It is axiomatic that any group in Japan -- doctors, dentists or candlestick makers -- will want to turn itself into a tightly bound community, closed off from the outside world. It will be concerned almost entirely with its own survival and prosperity.

Sometimes this can be for the good. It helps preserve morale and loyalty. In the enterprise, it is often the key to superior productivity. But as we see with the Japanese police or military, for example, it can also become an excuse to cover up serious incompetence and wrongdoing.

To get round these problems, many groups now try to give the appearance of openness by having outsiders appointed to watch-dog bodies or advisory committees. But usually it is the people who are supposed to be watched over who select the watch dogs and who get to write the final reports. The watch dogs easily degenerate into lap dogs, as we now discover with the Public Safety Commission, which was supposed to be watching over Japan's police forces.