Japanese work culture = very long hours, no vacation, no questioning authority. Beautiful country, very nice people, but all work and no play is not a winning strategy.
“heated toilets that will hide your sounds, clean your nether parts and sometimes talk, even sing to you”
I would trade the Facebook for one of those cool toilets.
The Japanese birth rate dropped, due to its emphasis on work to rebuild the country and then their social safety net made it too expensive to have children.
From what I understand, from people who understand Japan. It isn’t so much that they do as much work at the office that should be done in their workday. There is a lot of time at the office simply being wasted, because they have to impress the boss by being there all the time. They don’t necessarily do more work than the average American office worker.
Was Japan ever innovative? I thought they just improved on what we invented.
I have a Japanese made digital clock, it is 38 years old. I started noticing other electronics we purchased that have lasted were Japanese made. We should say goodbye to Chinese crap
Once it's not worth it, they move on, exposing the false tiger.
Japanese products have great core technology but where they lack is the “user experience” (UX) and the human/machine interface. It’s a common theme running through a lot of Japanese designed products..whether it’s a website, cameras, consumer electronics or anything — the user interface ranges from poor to horrible. The Japanese don’t think it’s worth putting in time, effort and money to improving the user experience.
Everything everyone has said, and their QE for decades might be part of the answer too.
On the other hand, given how China and others are using new tech, being behind the times doesn’t sound that bad.
Sadly, Michaelsoft Binbows was shut down.
Rapidly aging demographic profile. You don’t change payment systems, etc. , on old people. Familiarity is their friend.
So the question is: If you are correct (and "all work / no play" leads to bad results), why did their model function so well for 50 years, and why did it stop functioning so well?
That is the real question.
Regards,
When I was in college a gazillion years ago, I had job a retailer hawking a Japanese-manufactured video game console and games. I remember getting into a conversation with an older lady customer (she was probably like 40, but seemed ancient to me in those days) who turned out to be fellow conservative. At one point, she said, “It disgusts me to buy my kids all this electronic junk from the Japanese. My father fought them in the war. It’s a shame that a company like Apple Computer can’t make the stuff the kids want.”
That conversation always stuck with me, particularly when Apple started succeeding in such a big way.
<<<...and batches of developer talent are hired from overseas.>>>
Don’t do it, Japan.
Elon Musk tweet on falling birthrate in Japan sparks debate:
I worked for a very large Japanese company for over 5 years. Couldn’t deal with their cultural crap, so left them to work for an even larger Japanese company. Cultural crap and work ethics were worse there. 12 hour shifts, 6 - 7 days a week, no sitting down allowed, and hands in pockets were a sign of laziness. lights on walls tracked how fast you walk. More cameras than a casino recording every move throughout the plant, monitored by officials and used to fire workers.
No thank you ! Quit them after 5 years and will NEVER work for a Jap company again!
Bfl
I have to think that some of this is at least partly responsible for some of the very weird sexual proclivities of Japanese men (e.g., marrying avatars/robots, odd fetishes, etc.)
I do work for a large Japanese company and they are very resistant to replace any process. It is a world where on tiny improvements to one thing at a time are allowed. When big changes happen they so bend over to make it mimic existing processes advantages are minimized.
The article hits the mark. The Japanese system was designed in the 1950s and 60s to thrive and dominate in the 1980s — but the world moved on, while Japan ossified. Nevertheless, Japanese society remains capable of rapid, radical, reformist changes from above that could revitalize its economy and culture. It remains to be seen though if the necessary leadership and ideas will emerge.
I’ll tell you how. “Tentacle Porn”. ‘Nuff said.
On the Brink: The Inside Story of Fukushima Daiichi by Ryūshō Kadota.