The Japanese/American Tech Deficit 787
Why do the Japanese get all the coolest gadgets, while the U.S. is left with the second-tier, less-innovative ones? The San Francisco Chronicle delves into this age-old mystery and provides a few explanations for those of us who don't live near Akihabara.
First things (Score:5, Insightful)
Disposable income...I remember it well. (Score:5, Insightful)
The store manager's wife asked me how I could afford all that, and I told her that I had 100% disposable income. She freaked, and hated me forever for that comment, but it was true! I couldn't afford my own place or even a car, but I could buy all the game cartridges I wanted.
Ummmm..... (Score:2, Insightful)
Grass Is Greener (Score:4, Insightful)
Maybe, just maybe it's because Japanese made those gadgets.
Or maybe it's just a "grass-is-greener" syndrome.
Re:Disposable income...I remember it well. (Score:1, Insightful)
In those days, I suppose the concept of "saving money" hadn't been invented yet..?
Well one obvious reason is infrastructure (Score:4, Insightful)
if we were all packed into rhode island you would see some awesome technology becuase updating the infrastrucutre would take no time at all.
Why? Let me tell you ... (Score:2, Insightful)
With housing costs so high people live with family and have lots of spending money. Money to get this years new "whatever" model.
Wakata?
I didn't bother to read the article. I lived it.
no shit! (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:First things (Score:3, Insightful)
I would accompany all these changes with a dramatic increase in teacher's salaries and benefits. Then competition for jobs would improve performance. Teachers' jobs are secure because there is virtually no competition for them - school districts will take almost anyone they can get.
But it's the school boards and administrations that are the biggest problem. They politicize - in the worst way, the local way - education in a very destructive way. Administration of schools should be run by a very professionalized administration with a strong background in educational theory and practice, not a group of yahoos.
In a nutshell ... (Score:4, Insightful)
1) don't really want them very badly, and
2) don't have the infrastructure to support most of them (see (1)).
The Japanese are largely status-seeking early-adopters, says the article, while most Americans just don't care. Fewer Americans are early adopters, and those of us who are into conspicuous consumption prefer non-technological money wasters, like big houses, Persian rugs, and so on.
I'd say that most Americans I've met resemble those remarks.
There. Now you don't have to waste any time reading the article.
Re:Because they're dorks? (Score:3, Insightful)
It's all a matter of cultural differences, and these include the forces that drive the market in each country.
Fantasy Island (Score:4, Insightful)
Wow! The power of a Plastation *1* with a tiny screen! Be still my heart! Sorry, but small and portable does not automatically equate to "cool" anymore. I feel the same lack of caring I felt when cell phones started having games I played on my Atari 800. TrueEnvy Factor: 0
2. Sharp Zaurus SL-C3000:
Another dumbass tiny computer running a dumber ass OS. Who cares? Why is this cool? TruEnvy Factor: One complimentary BSOD.
3. DoCoMo "Mobile FeliCa" Payment System:
Wow. More ways to spend money. I'm sure retailers like this. Is it that difficult to slide the credit card through the little slot, and then just pay the bills at the end of the month? Have some perspective, folks. People use to have to carry cows, sheep and dughters around with them in order to effect trade. And DoCoMo sounds like a Pokemon creature. TruEnvy Factor: -2
4. The NEC V601N:
TeeVee on my cell phone. Who cares? What sort of deprived life do you have to lead to give a fook about this stuff? TrueEnvy Factor: Undetectable by modern scientific instrumentality.
5. SONY Clie VZ-90:
I bought a PDA once. Within a month I was back to a small Meade paper and pen based scheduling system and never looked back. TruEnvy Factor: Planck's constant.
6. Takara's Dream Factory
New Age hits Japan. I fear for the anime industry. TrueEnvy Factor: Three tenths of a quartz crystal.
7. Sony HMP-A1 Portable Media Player: Wish your iPod could play back movies?
No. Not really.
Sony hopes you do.
Sony would like the PIN numbers to my accounts as well.
