Japanolatry

English

Etymology

Blend of Japan +‎ idolatry

Noun

Japanolatry (uncountable)

1. An admiration for Japan or items that reflect Japanese culture.
   • 1895, The Athenaeum, page 249:

     THESE three books, each in its own manner and degree, are excellent examples of the Japanolatry characteristic of this rococo age.

   • 1895, Asian Review, page 218:

     Mr . Norman is not free from the prevalent Japanolatry . At p. 360 (e.g) Japan did not provoke the late war; at p. 376 she is dubbed a "first class military power"; and at p. 377, one of her buglers blows, apparently for a long time (with a bullet in his chest), till breath fails — which anyone can tell would be an immediate result.

   • 1912, GC & HTJ. - Volumes 51-52, page 330:

     The beauty of a Japanese garden is a step to take, and it is a real step, quite as far apart from the vulgar and uneducated Japanolatry of some years since as from the cold contempt into which more recent taste seems to be reacting.

   • 1967, Geoffrey Bownas, From Japanology to Japanese Studies:

     Japanolatry in the West coincided with victory in the Sino-Japanese War, and, ten years later, the defeat of Russia.

   • 1981, Pearl Violette Metzelthin, Ruth Reichl, Gourmet - Volume 41, Issues 1-6:

     For twenty years his taste confined itself to the fashionable families that married well with Louis XV furniture and to the Japanese wares then in vogue as a result of the decorative rage in France known as Japanolatry.

2. (more specifically) A belief in the superiority of Japanese business practices and management style.
   • 1994, Karel Williams, Cars: Analysis, History, Cases, page 216:

     Finally, the complex and multi-dimensional character of any performance gap can be explored further by introducing cash flow per vehicle produced as a third performance measure; this series shows the limits of Japanolatry because, on this measure, average car companies in Japan as well as America have real problems.

   • 2013, Ronald Dore, Taking Japan Seriously: A Confucian Perspective on Leading Economic Issues:

     Let me take an example from a recent American bestseller, which is intended, it seems clear, as a counterblast to all the Japanolatry now running riot through American business schools.

   • 2016, Anthony J. Berry, Jane Broadbent, David T. Otley, Management Control: Theories, Issues and Practices, page 222:

     We have attempted to confront each of these broader issues elsewhere, in work which questions the exaggerated and uncritical Japanolatry of much Western social science (Williams et al., 1991, 1992).