous unifying power of small flags. The force that welcomes you today, and tomorrow, if you inadvertently fail to fit into the group, will crush you, leaving no chance for forgiveness. I felt uneasy. These were Japanese children.

The Japanese textbook for first-graders contains various fairy tales, including the Russian folk tale “Turnip.” I always thought that this is a fairy tale that in order to do any difficult or difficult thing, you need to make every effort. Sometimes a little bit is missing in order to achieve a result, but you must not give up, but try again and, gaining points from attempt to attempt, eventually pull out the turnip.

Since I consider myself a Russian person, I suspect that other Russians also interpreted the meaning of our “Turnip” in approximately the same way, albeit somewhere deep at the level of archetypes.

But the Japanese placed “Turnip” in their textbook, apparently for other reasons. After all, in fact, “Turnip” is a great Japanese fairy tale about how, holding hands together, all together, old and new generations, falling from exhaustion, but acting systematically and by the whole society, according to a clearly written and repeated in the fairy tale several times instructions: the mouse for the cat, the cat for the Bug, the Bug for the granddaughter, the granddaughter for the grandmother, and the grandmother for the grandfather - in short, having done everything right, the Japanese finally pulled out the turnip. The funny thing is: in their textbook the fairy tale is called not “Turnip”, but “Big Turnip”!

Community has always been important to Russians, and perhaps the fairy tale is about that too. But I think that for the Japanese it is only about this.

The path of self-improvement for the Japanese

After the samurai began to disappear as a class, they gradually transformed into businessmen. And indeed, after Japan was prohibited from maintaining its army in 1946, where could the samurai spirit that had been forming over centuries suddenly disappear to? And even after a humiliating defeat in the war? Has everyone suddenly realized the false values ​​of war and lost their belligerence forever? Of course, that doesn't happen. The samurai spirit has been preserved. Now the battlefield and struggle for spheres of influence has become economic activity. What exactly has changed? Attacking the market, outflanking the enemy, encircling and exterminating competitors, success is victory. Everyone fights at their combat post, everyone fights as one, from small company employees to alliance leaders.

What motivates a Japanese person to be dedicated and committed to the interests of the company, besides money? Confucian mentality! Having lost its weakly expressed religious content, Neo-Confucianism played into Japan's hands in such non-ideological areas as trade and economics. Both the political and business elites of Japan willingly adopted the neo-Confucian concept of self-improvement Xiu Xing to ensure the achievement of economic objectives by commercial and industrial corporations and the nation as a whole.

In the time of Confucius, self-improvement was seen as a lifelong endeavor, the logical conclusion of which was to be the acquisition of wisdom. Moreover, self-improvement presupposed the mastery of such moral qualities as sincerity, benevolence, generosity, cooperation, and devotion in relations with family, neighbors, the state and the whole world.

The ideas of Confucianism were brought to Japan by the monks of the Zen sect back in the 13th century, but only in the 17th century, with the support of the Tokugawa regime, did this school develop on Japanese soil. Of course, Confucianism and the concept of self-improvement at that time were seen as the spiritual heritage of the samurai, and not the worldview of the commoners.

In the 18th century, thanks to the popularization activities of the Japanese thinkers Baigan and Shingaku, Confucian ideas began to take hold of the masses.

Thus, Baigan presented traders and merchants, on a par with samurai, as “servants for the benefit of the state,” and also in his assessments raised the status of people of ordinary professions, justifying this with their desire to contribute to the general prosperity of society. Shingaku believed that such an understanding of the principle of self-improvement would help commoners find high moral guidelines and, ultimately, find meaning in life.

At the beginning of the 20th century, neo-Confucian theory increasingly merged with the ideas of modernization that swept Japan.

Shibusawa Yeichi, the greatest industrialist of the first quarter of the 20th century, wrote many treatises, which are still republished and read by Japanese businessmen, on the introduction of the principles of Confucian morality into economic life.

