The concept of lifetime
employment is a striking example of the Japanese habit of developing new, but tradition-based, customs
to suit the needs of the moment and discarding them when they no longer serve a purpose. Although the idea of a promise of permanent
employment strikes foreigners as either an excellent example of social justice or a ludicrous imposition on businesses, it is poorly understood in the West. The paper shows that the idea is of recent origin and was a practical means of facilitating the various surges of industrialization and industrial change in Japan throughout the twentieth century. In Japanese fashion, however, the concept had roots in the past and was developed as a complement to a whole set of Japanese concepts (such as the emphasis on group membership and family) that enabled its rapid rise to the status of a widely accepted facet of the social order. The paper shows, however, that since the downward slide of the nation's economy began in the early 1990s this "custom"--which only applied to a portion of Japanese workers--has come under attack and is gradually being dismantled since it now works counter to the
interests of those who instituted it and to the interests of the nation as a whole.