Conflict in Japanese Culture

Travis Howell

The world we live in today is a diverse collection of different countries and cultures, all of which have different values, beliefs, and customs. One thing all of these countries and cultures have in common is that they all experience conflict in some form or another. However, where they tend to differ is the way in which they handle that conflict. Some of these cultures handle conflict in constructive ways that benefit the greater good. Some resort to extreme means of conflict management to further personal agendas. Others simply avoid the issues they encounter in order to save face.

One country that is usually inclined to avoid conflict is Japan. In Personal Identity in Japan Kazumi Sugimura and Shinichi Mizokami explain that the Japanese culture is a collectivist society, where “individual and group goals are often interdependent with one another” (124). This means that when conflict arises, the Japanese must consider the needs and well being of others in addition to their own and avoid compromising the societal balance. In Working Through Conflict: Strategies for Relationships, Groups, and Organizations Folger, Poole and Stutman explain that the Japanese people usually prefer “[conflict management] styles high in cooperativeness and concern for others over competition” (132). Because of this, the Japanese culture tends to rely on avoiding and accommodating styles of conflict management in order to avoid situations that could potentially be detrimental to the community as a whole, even at the expense of personal interests. According to Satomi Nakatsugawa and Jiro Takai in their article Keeping Conflicts Latent, the Japanese people usually accomplish this style of conflict management by keeping potential conflicts to themselves at the salient stage, rather than bring them to the attention of others (44). 

There has often been much debate on the positives and negative impacts of such a conflict management strategy. On one hand of the debate, some argue that an avoidance conflict management strategy may serve to “maintain a harmonious relationship, especially when the relationship is deemed important enough to justify making self-sacrifices” (44). On the other hand, many argue that an avoidance conflict management strategy is a “lose-lose strategy” and is seen as the most ineffective strategy one can use because issues never truly get resolved (43). Regardless of the disagreement between the two sides of this debate, it seems that Japanese culture has found a way to make an avoidance style of conflict management work for them and their culture.

Works Cited

Folger, Joseph P., Marshall Scott Poole, and Randall K. Stutman. Working through Conflict: Strategies For Relationships, Groups, and Organizations. New York: Longman, 1997. Print.

Satomi, Nakatsugawa, and Takai Jiro. "Keeping Conflicts Latent: "Salient" Versus "Non-Salient" Interpersonal Conflict Management Strategies Of Japanese." Intercultural Communication Studies 22.3 (2013): 43-60. Communication Source. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.

Sugimura, Kazumi1, and Shinichi2 Mizokami. "Personal Identity In Japan." New Directions For Child & Adolescent Development 2012.138 (2012): 123-143. Education Source. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.