Around 25 years ago it was fashionable to portray Japan's economic system as an alternative to Anglo-Saxon capitalism. Japan's success, it was said, was based on its unique business models, its state-guided capitalism — and on the Confucian values it had inherited from China.
So for the leading Chinese philosopher Tu Weiming, Confucian values such as filial piety, loyalty, deference to age and authority, educational excellence and social harmony and a Confucian-like guidance of economic development by elite bureaucrats also underlay Japan's phenomenal postwar growth.
This story of Confucian inspirations does ring true, in spite of the arguments of scholars like Chalmers Johnson who downplay such "cultural" influences. But there are historical twists and some unpleasant revelations in the wake of 3/11 which complicate this story when we think about it more deeply.