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)
Re:First things (Score:5, Funny)
That's not true. Newest games are available first on the streets of Taiwan.
Re:First things (Score:3, Funny)
Obligatory DNF reference (Score:5, Funny)
Re:First things (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't accept the premise of this /. article on its face. The main point rests on the idea that Japan gets the coolest gadgets before they reach the US, or else they never get here at all, which I don't see. This makes me want to get in my way-back machine and remember a time when I first came out the California, a simpler time when people were much more humble and thoughtful...all the way back to the year 2000...
I worked for a startup then whose business model was based on the idea of location-based offerings. (This sounds like spam, but it isn't.) As a customer, you'd go to their portal on the web and register an account. Then, later, you'd log in and enter information that you were going to be in the city on Saturday night, and you're looking to eat Italian food. You'd specify how you want to be contacted by the automated call system: cell, PDA, home phone, etc...and the hours, number of calls, etc.
Then, on Saturday night, let's say an Italian restaurant owner is looking at a half-empty restaurant. He might subscribe to the service...so he'd log in on his end and enter in a 2-for-1 entree special. The site would match up your preferences with the business offering and call you to book a reservation.
Surprisingly, this startup didn't fail (at least not right away...it lived several years). However, it did move...to Hong Kong. The funding source did some market research and discovered that we were likely never to make a go of this business by marketing it in the US. Americans get one or two calls that don't interest them from an automated service and turn the service off, saying they don't want to be contacted again. In Tokyo and Hong Kong, they found in their research that people will oftentimes walk around in public with the cell phone to their ear even though they're not on a call...it's a social status thing. They can't get enough calls over there.
So, they packed it up and moved to HK. The point of this story is that, though by and large people are more or less the same the world over, there are cultural differences that manifest in surprising and unexpected ways. Americans tend to want technology that serves them, is quick and easy to use, and isn't too intrusive. Japanese, from what I can see, tend not to care about intrusiveness and are more interested in projecting a message about themselves through the use of personal technology devices. The more these devices intrude on their daily lives, in fact, the more they view it as a sign of being needed or desirable to others. (They even let technology make matchmaking decisions--have you heard about the pager-like device that they have over there? They enter their preferences for a perfect mate in it, and when they get within 25 feet of someone that meets their criteria, if that person has one too, they light up and buzz so the people can choose to meet each other. Again, this would never work in the US.)
The upshot is, Americans get what we think is cool, and Japanese get what they think is cool. The Japanese philosophy tends to be oriented more towards the flashy whiz-bang type of stuff, like digital toilets and Internet-enabled refrigerators, whereas Americans would consider these devices as putting too much emphasis on activities we'd rather not think about, and definitely don't want hackers to have access to. (I'm convinced a good part of this cultural divide comes from the differences between Americans and Japanese opinions about personal privacy rights and expectations. Also, the anti-intellectual attitude in America doesn't help ingratiate technology into our daily lives either...think about it. In this country, one of the stock insults in grade schools and high schools is "you're a nerd". In other countries, like Japan, the insult would be "you're stupid".) This, combined with the fact that Americans always expect to have the latest, greatest, bestest, etc, means that we tend to look at the flashy whiz-bang stuff over there, which we don't want, and say, hey, how come we don't have that here?
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.
Re:First things (Score:3, Insightful)
Also, there is less "personal" interaction in
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 person
Re:First things (Score:4, Informative)
The Japanese are as often hamstrung by social structure as books will lead you to believe. A "good" Japanese person worries about not putting themselves forward too much; they also are very conscious of seniority and groups. This largely defines how they interact with people.
It's really hard for a Japanese guy to meet a girl, based on several things: one, they're incredibly shy. As a high school teacher, I have been surprised to find that sometimes the boys don't even know the girls' names, even though they sit in the same room for several years. Getting them to even acknowledge the presence of a particular member of the opposite sex may be misconstrued as voicing one's personal interest, which is a definite no-no. The idea of using a pager that automatically identifies people of similar interests sounds very Tokyo-ish, and probably a very small, niche market. Most likely, it is used by school girls to identify other school girls, because guys wouldn't even dream of getting involved.
