[KS] Total denial?

[Dr. John Caruso Jr.]

REPLY sends your message to the whole list
__________________________________________

I agree the term Zaibatsu is in decline although I just read about the
formation of "net-zaibatsu" in the Japanese press . The Japanese can switch
between  "kisha" (clubs),  "kyokai" (associations) and "keiretsu"
(conglomerates) whenever it works best.

One reason for affiliating the evasive behavior of  keiretsu with
Bridgestone is the Japanese take credit for pioneering in consumer
relations, quality control, the Deming Award,  making what the customer
wants, etc.,  not producing tires that separate and kill and maim innocent
victims.

Now the press reports Mitsubishi Motors Corp. has been systematically
concealing consumer complaints filed through sales agents since 1977.  Of
the 88,000 customer complaints received since April 1998, 64,000, or more
than 70 percent, had been hidden from authorities.

I am not surprised Japanese companies have great problems admitting or
atoning for the crimes against the Korean people and other victims of
Imperial Japan. Looks like WWII zaibatsu remain in total denial for their
contemporary sins of omission and commission.

John

----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard C. Miller" <rcmiller at students.wisc.edu>
To: <korean-studies at iic.edu>
Sent: Monday, September 04, 2000 10:18 AM
Subject: Re: Japanese Zaibutsu tactics


> REPLY sends your message to the whole list
> __________________________________________
>
> At 07:13 PM 9/4/00 KST, you wrote:
> >zaibutsu, to my knowledge, does not mean anything. It's zaibatsu.
> >John
>
> Zaibatsu means, roughly, "money clique" (zai= money, wealth; hatsu/batsu=
> clan, group, clique). It refers to a group of corporations that share
> resources, particularly (but not entirely) financial resources.
>
> The term is actually no longer used today, in part because of the
> colonial/wartime connotations, and in part because the business structures
> are different. The preferred term now is "keiretsu," which means "series"
> or "subsidiary."
>
> The New York Times just ran an article on Firestone/Bridgstone, by the
way.
> They claim (I don't remember, myself...) that Firestone got itself in the
> financial trouble that enable its takeover by Bridgestone by (you guessed
> it) selling tires they knew had design flaws that would lead to failure,
> and then covering the whole thing up. This was in the Carter era; era
> responded by proposing new regulations for the tire industry--but those
> regulations were scuppered by Reagan at the request of the US automotive
> industry, which at the time was losing money hand over fist to Japanese
> companies.
>
> So I don't know that you can label the company's current scandal as
> "zaibatsu tactics." Sounds more like everyday predatory capitalism to me.
>
> Richard
> --Richard C. Miller
> --UW School of Music
> --Manado, Indonesia
> --rcmiller at students.wisc.edu
>   http://www.sit.wisc.edu/~rcmiller/
>