That date explained the sea of earnest, eager young faces in the audience,the somber ranks of white-haired executives on the stage, the hugeblue-and-white felt banner on the wall reading "Nippon Denki K.K." (which isto say, Nippon Electronic Corporation, an industrial giant known around theworld as NEC), and the overall aura of great expectations in the air as thecorporate band launched into the familiar opening chords and 1,400 youngpeople in dark blue business suits rose as one to gush forth a spirited andsurprisingly harmonic rendition of a peppy, upbeat song, a song that wouldbe, for the next three or four decades, their song:

"To build a culture of communicationShall be our destin-eeee,Nippon, Nippon, Nippon Den-keee!"

That song, the "Nippon Denki Corporate Anthem," has been changed onlyslightly since 1889, when Alexander Graham Bell provided themoney to start a Japanese counterpart of his Western Electric Company.Today, Western Electric is no more, and the Bell System is history, but NECranks as one of the world's largest and richest makers of electric andelectronic equipment, a company with the wealth and stature of an IBM or aMicrosoft. To start work there -- or, rather, "to become a member of theNippon Denki family," as the company's president, Tadahiro Sekimoto, put itin his speech that April 1 -- is an important and thrilling moment in thelife of any Japanese person. That's why I saw all those eager young facesas I sat in the back of the ridiculously rococo Gold Ballroom at theTanagawa Prince Hotel in Tokyo on the morning of April 1.

At NEC and hundreds of other companies all over Japan, April 1 is the dayfor the Nyu-Sha-Shiki, or Entering-the-Company Ceremony. About onemillion new graduates -- kids who have finished high school or college abouta month before this big day -- start their working careers on April 1 everyyear. For NEC and most other big companies, it is the only day all yearthey will take in new employees. You can't just open the door on any oldday and take in workers. Hiring somebody -- inviting a person to sharemembership in the corporate group -- is an important moment, not just for thecompany and the new worker, but for the society as a whole. Such thingshave to be done right, with ritual and ceremony that befit a definingmoment. Confucius says in the first book of the Analects that jointobservance of established rituals by all members of a group is crucial tobuilding the feeling of harmonious relations that is required for the groupto succeed. That applies whether it's the Nyu-Sha-Shiki at a Japanesecompany or the company picnic or the whole family gathering forThanksgiving dinner in the United States. "Of all the things brought aboutby ritual," it says in the Analects, "harmony is the most valuable."

There was no shortfall of ritual at NEC. A few weeks before the ceremonystarted, each new employee had received a letter addressed "Dear New Memberof the Company." It had directed them to wear a dark gray or blue businesssuit and to be in their seats -- assigned seats, of course -- thirty-five minutesbefore the ceremony. Most of the new "members" took these admonitionsseriously, and just about all of the 1,400 new hires for NEC's Tokyo-areaplants and offices were on hand in the Gold Ballroom at 8:25 a.m., whenroll was taken. Precise instructions were provided for the morning's events: when to stand, how tobow, when to applaud, etc. The group was ordered not to smoke, a fairlypainful command for Japanese young people. The recruits then practicedsinging "Nippon Denki Corporate Anthem" so there would be no errors duringthe actual ceremony.

The Nyu-Sha-Shiki began at precisely 9:00 a.m., and there was aperceptible ripple of pride, mixed with a little embarrassment, as thefirst of the white-haired corporate elders on the stage stepped to themicrophone and wished a good morning to "my fellow company members." Therefollowed a formal address from President Sekimoto, whose speech was nicelycrystallized in its title: "Let's Build the Richness of Our Hearts ThroughOur Jobs." Then there were pep talks from a couple of board members, thehead of the personnel section, and other in-house dignitaries. Then eachnew member was instructed to open the packet under his or her seat, whereineach employee found business cards (bearing the title "NECcorporate-member-in-training") and an NEC corporate lapel badge, exactlylike the ones worn by the big shots on the stage. Next, one young womanfrom the entering class came forward as representative for all her peers torecite the New Company Members' Pledge, a short but highminded declarationthat "we will use all our strength and skill to improve daily life for allthe world's people through electronics and communications." After that,President Sekimoto led the entire room in the recitation of the NECcorporate oath.

All the songs, speeches, and pledges marked a mutual oath of loyalty. Theemployees agreed, in essence, to be good corporate members -- in short, to dowhat the company orders -- and the company agreed to watch out for theemployees in good times and bad, virtually guaranteeing that these workerswill never face a layoff and will not be fired for anything short ofoutright crime. These are Confucian loyalties, of course, and they runboth ways.

All the NEC recruits who joined the company that day would be paid about$1,500 per month, with yearly increases thereafter; the amount would bebased strictly on seniority for at least the next ten years. That way, allthe members of that day's starting class would remain on an equal basis.In addition to the pay, they would get housing -- a single room with kitchen in a corporate dormitory cost $150 permonth, about 90 percent less than market rent. They would get NECcorporate health insurance, with many routine medical services provided atthe NEC health center. They would all wear their NEC lapel pins, vacationat NEC resorts, play on NEC sports teams, and join the NEC company union.

They would all have accounts at Sumitomo Bank, because NEC is a member ofthe Sumitomo keiretsu, or corporate grouping; in fact, a pass book for anaccount that had already been opened in each new member's name at Sumitomowas included in that packet under the seat. In short, what happened in theGold Ballroom that April 1 was that each of these people got a new job,but they got something more than that in the bargain.

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