What kaizen literally means (改善)

Kaizen (改善) means improvement: 改, change, and 善, good, so a change for the better. In English, kaizen is the name of a business philosophy of small, steady improvements. In Japanese, it’s simply the everyday word for making something better, big or small.

What the kanji say

改 (kai, or aratameru) means to change, reform or correct. On the right, 攵 is a hand holding a stick, a common sign for doing something to an object, and 己 on the left gives the sound. 改める (aratameru) is to change or revise. The kanji can also mean to inspect, which is why the ticket gate at a station is the 改札 (kaisatsu), where tickets are checked.

善 (zen, or yoi) means good in the moral sense: kind, right, virtuous. Its old form, 譱, put a sheep (羊) over two 言, words. In early Chinese writing the sheep often stood for something good or fine, and 言 may have supplied the sound. You’ll find a sheep in 美 (bi), beautiful, too.

善 is the formal, moral “good”. For everyday “good”, Japanese uses 良い (yoi) instead.

Kaizen in Japanese, and in English

In Japanese, 改善 is ordinary vocabulary. Doctors talk about 生活習慣の改善 (seikatsu shuukan no kaizen), improving your lifestyle, companies promise to improve their service, and a patient’s symptoms can improve too: 症状が改善する. It can be one big fix or many small ones.

The idea of kaizen as a philosophy of small, continuous steps comes from management, and it’s most closely linked with Toyota. Masaaki Imai made the word famous in English with his 1986 book Kaizen: The Key to Japan’s Competitive Success, and today it’s a business term in its own right.

So “one small change a day” is the business meaning of kaizen. The Japanese word itself says nothing about size or speed. It just means change, for the good.

How to use it

• 業務の改善が必要です。

  Gyoumu no kaizen ga hitsuyou desu.

  The way we work needs improving.

• 生活習慣を改善したい。

  Seikatsu shuukan o kaizen shitai.

  I want to improve my lifestyle.

• 症状が改善しました。

  Shoujou ga kaizen shimashita.

  The symptoms have improved.

• 改めてご連絡します。

  Aratamete gorenraku shimasu.

  I'll get back to you about it later.

• 善は急げ。

  Zen wa isoge.

  No time like the present. (literally "hurry to do good")

• 改善 is a noun and a する verb: 改善する (kaizen suru), to improve.
• It implies there was a problem. You use it for a process, a habit or a situation that wasn’t working well. For getting better at a skill, Japanese says 上達する (joutatsu suru): 日本語が上達した (nihongo ga joutatsu shita), my Japanese has improved.
• 改めて (aratamete) is a polite workhorse in business Japanese: “again”, “another time”, “formally”.

Words with the same kanji

Remember it

A hand with a stick (攵) knocks something into a new shape (改), and out comes something good (善): 改善.

The kanji in this lesson

Tap Draw it to watch the stroke order. Numbers show where each stroke starts.

Draw it

Draw it

Sources

• Wikipedia: Kaizen
• Wiktionary via Kaikki: 善 (glyph origin)
• Wiktionary via Kaikki: 改 (glyph origin)

Written by the Sumi team with the help of AI, then checked against JMdict and KANJIDIC2. How we write lessons. Spotted a mistake? Email brightsmilesolutionssupport@gmail.com.