How honest / dishonest is Japan?

[ozkai]

Originally Posted by Sangetsu

The suicide rate is not very relevant to honesty or dishonesty. The country with the highest suicide rate is Belarus, which is nearly double Japan's rate. Second place belongs to Russia, and the remainder of the top 5 or so can be found in Eastern Europe. Japan rates as #7 on the WHO's national suicide rate list. Of course, this list is missing great many countries. As an interesting fact, the suicide rates in Canada and America are pretty much identical, even though guns are common and legal in America, and that crime in America is supposed to be more common than in Canada.

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Even though..... It certainly qualifies

Suicide in Japan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[TalnSG]

Originally Posted by trunker

actually i would say that dishonesty and corruption in japan as well as other developed countries are more prevalent than they appear, and thus alot more dishonest. ie you have to get pretty high up before you see something as obvious as blatant corruption.

Yes, the more serious the corruption the better it is hidden and at a corporate level, even if you see it, sometimes you are not in a position to prove what you know.

having dealt with japanese companies as a subcontractor in the past, the number of times the issue of kickbacks comes up, no matter how diplomatically put, has only been eclipsed by the arabs i've dealt with. atleast with the arabs, as well as some other developing nation companies, it is openly discussed and not hidden away.

the japanese are honest, however, when the deal is done, and they dont ask for any "extras" unlike some of the more unscrupulous.

There is a side issue to this as well. In some cultures, what is viewed as corruption is standard business procedure in others. Some of what Americans would consider graft and kickbacks in Japan, the Middle-East, and many other countries are customary negotiation tactics. As an outsider, it can be difficult when these cross the boundary between legitimate negotiation and extortion. But make no mistake, what Trunker refers to is a well known problem.