Its new HMP-A1 PMP offers 20 gigabytes of MP3 and MPEG-4 playback goodness
*snore*
it even has a video-out jack so you can watch your flicks on a big-screen TV instead of its embedded sharp but tiny 3.5-inch screen.
Thus illustrating its pointlessness. TrueEnvy Factor: One negasphere of nonexistence.
test dummies (Score:5, Insightful)
"Japan's trade surplus with the United States remains astronomically high, at over $6 billion; yet [Japan] keeps its most innovative and exciting widgetry to itself, selling it only to the domestic market."
Neither Japanese manufacturers nor American stores want to take big risks in marketing untested products to a fickle market, but they also depend on competing with their old devices based largely on "newness". So Japanese manufacturers test their devices in Japan, figuring out which are popular with whom, before they send any to the US to be sold for the big revenue.
None of that is going to change any time soon. The only way for Americans to get stuff first, as a test market, is to make it first. Like we do with content: movies, music, fashion; American manufacturers test that stuff here (even when the factories are overseas), then market the winners over there. It's not so much where the factories are, as where are the innovators and marketers, and the test markets where they can afford to fail before going global.
Re:First things (Score:2, Insightful)
But really, the parents are the big one. Kids don't eat right, they don't get any exercise, and they aren't pushed from home to learn. Anything that happens at school is "the teacher's fault", naturally, cause obviously the spoiled brat couldn't be at fault. Of course they can't learn anything - 3/4 of the day is tied up in classroom management, trying to keep all the spoiled, hypoglycemic monsters from killing each other, and the other 1/4 is spent teaching them things they should have learned at home before they were 4 years old.
Re:First things (Score:2, Insightful)
It's more that Americans are much more conservative with our entertainment, and our money. 90% of Americans don't see a NEED for a robot that flashes lights, does your dishes and explodes randomly. I'm sure WE all do, but remember the community we're apart of here. It's all about what America's consumer driven economy can handle - it's not for lack of our ability to create these products, it's a lack of market.
Re:Disposable income...I remember it well. (Score:3, Insightful)
Supporting irradiated beef ??? (Score:5, Insightful)
As soon as someone can how me ONE study showing ANY danger from irradiated food, and we can start comparing it against the well know risks of all the other preservation methods.
It's a pity that most people do not try to think about this, but reject it automatically.
Have fun posting.
Re:First things (Score:5, Insightful)
You're talking about the United States, right? I thought you meant Japan!
Seriously, isn't "learning by rote" the stereotype of Japanese education (with some basis in truth), after all?
Re:First things (Score:4, Insightful)
I agree with your post, and favor removing political influence from school boards. Members of the board should be drawn from lifetime teachers/educators, and isolated from the direct public.
But, consider this...
If we really want to improve our education system, we have to improve our society's views on teachers
(ie, get rid of "You know what they say, those who can do, those who can't teach").
To me, that quote shows one of the most damning things about our education system, teachers aren't respected.
it's the countries sizes stupid (Score:3, Insightful)
No reason to bring the neat toys to the US if there isn't an infrastructure to make them work. Even Europe has a much easier time rolling out very new technologies because of it's smaller size.
Re:Disposable income...I remember it well. (Score:3, Insightful)
If you spend an entire summer saving up $1000, you're gonna be kinda dissapointed you didn't just spend it when a few years later you're making that per week.
Re:First things (Score:1, Insightful)
I am certain that the American educational system has its flaws, as there is always someone bitching about it, but it has nothing to do with driving the technology market.
RTFA, it's about fashion.
I see this happening (althow in a smaller scale apparently) in the US with the iPod, or the cellphone market in Europe.
Apparently the female market is more active in Japan and that tips the scale.
Re:In some respects... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Disposable income...I remember it well. (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent here was kind of critisized for saying he lived with his parents (cause he was spending all of his money on games) and that if he had not been he could have adjusted his priorities and lived on his own.
Now, I'm not an expert on japanese (or any Asian) culture - however, my limited experience with a family that immigrated to the USA from Taiwan showed me one thing that was vastly different than traditional American families - they lived together.
And this isn't a poor immigrant family, they are exceoptionally wealthy and successful. However, having grandma living at home,and adult children living in the house as well wasn't frowned on. The sense of responsibility to family was a bit different than I have seen in other homes.
