In North America, we are largely driven by monetary benefits. Everything is done to optimize profits, that eventually translates to a fatter paycheque for the CEO. That thinking trickles down. There’s only one hard rule, don’t break any laws. Everything else is game.
At the very bottom, you generally have people that have been marginalized. The society has written them off. They work many jobs to merely survive. I’ll save more on that for another day.
In comparison, Japanese society is driven by honour. Executives are less likely to take decisions solely for generating demand, through innovative marketing or trickery. People work their entire lives for the same company - that looks after them. The proverbial “salaryman”.
This kind of motivation creates more clarity on the end goal/purpose, which leads to more innovation. When you’re not chasing the golden goose and are driven by honour/respect, you’re more likely to be focused on the customer and what’s truly in their best interest. Some NA companies do this too - but it’s not a trait we particularly value above all else and is far far from being the norm.
The genuine concern for another being, even in business, is embedded in Japanese culture. Whether it’s being on time, or masking when you’re sick to protect others around you. Truly fascinating and admirable (though not without trad-offs).
I found the part about companies looking after the employee really interesting.
Having worked entirely in Europe, I've found most managers screwing over subordinates. I've encountered plenty of bully managers, never one who seemed to genuinely care.
https://www.kalzumeus.com/2014/11/07/doing-business-in-japan...
Not that there isn't some general truth to what they're saying, but it's definitely the rose-tinted glasses 'how it should work' view of Japanese corporate culture.
I agree, but those are interesting examples because they're not unique to Japanese culture. Fax machines common enough in the US for them to be continue to be useful, and I see more and more people using flip phones as time goes by.
Excluding totalitarian communist monarchies, the Japanese are, human-capital adjusted, about the least productive people on earth. So they are not actually "focusing on the problem".
> Has that prevented them from advancing as a society? No.
The US pumped out a number of popular and populist movies and books in the 80ies and 90ies that betray a real fear of being overtaken by Japan. The notion seems completely ridiculous nowadays, and a glance of the GDP development of both countries over the last four decades will immediately make clear why.
> Has that prevented new innovations? Certainly not.
So what important innovations have come out of Japan in the last 40 years?
Japan has a lot of admirable qualities, but a pragmatic focus on productivity and innovation is not one of them.
https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?QueryId=107229
Human Capital (let's take Pisa scores as a proxy):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programme_for_International_St...
GDP growth, JPN vs US
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/national-gdp-constant-usd...
(Worth pointing out that the US population has grown by ~1/3 whilst Japan has remained about constant, so per capita the effect is not as pronounced)
Great example: https://youtu.be/Km6bFBSVty4?t=74
https://www.pastposters.com/details.php?prodId=4514 https://filmandfurniture.com/2014/09/blade-runner-design-whi...
Books: Necromancer etc.
Good compilation:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/JapanTakesOverTh...
Stepping back... having higher "productivity" or "GDP growth" does not make a cut-and-dry "winner". Everything is a trade-off.
OK, so what's the upside to working almost twice as long to achieve the same output as an American? Doesn't seem to be happiness, because Japan seems to score a good deal lower there as well, and that's after GDP adjustment:
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/gdp-vs-happiness?country=...
As I said, I'm aware of plenty of metrics that Japan does significantly better than the US on, but I'd like to see one that's linked to low productivity and low growth.
Has that prevented them from advancing as a society? No. Has that prevented new innovations? Certainly not. This has likely prevented a lot of devices from being decommissioned and adding to our recycling woes and landfill. For contrast, a typical North American company refreshes all computers every 3 years. Imagine that.
I am sure that where it matters, companies are using newer tooling, but where the benefits are minuscule - there’s no pressure to change. Japanese people can take comfort in knowing their favourite hardware will be supported for a very long time.