The highest goal for him was to achieve harmony, which is expressed in the fact that wealth and economic prosperity become a virtue if they are achieved in a good way and benefit people. He proposed, first of all, to combine the “spirit of the samurai” and “commercial talent.” At the same time, the concept of “commercial talent” was derived from the spiritual basis of man, his morality. Shibusawa also believed that the path of the samurai - bushido - should become the path of the merchant and businessman of the new time.

Now mastering martial arts and the secrets of the tea ceremony for the sake of self-improvement has been replaced by long hours of work in a company, long-term business trips and other hardships. "Psychological condition samurai,“- writes Norihiko Suzuki, “can be described as a tendency to self-sacrifice for the sake of one’s master, the clan.”

The samurai's aggressiveness does not focus on defeating the enemy, but on self-sacrifice for the sake of the master. If the word "master" is replaced by the word "company", then the result will be a description of the modern spiritual state of corporate employees with the only difference being that today employees do not have to commit suicide to prove loyalty. However, the tradition has not disappeared.

For example, there is a known case when the captain of a cargo ship transporting cars from Japan to the United States committed suicide in Portland because he considered himself responsible for the damage to several hundred cars that occurred during a hurricane that broke out off the coast of Oregon. But it was a raging element! What can we say if the company suffers losses due to the fault of a specific person or the management is very dissatisfied with the work of any of the departments? Suicides of company employees for this reason still happen today!

The general zeal and self-denial of Japanese employees is turning into a national problem karoshi– death at work from overwork. Perhaps the apotheosis of this whole race and pressure are the cemeteries created by Japanese companies for their own employees. This is truly the sarcasm of fate! Can you imagine the cemetery of the ZIL plant in Russia, for example?

Neo-Confucian philosophy, embodied in educational programs financed by the richest industrialists in Japan, during the period of active development of the trade union movement, relieved the tension that arose between company management and workers. She said that only their mutual cooperation for the benefit of society can ensure profit and satisfaction of the needs of both.

Later, Japanese trade unions adopted neo-Confucian ideas, which became the basis for corporate training for company employees and a number of educational programs. For example, the training for employees of one of the Japanese banks includes the following points: Zen meditation to increase self-control and achieve detachment from one’s ego; visit to a military base - to develop fortitude and obedience; active recreation on weekends outside the city - for coordination of group activities, love of life, energy; a twenty-five-kilometer walk - to train perseverance and self-control, etc.

The reason why the Confucian idea of ​​self-improvement has penetrated so deeply into economic life lies in the peculiarities of Japan's modernization. With the rapid penetration of Western models into the life of the country, the political elite struggled to preserve the Japanese spirit and relied on the incorporation of neo-Confucian ideology into the life of the new growing class of employees.

Self-improvement in Confucian style meant not only mastering a profession, but also acquiring the moral qualities necessary to work in a company and maintain subordination in a team. The concept of self-improvement still provides Japanese men with moral satisfaction and the opportunity for self-realization. She gives meaning to both his life and his work for the company, despite all the attendant difficulties and self-limitations.

Tansin funin

Another problem that employees of Japanese companies regularly face is tansin funin, a business trip to a branch located in another city while leaving the family at their place of permanent residence. A similar social problem is associated with it, when in order to teach an employee all the intricacies of production, he is sent for a long internship in various departments of the enterprise. This is the price for training a highly qualified specialist. About half a million married Japanese go to their company's enterprises in another city, leaving their families at home.

Tansin funin- single appointment, this is how it is translated into Russian - practiced mainly in large corporations and government agencies. Men between the ages of thirty-five and forty-four are the main candidates for such business trips. At the same time, the family often remains to live in the same place due to difficulties with transferring children from one school to another; In addition, wives are sometimes forced to stay behind to care for elderly parents, and changing housing is also problematic.

This common practice, when a man can only go to his family at the place of his permanent residence for the weekend, is a very severe test.

For example, Tanaka-san, with whom I studied English for three weeks at the request of Panasonic, had been living away from his family for four months.

The Panasonic plant's facilities were at a completely dismal station. Getting out of the carriage, I crossed a huge bridge over the river, then found myself in a block of private houses, behind which the enterprise itself was located. It wasn't even a factory, but rather a design bureau.

