Japan is different from the United States.  The following facts highlight a few of the differences.

1. Birth control pills are illegal; abortion is legal.
2. There is a ninety-five percent conviction rate for those arrested for major crimes.
3. Japan has one-twentieth the crime rate of the United States and one-twentieth the number of prison cells.
4. Superiors resign if their subordinates engage in wrongdoing.
5. The Shinto religion has about eighty-thousand gods.
6. Dependency is a sign of health; independence is considered a kind of sickness.
7. Most prime ministers and company presidents are in their sixties and seventies.
8. Bosses often introduce their subordinates to prospective marriage partners.
9. All titles in Japanese companies mean the same thing across companies.
10. Japanese people literally do not know what words to use in a conversation until the hierarchical relationship between the speakers is clarified.
11. Compulsory retirement is often at the age of fifty-five.
12. Japanese people have the longest life expectancy in the world.  For women, it is close to eighty years.
13. Taken together, the budgets of Japanese companies for after-work entertainment exceed the nation's defense budget.
14. Most Japanese can't stand American food.
15. Fifteen-hour workdays are common.
16. There are four thousand characters in the average Japanese person's alphabet.
17. Japan is a country of 120 million people on a landmass the size of California.
18. Land in Tokyo sometimes sells for several thousand dollars a square foot.
19. It is not unusual for an employee who works in Tokyo to spend five hours a day commuting to and from work.
20. In large Japanese companies, there are over a million employee suggestions a year for improvement of operations.
21. Japan has more than ten times as many industrial robots in operation as the United States has.
22. Gun ownership is prohibited in Japan.

PROCEDURES

1. After reviewing the list, do you see any major patterns or themes that differentiate Japanese from American culture?  If so, what are they?
2. Of the twenty-one "facts," which three shocked you the most?  That is, which did you find the most unusual.
3. For each of the facts you found most shocking, why did you think them strange?
4. Form groups of three to five students each and compare your individual assessments.  Prepare to discuss with the whole class:

        a.    theme(s) differentiating American and Japanese cultures.

        b.    What difficulties Americans might have adjusting to living and working in Japan.

        c.    What challenges an American might have managing a group of Japanese employees.