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According to the article ["On Being Late to Work in Japan |
遅出"](http://thisjapaneselife.org/2011/03/09/japan-work-ethic/) (linked from
[this post](https://workplace.stackexchange.com/a/28274/10298) at The
Workplace):

> The word for participation – _kameseru_ – has a special significance which
> also explains why Japanese bureaucracy is so overwhelming...

As far as I know, カメセル is not a Japanese word, and it doesn't look like any
variations on the vowels (カーメセル or カメーセル or カメセール or カメセルー or some combination
thereof) or gemination (カメッセル) give you anything useful either. Nor can I
think of any near-homophones (コメセル? カメスル?) that mean anything related to
"participation".

What word might the article have meant?
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What is a word for "participation" that resembles "kameseru"?
The closest word to _kameseru_ which means "participation" is, maybe 噛【か】ませる?

[噛む](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/jn2/45040/m0u/) sometimes means "get
(partially) involved", often (but not necessarily) referring to bad/illegal
things. My boss may say something like this:

> やれる仕事はないかもしれないけどさ、とりあえずA君もこのプロジェクトに噛ませといてよ。  
>  Though I doubt he has something to do, let A join this project for now,
> too.

Well, this expression is natural, but uncommon. The general idea of
"everyone's (full) participation" is usually not described by this word. I may
be missing something.
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I think it might refer to [加盟]{かめい}する, although in the context of leaving
early or not from work, 参加する would have been a much better fit.

Still, my guess is the author just asked someone "How do you say
_participation_ in Japanese?" and someone came up with 加盟する.
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It appears as if we might be dealing with a garbled 任【まか】せる, 'to entrust'.

Basically, the word _kameseru_ is only found in two contexts: The article in
question and excerpts plagiarized from it; and questions asking what the word
_kameseru_ means such as a similar discussion on
[reddit](http://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/24wwqf/what_is_kameseru/).
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I'm the author of that post, the 'insufferable self-absorbed hipster.'

It was a typo - I'd meant 'kamei-suru' but was pretty bad at Japanese when I
first arrived (and still am not very good, but continue to learn and practice
even after having left the country). It's this:

加盟 + する

And basically refers to 'becoming a part of the group' by engaging and
participating in the group's activities. I think in hindsight it may have a
much more limited function.
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The most common Japanese word for “participation” will be 参加（さんか）する、like
パーティ（組合、会議、ゲーム）に参加する- participate / join in a party (union, meeting, game).

加盟(かめい）is a big word to mean “joining,” that’s applied to big entities e.g.
organizations and countries, like EU（三国間協定、連合）に加盟する- participate in Europe
Union (three-country treaty, National Labor Union League).

The word, 加盟 that reads “kamei” have nothing to do with a late-coming to work.

There is no word that reads and being vocalized as “kameseru” in Japanese
language.
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