Monozukuri

n.
I learned a new term from Business Week: monozukuri—the Japanese tradition of “making things.”  This was noted in reference to a recent paradigm shift by Japanese companies to move manufacturing overseas to the likes of China, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam, and the U.S. and then "reverse import" the products for purchase Japanese consumers.  There is a very good article from Japan Intercultural Consulting on the origin and nuanced meaning of monozukuri.  Apparently the U.S. counterpart would be something like American craftsmanship.  Monozukuri embodies a long held Shintoist respect for the materials of manufacturing, the actual use of monozukuri as a term began around 1998 so the naming of the tradition is fairly recent.

This culture of personal and local production extends beyond manufacturing.  A testament to this is the refined idiosyncratic styles of Japanese craftsmanship ranging from gardening, pottery, basket weaving, flower arranging, poetry, tea ceremonies, even the childhood pastime of dirt polishing (dorodango).

Another interesting feature realized is how monozukuri is a definition unto itself.  The term monozukuri was "manufactured" locally, written completely in hiragana and native to Japan.  The monozukuri set includes {monozukuri}.