Japan has had a few traditions in business for decades. One is for a company to favor sister companies when rewarding contracts (known as Keiretsu). That practice is illegal in the US. Another is to emphasize teams and the institution as a whole, not individuals. Japan businesses have also traditionally tied compensation to seniority rather than to merit. According to this report by cnet, all of this is changing as Japan is facing stiff competition from foreign businesses. They are adapting more and more western business practices as time goes on.
