Sony Corp.'s curt dismissal of a foreigner's advice last week didn't shock Michael Woodford, the former chief executive officer of Olympus Corp.

"The club, meaning corporate Japan, will do everything it can to mask and hide what's wrong. That's what's most important," said Woodford, a Briton who was fired in late 2011 after he exposed a $1.7 billion accounting fraud in his own company.

Woodford's tale is worth revisiting as Sony rebuffs a proposal from hedge-fund investor Daniel Loeb for the company to sell off its entertainment divisions and focus on hardware. Far from being rewarded for trying to clean up the 93-year-old Olympus, Woodford was ousted by his board, which criticized him for being culturally insensitive. Clearly the non-Japanese CEO didn't understand the clubby, docile ways of Japan Inc.