Every day, Tanaka-san was officially released from his main work after lunch and from two o’clock in the afternoon to six in the evening, that is, for four hours, with a fifteen-minute break, he had to study English. The time limit was clearly defined to the minute and was not subject to discussion.

By the time I arrived at the enterprise, company employees each time left the canteen in a huge crowd. All of them were dressed in blue uniforms and differed only in their constitution, weight and names on badges, the wearing of which was considered mandatory for everyone on the territory of the enterprise.

At the checkpoint, a Japanese man in a cap pierced me through and through with a cold gaze, found the appropriate paper order for my admission to the enterprise and gave me a pre-prepared badge. I was escorted into the building and given a signature to another Japanese. He made a phone call from a soundproof booth and soon emerged to escort me to the study room. Labor slogans of a jingoistic nature were written in large hieroglyphs on the walls of the enterprise.

The empty study room was equipped with a DVD player, water station and comfortable sofas. Tall, handsome, and very pleasant, Tanaka, a company employee, usually looked a little embarrassed, a little tired, and a little happy. This mixture of experiences and feelings on his face was conducive to participation. From the very first lesson it became clear that he and I would get along. And so it happened.

Tanaka-san was sent by Pana sonic to Los Angeles for an extended period of time with his family and was required to learn English. He already had certain skills, and he and I learned to understand spoken language and express ourselves in the language. He picked it up quickly and worked hard. He tried doubly - for himself, because he really wanted to join his family and go to Los Angeles, and for the Panasonic company, for which he was obliged to save face and which paid for these courses.

The family lived far away, and, apparently, he missed his wife and small children greatly. Tanaka-san looked to be about thirty-six years old. Every Friday after work he had a long and expensive trip to his hometown, from where he returned on Sunday afternoon. But Tanaka-san, unlike many Japanese, whose fate is under the guise tanshin funin forced to part with their own families, there was at least a prospect. An honorary promotion and a business trip to sunny Los Angeles awaited him, but with his family!

Almost every one of us periodically sets a new goal or task for ourselves, but never achieves it. Often we tell ourselves that we’re just not ready yet, but we’ll definitely start doing it next week or next month... or next year.

Sometimes we even have the zeal to get started. But after a little effort, we tell ourselves that we have done enough and it’s time to slow down on the path to a new life.

Why is this happening? The answer is obvious: because we try to achieve too much too quickly; because we are tired of new responsibilities; because it's hard to change old habits and try something new.

Kaizen philosophy, or the one-minute principle

In Japanese culture, there is a practice of kaizen, which focuses on continuous self-improvement and includes the “one minute principle.” This method is based on a very simple idea: a person should do something for one minute every day at the same time. It is clear that even the laziest person can cope with the task when one minute of effort is enough. If you often find a reason to put off tasks that require half an hour or more to complete, then you will definitely find just 60 seconds.

The tasks can be different: push-ups, reading a book, learning a foreign language. In one minute you will not have time to experience unpleasant sensations associated with the activity. A minute's exercise will only bring joy and satisfaction. Starting with one small step will put you on the path to self-improvement and achieve great results.

It is important that with this technique you will gain faith in your own strength and be freed from feelings of guilt and helplessness. You will feel a sense of victory and success, which will help you move forward as you gradually increase the amount of time you spend on the activity: first to five minutes, then to half an hour, and then even longer. Thus, the “one minute principle” will lead you to undeniable progress.

The practice of kaizen originated in Japan. The word itself means “continuous improvement” (consists of two roots: “kai” - change, “zen” - wisdom). The concept was founded by Masaaki Imai. He believes that it is equally applicable in business and personal life.

At first glance, this practice may seem dubious and ineffective. It is perceived especially skeptically by people who grew up in Western culture and are convinced that significant results can be achieved only by making enormous efforts. But intricate and complex self-improvement programs that require a lot of energy from a person can simply exhaust one’s strength and not lead to visible results. And the practice of kaizen is accessible to every person and will bring progress in almost any area of ​​life. For example, in Japan it is often used to improve management methods.

All you need to do is determine what exactly you want to achieve.