1st Edition
Diversity and Inclusion in Japan Issues in Business and Higher Education
Alcantara, Shinohara, and their contributors evaluate the current state of diversity and inclusion (D&I) within business and higher education in Japan, and the importance of D&I to the growth of Japan’s economy and the enrichment of its society.
Japan is widely understood to be a homogenous and patriarchal society, and while this is changing and was never wholly accurate, it certainly faces challenges in becoming more diverse and inclusive, particularly in its business and higher educational cultures. Grounded in research and offering best practices, the chapters in this book analyze critical issues relating to D&I in Japan at the individual, organizational, and industry levels. They present both a longitudinal analysis of the evolution and performance outcomes of D&I policies in Japanese corporations across industries, and rich studies of different underrepresented groups in Japan. These groups include immigrants, women, and people with disabilities. The contributors prescribe policies for promoting D&I in higher education, within businesses and at the governmental level.
This book is an essential contribution to D&I discourse in the Japanese context that will be of great value to scholars of Japanese society and business, and an important extended case study for those looking at D&I more widely.
CC BY NC ND
1. Introduction: Enriching our discourse on diversity and inclusion in Japan Lailani Alcantara and Yoshiki Shinohara Part I. Understanding and promoting diversity and inclusion in business 2. The transition of diversity and inclusion policies and corporate behavior in Japan Yoshiki Shinohara and Lailani Alcantara 3. Diversity and inclusion orientation in Japanese corporations: Does industry make a difference? Lailani Alcantara and Yoshiki Shinohara 4. The influence of workforce diversity on the financial performance of Japanese companies Yoshiki Shinohara and Lailani Alcantara 5. Conforming while being distinct: The impact of social identity on perceived inclusion and business opportunity identification of Vietnamese entrepreneurs in Japan Huong Thi Tang and Lailani Alcantara 6. Diversity, inclusion, and disability in Japan: The usefulness of reasonable accommodation Nagase Osamu Part II. Issues and cases of diversity and inclusion in higher education 7. Reasonable accommodation and information accessibility for students with disabilities in Japanese higher education Yoshimi Matsuzaki and Kuniomi Shibata 8. Inclusive policy making through the development of an open access database for research and education Yukiko Ito and Mie Morikawa 9. Promoting diversity and inclusion in higher education: Insights from the Japanese women leaders of Tsuda College Yuko Takahashi 10. Promoting diversity and inclusion in higher education: The case of Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University Toshitsugu Otake Part III. Commentary 11. Diversity and Inclusion: Historical Perspectives on Their Significance and Necessity in Japan Haruaki Deguchi
Biography
Lailani Alcantara is a professor at the School of Management of Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University. She received her Ph.D. in Management from the University of Tsukuba as a Japanese government scholar. She has published journal articles and cases in the areas of international management and organization science and earned professional certificates in management and leadership from AACSB, Harvard University, and Cornell University. Her research has appeared in the Journal of International Management, Long Range Planning, and Asian Business & Management, among others. She is the founding director of the Center for Inclusive Leadership at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, https://en.apu.ac.jp/cil/.
Yoshiki Shinohara is an associate professor at the School of Management of Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University. He is also the director of the Center for Inclusive Leadership (CIL). His research focuses on corporate sustainability, corporate social performance, financial performance, diversity, and inclusion in organizations. He is the president of Intellectual Partners Ltd. and engages in consulting. He holds a Ph.D. in Business and Commerce from Keio University.
