Almost nothing in this aritcle matches the reality of my experience in Japan. Horizontal culture? In in my experience. Everything you do requires approval in triplicate. Do the wrong thing at a company and you'll get screamed at by the person who feels their job is under threat from you trying to step out of your precribed role. There's absolutely no such thing as "generalist employees" at any Japanese company I know of. I have no idea where the author got this idea.