Japan, land of dedication, hard work and perfection, has risen from the ashes to the achievements. The bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki could not make this land keep itself away from industrial growth. The very industrious people of Japan could differ themselves from any part of the world in their achievements and accomplishments. Let us understand the different way of thinking and moving about that makes a full sense to the whole world. The Japanese HR Practices stand testimony to this.

Until the 1990s, post-war Japan has been one of the fastest growing economies in the world attracting considerable research on its success. The unique "typically Japanese" practices in production, finance, inter-firm and intra-firm relations, human resource management and industrial relations have enabled Japan to catch up with the west during the post war period.

These practices were profound especially in the human resource management and industrial relations which had three main pillars—life time employment, seniority-based wages and enterprise unions. These practices enabled the firms to keep the labor cost and hence the product cost thereby attracting exports especially when Japan was a "catching up" economy.

In spite of drawing international attention, the efficiency of these practices has been challenged by the "bubble burst" of the 1990s. Japan, which once recorded an average Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 7% during the period 1947-1991 and recorded a meager 0.6% in 1992-1995.

HRM Review Magazine, HR Practices, Human Resource Management, Life Time Employment, Gross Domestic Product, GDP, Japanese Firms, Manufacturing Sectors, Labor Movement, Decision-making Process, Japanese HR Practices, Human Resource Policies, Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, MHLW, Health Insurance.