Maybe they were an anomoly, but the article makes me think that this isn't so.
Not only is real estate more expensive in Japan - but perhaps living at home with Mom and Dad isn't viewed in the same negative "slacker" connotation that it is here. Just like the desire for cooler gadgetry is a cultural thing so too, it would seem, is the accepatability of living with mom/dad even after you are capable of living on your own.
What strikes me about the article is that the Kids aren't helping with the cost of rent/mortgage. Now, I doubt that all adult children who are living with their parents in Japan are stiffing their parents for the bill. But the fact that it was mentioned this way makes me think that it maybe the norm.
I know in my family the level of family responsibility goes both ways. Once I turned 18 - if I spent any time living with my parents (which I did for about 6 months) I paid a fair rent equitable to the cost of a 1 bedroom studio in the area I lived in. Plus I forked over cash for groceries if I ate any.
Maybe I'm just whacked - but the sense of responsibility to family (providing free shelter for adult, money earning, children) and the lack of same by the children seems as important to the gadget craze success in Japan as teenage school girls.
Re:First things (Score:4, Insightful)
Aren't you being just a *little* rose-tinted about the Japanese obsession with technology?
I mean, sure, some of it is educational, but a lot of it is just flashy toys. Nothing necessarily wrong with that, but let's not over-idealise it.
Remember that Slashdot story about giving conversational robots to old people in Japan? That isn't something I find desirable, personally.
And I'm fed up of the tech--> educational spin that goes around. I think the educational uses of computers (and other technologies) are *way* oversold. It's like BT's broadband advert in the UK, featuring pictures of Henry VIII and the like; "Use it for your homework". Of course they're trying to sell something, but I think too many people are guilty of believing them.
Re:Could it be... (Score:3, Insightful)
A lot of their technology solves issues that exist in their culture or environment, but may not exist elsewhere. Most of the gadgets centered around the collection and distribution of business cards fit into this category, I think.
Re:Discretionary (Score:3, Insightful)
For examples, just look to the telecom and automotive industries. Why are American cars still dependent on oil? Why, for crap's sake, is it not okay for the government to provide free wirless broadband access in Philadelphia? Because the corporations are afraid to give way to advancement and try something new. I'm pretty sure there are not many people in Philly who would not like to have free wireless internet, but they don't get a say because some corporation doesn't like it.
If you ask me, businesses will be the only first-class citizens in this nation very soon. Just look how much sway they hold just by saying to the government "you can't do that, it will hurt our profit margins." For crap's sake, sink or swim. Evolve, or become extinct. Japan is evolving. We are not.
Wrong, as usual. (Score:5, Insightful)
Japan is a small country, where fads rise and fall much more rapidly than in a larger country like the US. This means products tend to compete over much smaller market sectors, with much shorter market lives. Think about the Tamagotchi. Bandai couldn't keep up with demand, they built new factories to keep up with demand, but by the time the factories were ready, the fad had died. Bandai went into bankruptcy.
Japanese markets are like a pressure cooker, products have short lives, and incremental improvements are added to produce new products to replace the old ones. This philosophy of "continuous improvement" is known as kaizen. Products in Japan evolve more rapidly than in other countries.
Japanese consumers are also better educated than other countries. There is a whole industry of magazines devoted to the most miniscule details of every product on the market. I remember seeing one fashion magazine that spent 20 pages just discussing the quality of stitching in men's dress shirts. And Japanese computer magazines are the same, they put US magazines to shame. Japanese consumers will not put up with anything less than the best products, driving the kaizen cycle even faster.
Japanese corporations are quick to take advantage of the home market. There are thousands of consumer products released in Japan that never make it to the international market, and this is intentional. Japan is the test market. Sometimes a product will go through several improvements before it's ready for larger world markets. Products that flop in Japan aren't even considered for internationalization. Japanese consumers are the beta testers of the world.
