The economy of Japan is the second largest in the world, after the United States at around $5 trillion USD in terms of nominal GDP and third after the United States and China when adjusted for purchasing power parity. The workers of Japan rank 18th in the world in GDP per hour worked as of 2006. The Big Mac Index shows that the wages in Tokyo are the highest among principal cities in the world. In 2008, due to the global financial crisis, the economy of Japan was strongly hit and shrank 0.7% and is expected to shrink some 5% in 2009.

Nemawashi in Japanese culture is an informal process of quietly laying the foundation for some proposed change or project, by talking to the people concerned, gathering support and feedback, and so forth. It is considered an important element in any major change, before any formal steps are taken, and successful nemawashi enables changes to be carried out with the consent of all sides.

Japanese companies are known for management methods such as "The Toyota Way". Kaizen (Japanese for "improvement") is a Japanese philosophy that focuses on continuous improvement throughout all aspects of life. When applied to the workplace, Kaizen activities continually improve all functions of a business, from manufacturing to management and from the CEO to the assembly line workers. By improving standardized activities and processes, Kaizen aims to eliminate waste. Kaizen was first implemented in several Japanese businesses during the country's recovery after World War II, including Toyota, and has since spread to businesses throughout the world.

The Nenko System or Nenko Joretsu as it is called in Japan, is the Japanese system of promoting an employee in order of his or her proximity to retirement. The advantage of the system is that it allows older employees to achieve a higher salary level before retirement and that it usually brings more experience to the executive ranks. The disadvantage of the system is that it does not allow new talent to be merged with the experience and those with specialized skills cannot be promoted to the already crowded executive ranks. It also does not guarantee or even attempt to bring the "right person for the right job".

Relationships between government bureaucrats and companies are often cozy. Amakudari ("descent from heaven") is the institutionalised practice where Japanese senior bureaucrats retire to high-profile positions in the private and public sectors. The practice is increasingly viewed as corrupt and a drag on unfastening the ties between private sector and state which prevent economic and political reforms. /wikipedia.org/

Answer the questions:

1. How does Nemawshi lay the basis for future change?

2. Why is one of the management method called "The Toyota Way"?

3. What is positive and negative in the Nenko System?

4. What is specific in Amakudari?