Wabi-Sabi as a Way of Life in the Japanese Employment System

Abstract

Wabi-sabi is a Japanese concept traditionally described as a type of beauty that conveys the philosophical values of imperfection, incompleteness, and impermanence. Going beyond the traditional interpretation of the concept, this chapter attempts to discover wabi-sabi as a way of life in Japanese corporate settings. This chapter first revisits the concept of wabi-sabi and the system of lifetime employment, positioning them as intrinsically linked systems. To contextualize employment practice, it examines the tool of a job description and the system of job rotation as attributes of employment practice. The findings reveal the existence of wabi-sabi as a way of life in corporate settings, demonstrate the relative nature of the wabi-sabi values, and show the duality of positive and negative attributes. The grounded findings exhibit the shared features with the traditional interpretation of wabi-sabi based on the same philosophical values. The shared features suggest that the concept of wabi-sabi can be used for relevant research beyond the fine arts.