For a Japanese, the idea of rejection means that they will have exposed their inner feelings, potentially to everyone, which is the ultimate embarrassment for them. Japanese prefer to let things develop over a long period of time, which is why the whole sempai/kohai (senior/junior) relationship is often romanticized.
Japanese can seem very warm and friendly to foreigners especially, because they believe that we're not hampered by Japanese restraints, as we're not Japanese. However, by that same token, they are less likely to take us seriously, because, well, we're not Japanese. They can be very generous and gracious hosts, but unless you make a serious effort to integrate yourself into the culture and the language, you'll find yourself just as lonely as the rest of them.
On gadgets: at least in my area, while there are many gadgets to be had, the Japanese are pretty reasonable on the whole thing. They prefer sensible to gaudy, and would rather not waste their money on features they don't need. One of my friends just got his Docomo cell phone replaced, and he always tells them to give him whatever's cheapest at the time (he's regretting that policy right now as it got him a 505i, which was the latest and greatest of last year; the design is pretty much crap.)
Finally, most Westerners make the mistake of judging Japan based on what they know of Tokyo. That's a lot like judging America based on, say, New York, or Germany based on Munich. For natives of those countries, they know that this is a gross misrepresentation of their culture, as such large cities often have unique micro-cultures of their own. Tokyo is very un-Japanese in many ways. It is a giant shopping district, attempting to be everything to everyone, and failing completely to have a personality of its own. But then, I prefer Osaka.
I found the article to be typical of the genre; very narrow scope that continues to feed the Western stereotypes of Japanese. My findings? There are only a few things that Japan has that are better than what you get in America; otherwise, we're pretty much on par. America is, after all, Japan's biggest market; it's in their best interest to continue to offer the latest tech.
Yeah, you can find weird novelty items for sale, but that doesn't mean people are buying it. Were Japanese to base their conceptions of America on what you can find in stores in Los Angeles, they'd be convinced that the creature comforts available in America are more elaborate, st
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 mentali
Re:First things (Score:3, Interesting)
This sounds like bullshit, but I'll follow your advice and look it up.
(minutes later)
Wow, you're right! This is OT, but for those interested, read through this report from the EPA [epa.gov].
A short quote: "Since 1975, the fuel economy of the combined car and light truck fleet has moved through several phases: (1) a rapid increase from 1975 to the mid-1980s, (2) a slow increase extending into the late 1980s, (3) a decline fro
Re:First things (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Home ownership in Japan is only about 6% lower than it is in the United States. It's a fallacy that they all live in tiny little apartments - or that they all rent those apartments. Many city apartments are owned, not rented, and there are plenty of less urbanized areas just as there are here, with single-family homes. According to UN statistics, the ratio of urban to rural living is virtually the same in the US and Japan.
(I actually think people forget just how urban the United States is in discussions like this as much as they fail to realize how rural or suburban much of Japan is.)
In fact, the overall savings rate in Japan is much higher [ecb.int] than it is in the United States (though the rate has been falling over time in both countries). So this idea that they just spend all of their disposable income on gadgets is wrong. They actually spend less money on gadgets than we do.
Perspective (Score:3, Funny)
True, but let's put this into perspective.
I mean - it's not like we don't have some cool toys of our own.
[Ours just aren't quite so damned ga
Re:Perspective (Score:3, Funny)
Mark this date down, people! That may be the only time you'll ever see the words "Bass" "Fishing" and "cool" in the same phrase or paragraph.
Oh, you forgot Bowling and Professional Wrestling.
Re:Perspective (Score:3, Informative)
Professional Wrestling is more popular in Japan than it is in the United States.
Re:First things (Score:2, Funny)
by teenage girls.
Now, that's a demographic that most slashdotters (including myself) have a very limited experience with. I'm not sure how envious I am of a market that that puts style and color in front of most everything (backed up by an infrastructure that this country will never equal). YMMV, of course.
Re:First things (Score:4, Interesting)
You could also go down to any number of rental stores and rent CDs and buy blank MD discs to record them on (now THAT would never go over in the US). Most people did this because it was cheaper than buying the CD for $25 - $30.