Who Cares? (Score:3, Insightful)
Can somebody tell me why we should care about it? Seriously, if Japan has cooler toys, more power to them. Who the fuck cares? Are you really upset because you cannot get your e-mail faster? At this point of time, Americans behave like crowds of cattle when it comes to shopping.... Would you like to put more spin onto that?
I certainly do not. Stuff is not what we should care about because as long as we do so, we will always be unhappy with something. Remeber, grass is greener on the other side. I can't believe that this bullshit makes to Slashdot nowadays. Seriously, it sounds like a bunch of stupid teenage girls who complain about boots, dresses and shirts that do not fit.
I can get upset because U.S. students lag behind in math and science, but not because somebody has a cooler DVD camera. Give me a break... P.S.: It is not what you have, it is what you do with it.
"...let's put this into perspective..." (Score:2, Insightful)
Yes, let's.
No amount of technology could sufficiently drive such a dismal reality from my mind. Not that Johnny Sokko would necessarily say that. Nevertheless I'm grateful that where I lived enabled me to escape it entirely.
Re:First things (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Fantasy Island (Score:5, Insightful)
Couldn't be because (Score:5, Insightful)
Because this is the country where we have to put stickers on pop machines that say if you pull this pop machine over on yourself you might die, where we have to print DO NOT DRIVE WITH SUN SHIELD IN PLACE on the back of cardboard sun screens and PULL TAB TO OPEN because sure as you're born there will be some idiot trying to cut the top of the can off with his pocket knife and he'll slip and cut himself.
Yes, we've really become that stupid. Just look at who we elected president any time you're tempted to doubt it.
Bad consumers (Score:3, Insightful)
C'mon people! These megacorporations want to help you, but you need to put in some effort first! Where's your national pride?
I've said it before... (Score:4, Insightful)
In America we want a 99c phone. That's why we get hamstrung in these ridiculous 3 year or more service contracts. If you actually spend the same amount of money that Japanese do on phones, you'll quickly find you have very similair or the same phone.
Seriously, there is no "reason" why they get cool gadgets and we don't. It's not like there's a huge creature in the Pacific that feasts on cargo ships. We just don't want to pay $400 some odd bucks up front. We prefer low monthly installments.
This also explains the year-18 month lag in tech. We just wait for it to get cheap. (Which is ironic, because we Americans as a whole try to piss money away faster than we can earn it.)
Re:Well one obvious reason is infrastructure (Score:3, Insightful)
Lots has been written about why this isn't true. The common explanation seems to be the unwillingness of US businesses to plan for anything beyond the current quarter. American corporations don't make long-term investments any more. They want to know what will be a sure source of profit in the very short term. Anything risky is left for someone else to develop.
One word that can debunk this whole mess: (Score:3, Insightful)
They cannot not make the iPod mini fast enough to meet Japanese consumer demand....but the iPod isn't Japanese. Just goes to show that anyone anywhere can create some very interesting gadgets. While it's true that the US has less than Japan, I don't know how many of us need usb aroma therapy....
The only good thing they really have on us is cellular service, but there are a lot of reasons it's hard to do in the US, and honestly, I'm not entirely confortable with my phone doing a lot more things than being a phone....
Re:Discretionary (Score:5, Insightful)
Have you looked at the Japanese economy over the past 5 years? Saying it's in the toilet would be an understatement. It's showing signs of recovering, but our little mini-recession looked like a major bubble compared to Japan's economy.
Why are American cars still dependent on oil?
Because like it or not, it's still the most efficient/economic method of powering vehicles in a country where average travel distances are large. I-C engines also have extreme longevity when compared to many other methods. I've owned three vehicles that passed 75K miles, and one with over 100K miles, all maintained in good condition and running strong. Electrics just aren't economical to maintain for that kind of usage. On the plus side for the future, we finally are seeing some technologies with the possibility of changing this, and one interim method, biodiesel.
Why, for crap's sake, is it not okay for the government to provide free wirless broadband access in Philadelphia?
Because that's not their job. Their job is to provide essential emergency services, maintain the transportation infrastructure and provide defense. They should no more be building wireless ISPs than they should be building multi-billion dollar playgrounds for spoiled millionares (stadiums). Besides, inspite of how cool it sounds, have you ever seen the government do any long-term project right? Most Pennsylvania governments have a hard time keeping the potholes down to non-fatal sizes, and you want them to run your ISP? I grew up near Philly, I wouldn't trust them with tin cans and string.
