In Japan's good old days (ie last year), badmouthing the boss was something done behind the scenes, or not done at all.
In the past few weeks, mudslinging has gone public, with some of Japan's biggest names smearing the reputations of even tycoons and prime ministers.
It's not only gaijin (foreigners) such as ousted Olympus president Michael Woodford who are spilling the beans about the sumo wrestling behind the scenes in corporate Japan.
Hidetoshi Kiyotake, ousted general manager of the Yomiuri Giants, the most famous sports team in Japan, has been lambasting his former boss, Tsuneo Watanabe, a media tycoon described by foreign writers as a "shogun" or "a cross between
Rupert Murdoch and Richard Nixon".
Watanabe, 85, has mounted a public counter-attack, launching a million-dollar defamation suit against Kiyotake, and saying a few choice words of his own about former prime ministers including Junichiro Koizumi and Yukio Hatoyama. (Asia Times)
↧