JR West, the company whose train crashed on April 25th killed over 100 people, has been rocked by a series of revelations suggesting a cold-hearted corporate culture that seems to regard its customers like a pile of expendable meat.

First, it was revealed that 43 workers of JR West participated in an office bowling party the same day that the deadly accident occurred. Following the bowling, a smaller group went out for drinking and eating, which means that people were still dying inside the wrecked train as the JR West workers wined and dined.

Residents were furious to hear of the workers’ actions.
“I was shocked,” said one 28-year-old man who was forced to move out of his apartment after the derailed train smashed into it. “In the middle of that huge accident, there were actually people who went bowling while knowing about the accident. I can’t believe it. What would the bereaved families of victims think if they heard about this?”

Next we found out that two JR West employees were on the ill-fated train. When one of them called in to the company to report what had happened, he was ordered to leave the scene and report for work. The other employee did not call in, but both walked away from the scene without helping, as the injured and dying were being pulled from the wreck by passersby. Both of the men put in a normal day of work.

All of this inspires Kjeld Duits to ask if Japan has forgotten basic human values.

It is clear now that the 23-year-old driver of the train drove at more than 100 kilometers an hour in a curve that had a clearly displayed limit of 70 kilometers per hour. He broke his company’s strict tight time schedule, and to make up for that he also appears to have broken the company’s speed limit. He clearly didn’t ask himself if what he was doing was the “right thing” to do.

A recent study revealed that more than 40% of new recruits in Japan would commit illegal acts if they felt it would help the company or if they were asked to do so by the company. Especially young people unquestioningly follow the company’s “manual”, even when it doesn’t make sense, or when a customer requests a simple change.

Anyone who has lived in Japan for any length of time will easily recognize the “manual” mindset of Japanese workers. Following the “manual” frees one from the need to think. Not thinking frees one from the need to accept responsibility. And there are times when I think avoiding responsibility is the overriding concern in Japanese business.