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Intermediate Japanese - Free Online Course
DATSU-SARA
脱サラ
to leave the salaried worker's life
The Japanese economy is best known for its towering megacorporations like Toyota and Sony. Japan is a nation of dedicated corporate employees—not risk-taking entrepreneurs. Most young people aspire to work for one of the country’s prestigious manufacturers, banks, trading companies, or government ministries. A much smaller percentage dream of self-employment. In this regard, Japan is very different from the United States---where “being one’s own boss” is a very common aspiration.
An Historical Emphasis on Groups and Large Institutions
This difference springs from several factors. First of all, Japan is a group-oriented society, where identity is found through membership and association rather than individualism. During Japan’s long feudal era, individualism could be a dangerous trait. Safety was found by allying oneself with the right daimyo, or warlord. This realization is reflected in the proverb, Yoraba taiju no kage. / 寄らば大樹の陰 (“Seek shelter in the shade of a big tree.”)
In addition, the Japanese government has historically favored large-scale enterprises over scrappy entrepreneurial ventures. During the Meiji Era (1868-1912), government planners determined that Japan could quickly catch up to the West if it cultivated heavy industries. Since heavy industry requires large economies of scale, laws and policies were designed to the advantage of large companies.
In the postwar era, government planners again put their faith in heavy industry, and channeled raw materials, cheap capital, and tax advantages to large corporations. These policies certainly accomplished their short-term objectives. The Japanese Miracle of the immediate postwar decades was driven by the country’s corporate giants.
Collective Interests vs. Individual Initiative
Even relatively large companies occasionally run afoul of the government’s focus on the largest possible economies of scale. In the early 1970s, a motorcycle manufacturer called Honda Motor Company wanted to begin building automobiles. Government planners, however, actively discouraged the idea. They did not want this upstart to compete with Japan’s two established automakers, Toyota and Nissan. Honda’s founder and CEO, Soichiro Honda, defied the government and began manufacturing cars anyway. His first car, the Civic, became one of the best-selling cars in the world following the 1973 world oil crisis.
From the individual perspective, the strategy of “seeking shelter in the shade of a big tree” arguably made sense during the postwar years. Large companies promised workers lifetime employment, and limited but reliable incomes. With few exceptions, therefore, Japanese “salarymen” happily worked fifty or sixty hours per week at large companies.
A New Economy Brings New Rules
In the 1990s, Japan’s so-called “Bubble Economy” burst, and many employers were forced to lay off workers. Although the companies often had no choice, this represented a violation of the social contract established after World War II, when guaranteed lifetime employment was the norm.
In addition, Japan—like Western Europe and the United States—is now entering the post-industrial age. As Japanese manufacturers channel more production work to low-wage countries like China, Vietnam, and Mexico, domestic jobs with household name companies have become scarcer and less reliable. In 2006, a job with Nissan or Hitachi doesn’t mean what it did in 1966 or 1986.
These factors have combined to create a late-blooming—but growing—interest in entrepreneurship in Japan. The word datsu-sara is comprised of two components. Datsu / 脱 is a kanji which means “to remove, to take off.” Sara / サラis an abbreviation of the Japanese word for “salaryman”—sarariiman / サラリーマン. The literal translation of datsu-sara is “to leave the salaried life.” In practice, datsu-sara refers to taking the bold step of leaving the corporate nest for independent entrepreneurship.
In recent years, there has been a proliferation of books that tell Japanese employees how they can start their own businesses—small farms, noodle shops, plumbing contractors, etc. Numerous popular websites about datsu-sara have appeared on the internet; and several “datsu-sara gurus” have made small fortunes advising unhappy salaried workers about the details of starting a business.
It is important to note that datsu-sara is a still very much a minority movement in Japan. Although the ranks of entrepreneurs are growing, most Japanese still opt for “the shelter of the big tree.”