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Straitjacket Society: An Insider's Irreverent View of Bureaucratic Japan

Masao Miyamoto,

Juliet Winters Carpenter (Translator),

Juzo Itami (Foreword by)

3.96 · Rating details · 47 ratings · 5 reviews

A book that could have easily been called Games Japanese Play, Straitjacket Society delves beneath the surface of ready smiles and gentle manners to look at the underlying code of Japanese life, which is nowhere more apparent than in the halls of power. Almost overnight Masao Miyamoto attracted worldwide attention by pointing out the arcane - and often archaic - code of li ...more

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Hardcover, 197 pages

Published January 1st 1995 by Kodansha (first published 1993)

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Sep 21, 2011 Patrick McCoy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: biography-autobiography, japan

Masao Miyamoto’s fascinating expose, Straightjacket Society, was listed as a source in Michael Zielenziger’s equally fascinating analysis of contemporary Japanese society, Shutting Out The Sun. Unfortunately this book, published in English by Kodansha, in 1994, is out of print. However, I think a lot of what he describes about Japanese bureaucracy is still true today. Miyamoto was a very atypical bureaucrat-he is an American trained psychoanalyst who lived and worked in America for 10 years. He Masao Miyamoto’s fascinating expose, Straightjacket Society, was listed as a source in Michael Zielenziger’s equally fascinating analysis of contemporary Japanese society, Shutting Out The Sun. Unfortunately this book, published in English by Kodansha, in 1994, is out of print. However, I think a lot of what he describes about Japanese bureaucracy is still true today. Miyamoto was a very atypical bureaucrat-he is an American trained psychoanalyst who lived and worked in America for 10 years. He returned to Japan as Deputy Director of the Mental Health Division of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. It is no surprise given his background that he had a hard time fitting in the government bureaucracy and decides that he will try to set precedents and makes a crusade for more progressive ways of serving the public. He eventually begins to write a series of exposes on the problems of the bureaucracy and is demoted and eventually fired for his outspokenness. I respect him for taking on a thankless and, in my opinion, impossible task.

One of the more interesting aspects of this book is about how Japanese government and laws are made. There is no true separation of powers like in the US and despite the fact that it is written into their constitution. His description of the process, the inefficiency, deal making, and waste of budgets is disquieting. I think there are traces of this kind of inefficiency and being in bed with producers everywhere in the world but the Japanese system is wholly geared for the producers rather than the consumers and has no sign of changing at any time in the near future. In fact, earlier this year there was another expose of government follies by Aki Wakaybashi called The Bizarre World of the Public Servant, which describes many similar wastes, abuses, and inefficiencies. I think many of these inefficiencies can be seen in the educational institutions and city government that I experienced on my two years on the JET Program and that are mirrored in the private universities I have mainly worked in since

Miyamoto may come across as a jaded foreigner, but he really does understand his culture and find aspects of it lacking in contrast of other societies. But his understanding and analysis of Japanese culture and society is spot on. I like how he becomes the devil’s advocate when recounts a conversation he has with an American working for a Japanese company. In this section he defends and explains the complaints and criticisms of the American. However, he does agree with the American about some of his conclusions. It seems that Miyamoto’s biggest criticism is that Japan is a collectivist society and as a very individualistic person this bother him greatly since he doesn’t buy into the collectivist mentality.

Miyamoto describes a company trip to a hot spring and it struck me how uniform those trips are. It was almost the exact same experience I had going on a teacher’s trip when I was working at a junior high school in Koshigaya circa 1998. Everything from the passing out beers at 9 a.m. on the train –to the planned night activities (different groups singing karaoke, mahjong, etc…) resembled the trip Miyamoto regarded as work. In fact, after that trip he started demanding compensation time off if was expected to take part on these company trips.
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Aug 10, 2014 Barry Lancet rated it really liked it

Shelves: japan

This book is a case of something simple morphing into the profound. After a distinguished career in the United States, Dr. Miyamoto took an exalted post back in Japan in the health and welfare ministry. He rose steadily through the ranks, but slowly began to feel the pressure of the stifling bureaucratic life, which he summed up in capsule form as, "Don't take vacations, don't be late, and don't initiate anything new."

When first published in Japanese, Miyamoto's book created a sensation. He was ...more

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Jul 24, 2013 Stuart rated it really liked it

Shelves: anthropology-evolution, japan, favorites, satirical-humorous

One of the funniest and most insightful books ever written by an insider about Japan's mind-boggling bureaucracy. His time in the US has clearly corrupted his mind with foreign ideas, making him no longer suited for the hive-mind found in government and corporate organizations. I see this everyday in the Japanese corporate world (Dilbert World). Like receiving compliance training on the handling of client information when our department has no contact with clients~ The episode he describes about ...more

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Feb 07, 2011 Gregoor Kerkhof rated it really liked it

Gives a wonderfull insight in the way Japan's inner workings, both in the way politics is run, and how Japan views those who have ventured outside the bounds of Japan and returned, as experienced by Miyamoto himself.

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Aug 11, 2011 Ketan Shah added it

A little dry and the writer sems to have too much of an axe to grind with Japanese bureaucracy,but still an interesting look at what makes Japanese politics (and society) tick.

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