I'm pretty sure there are not many people in Philly who would not like to have free wireless internet,
It's not "free", the government raises taxes to pay for it, which means a lot of folks who don't want or need it still have to pay for it, and that's not fair.
I think the article is incomplete and one sided. (Score:2, Insightful)
While I'm sure most of his information is sound, he forgot a very important piece of information. The development of better tech toys over there is due to the fact that after the surrender of Japan to US (or Allies..whatever), Japan was restricted to domestic/consumer products. Any military development was frowned upon/stopped due to the fact the US was now stationed there.
An example was after the invention of the Transistor by Bratten/Shockly/Bardeen (sp?), 2 electrical engineers running a radio store took that concept and made ICs to make radios and started what is now called Sony.
So you see, Japan was forced to emphasize domestic consumer goods by the US since developing anything related to Military was a no-no. Thus the head start on everyone else, and why North America is always a couple of years behind in certain aspects of the tech toys.
Quality tolerance (Score:5, Insightful)
I was born and raised in California. When I was a young adult, I moved overseas for 10 years. When I returned about 6 years ago, one of the first things to strike me was Americans' tolerance for mediocrity, both in products and services. Just as long as they can get a ton of stuff that work good enough without having to read the manual.
That tolerance, coupled with a pervasive belief that America has the best of everything, from political systems to health care to consumer products (many Americans hate it when I give counter examples--really rocks their world view), suggests a fertile ground for technological stagnation.
Tell me to piss off if you like. I couldn't give a toss.
Re:First things (Score:3, Insightful)
Two of the main problems of the existing system are the fact it is very difficult to get rid of bad teachers (tenure anyone?) and that there is a increasing loss of local control.
You have to be able to get rid of bad teachers or be able to move them around. for things to ever improve. The problem with making them fully civil servants (they are pretty close to that now), is that the civil service will move to make sure it keeps its headcount as large as possible. Bureaucracies always try to increase because that gives them more power.
Local control, well, you might want to take a look at the Constitutional principle of "consent of the governed". Yes, some local systems will screw up. However, some will find better ways to do things. Mistakes won't affect every school district and the good ideas can percolate through out the system. I mean, do you really want a monopoly with all that entails for your educational system?
As far as "very professionalized administration", rampant credentialism is overwhelming actual education efforts. Instead of trying to educate students for those that go on and provide useful skills to those that won't move on to higher education, the system is being pushed towards making sure every student had a piece of paper stating they weren't left behind.
Re:First things (Score:4, Insightful)
The Japanese, especially the young ones, have huge disposable incomes, as a result of a culture where it's normal to share a tiny apartment in the city with other families. Because of this, they tend not to invest of their incomes in more permanent things, like houses. This leaves them a lot of cash to spend on the latest gadgets, and the fact that they spend a lot of their time away from home gives them a reason to want a lot of personal/mobile electronics, especially cellphones and PDAs.
Americans, on the other hand, usually have home ownership as their highest priority, and along with this, the most expensive home their income can afford them. A fat mortgage payment leaves little income to spend on gadgets that'll be obsolete in 6 months. It's even worse when you're spending what's left on the most expensive car payment you can afford.
Personally, I think both ways are screwed up. The Japanese culture encourages a lot of consumerism and wastefulness: where do all those obsolete cellphones and other electronics go? And the American system is fairly wasteful and shortsighted too. With all the expensive cars people are buying, they're burning more oil than if they had older cars (look it up: vehicle fuel economy peaked in the 80's, and has been going down ever since). And by buying the most expensive houses possible, we have tons of McMansions going up, which use enormous amounts of energy to heat and cool. (I know someone with a McMansion, and his electric bill in the summer was typically over $500.) But another problem is that these people are all in debt up to their eyeballs, and when something bad happens, they lose their house and car and everything comes tumbling down.
