How Ethnography Infiltrated the Japanese Business Scene: A Case Study

Abstract

This paper explores how ethnography, the chief methodology of social/cultural anthropology, was introduced to, and spread through, the Japanese business scene in the decade following 2000. The way ethnography was introduced to the business community is rather convoluted and far from straightforward. (1) The explanations of ex-managers of companies that were first to adopt ethnography, described as "early adopters", were really only focused on business issues. (2) Researchers value academic networks, and they assert that ethnography entered Japan though endogenous developments in academia. (3) Recognising this trend, the mass media sought other examples from various companies that they then reported on. These were companies that were doing consumer research and work in the field. These companies, described as "followers", did not know the English term "ethnography", but recognised the trend through being reported on and proceeded to employ this in the PR. One could see this as a "feedback loop" between mass media and firms' business affairs. The implication of the discussion here, could also be seen as an example of how business trends are formed and take hold.