Don't forget about state taxes (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Disposable income...I remember it well. (Score:3, Insightful)
My 2000 Nissan pickup truck had an off-set front colission at 35MPH (each way) when a drunk driver coming the other way swered right into me. Both cars were totalled, but I walked out of it with nothing but a seat-belt bruise and a couple little friction burns on the backs of my thumbs (from the airbag deployment). It was a thing of beauty how the engine compartment gave itself up to preserve the shape of the cab. If I was in a late-80s Ford F-150, I would have spent less money, but I would be dead.
Cars cost a lot. Extended hospital stays cost more.
Re:First things (Score:3, Insightful)
Also, there is less "personal" interaction in Japan. Half of it is the infamous cultural introversion, but the other half is lots of hours spent at work, school or commuting. They don't spend a lot of time really interacting with each other anymore. So to get that human interaction, they like constant electronic attention grabbers especially if it will connect them to people. Now you can see why wireless is so popular in Japan?
In North America, take a look at who wants & embraces the tech in question. It's people in a similar boat: not enough daily personal interaction. If you have lots of friends you can talk to face-to-face or talk to live on the phone, do you really want some chirping electronic device intruding in your life?
Re:First things (Score:3, Insightful)
Americans, on the other hand, usually have home ownership as their highest priority, and along with this, the most expensive home their income can afford them. A fat mortgage payment leaves little income to spend on gadgets that'll be obsolete in 6 months. It's even worse when you're spending what's left on the most expensive car payment you can afford.
You're partly right here, but not everyone is trying to spend money for the sake of spending money. You need to consider the kind of financial mentality that comes with buying a house - a house is a large financial commitment that is also intended to be an investment. The goal isn't to spend the most money, but to put your money into something that will keep its value without large additional costs (or can have its value increased with an acceptable amount of cost and effort).
If you carry that thinking over into electronics, it means that you'll want something that will be useful for a good amount of time and can do its job well (or something that is so inexpensive that it can be thrown away when it fails, if the type of use allows for this). The result is a decreased demand for the next big thing and a big split between the high and low ends of the market.
The bottom line is that Americans are concerned about value (either good quality for a price or questionable quality for next to nothing). There will always be some people who are more concerned about style, but the inevitability of purchasing a home and/or car instills a value mentality that is hard to overcome.
Re:Fantasy Island (Score:4, Insightful)
What? We like things to have some level of actual use and practicality?
Damn, I only *wish* people in this country thought like that. We'd never have a budget deficit ever again.
the primary reason WHY the Japanese have access to the latest and greatest while the US must wait.
And yet, somehow, life goes on.
Re:First things (Score:3, Insightful)
Are you Japanese or gaijin? Your social interactions will be 100% different from a native-born Japanese person.
For most Japanese, especially the ones I know, most of their day is consumed with empty personal interactions. Even the afterwork socializing is considered pretty "empty". The reports of dysfunctional marriages are increasing and recent surveys done in Japan show married couples are talking less and less to each other. Far worse than in the West.
It's a lot of fun reading the popular press in Japan interview their versions of Dr. Laura and Dr. Phil about the problem of being "lonely in a crowd". Especially after the mate-pager thing was introduced.
Are Japanese social? Yes, that's why I said half of it is. There is a reluctance when it comes to sticking their neck out to create a new interaction or friend. But once they have an excuse to talk to someone, they are very social. But again, I point to what I said originally, the other half is time pressures. Since the bubble burst in the 90s, most Japanese people have been putting more and more hours into work and "self-improvement". Companies would rather reduce staff and pay OT (which apparently they are "forgetting" to do lately) than make the situation more tolerable. With all this time spent trying to survive, it's very hard to get the energy or time to socialize in conventional ways.
There are a lot of mis-conceptions about Japan and its culture, and the "introversion" is one of them. It's not shyness (and I made sure NOT to call it shyness): it's about keeping the civil order and protecting each other's miniscule personal spaces in a very densely populated country. It's a defense mechanism against being crowded. If Americans had to live like that, they'd also experience this introversion. Oh wait, it has happened: New York. A town that looks plenty social, but it also has the highest per capita of unhappy lonely people.