When I returned to America, however, nobody was using MD players, even though they were available. The problem, I think, was the cost. MD players were around $400 dollars at the time. Nobody in America would spend $400 for a portable Walkman type device, so MD players never caught on. Couple that with the fact that America tried to sell MD versions of commercial CDs instead of just selling the blanks so people could copy CDs; which is what was done in Japan.
I think this is the case with a lot of the tech gadgets that you can buy over in Japan. The cost of these items is always too high for the American market so Americans won't buy the stuff. Therefore, nobody bothers importing it anymore.
The market is also different in Japan. You can do things there that you can't do here, so some of the gadgets just don't make sense in America (MD players being one example).
Re:First things (Score:5, Funny)
I know what you mean! Just look at how much the ipod has flopped!
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:First things (Score:2, Offtopic)
s/learning/teaching/
Teaching here is almost all memorization and regurgitation. Teachers don't care, though -- no reason to. Their jobs are safe. The worse they do the more money their school gets. A great system, American public education...
Re:First things (Score:3, Insightful)
I would accompany all these changes with a dramatic increase in teacher's salaries and benefits. Then
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 f
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.
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
Re:First things (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Hrmm (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:First things (Score:3, Interesting)
The concept of a professor who has to "teach" you misses a fundamental basis of universities... namely that the students were originally there to learn from acknowledged leaders in a field.
Now, however, University is often just regarded as an extension of the rest of your mandatory schooling. Instead of a bunch of mature, studious, and engaged people who earnestly enrolled in order to study under a master, you've got a bunch of near-children who are at "college"
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:2)
Joe also gets technology edication on American Chopper.
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. I
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.
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.
Re:Disposable income...I remember it well. (Score:5, Funny)
which is why your folks stll want you to move out.
Priorities (Score:2)
but then it all comes down to priorities, and for some those are not priorities.
Re:Priorities (Score:2)
Re:Disposable income...I remember it well. (Score:2)
I lived in Japan for several years (about 45 minutes away from Akihabara, which was nice) and most people I knew lived in their own apartments. Of course, I knew people who lived with their parents too, but that was not the status quo.
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: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:Disposable income...I remember it well. (Score:2)
Re:Disposable income...I remember it well. (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
Re:Discretionary (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
Re:Discretionary (Score:5, Interesting)
"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
The definition of "emergency services" and "infrastructure" should be allowed to evolve. We may very well be at the beginning of a process where continual connectivity is indeed a part of critical infrastructure that is the legitimate role of government. To legislate this out of existence seems a bit presumptive and smacks of protecting corporate interests.
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.
Many cities have functioning water supplies, sewer systems, electicity grids. No all function optimally but we get the water, we don't get sick from it, and our poo goes by by. Yes, government can function and this government hating mantra so common these days is vastly overdone.
"Im 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.
Excellent point. There are parts of the city that I never go in, why the hell am i paying for street lights there. I never use the damned things. Its unfair people, blatantly unfair!. Do you ever stop to consider, just once, the possibility that you may derive indirect benefits from things and that government isn't about benefiting just YOU, its about the community. I think that a reasonable argument could be made that there might be benefits to the community. At least its not obvious that this is completely inappropriate for government.
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:Grass Is Greener (Score:2)
Re:Grass Is Greener (Score:2)
In some respects... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:In some respects... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:In some respects... (Score:3, Informative)
I spent a month in Tanzania this summer -- our guide in the Serengeti got better cell reception out in the middle of Africa then I get on 280 in Palo Alto.
But until cell phones can get to the 99.9999% reception or whatever the number is that landlines have, I doubt that we'll see the cell phone displacing the lanline anytime soon.
Plus, I read an article a couple of years back that basically stated that in a l
Don't forget about state taxes (Score:3, Insightful)
duh (Score:4, Funny)
inarguably.
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.
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
duplicate post (Score:2, Interesting)
"Japan beta-tests U.S. consumer goods"
frankly i rather they do... they spent the money on crap while we get the working model
Could it be... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Could it be... (Score:2)
The US has a lot more social stigmas regarding toilets and bathrooms than Japan. (In fact, the 'toilet' is generally separated from the rest of the bathroom appliances in Japan. Toilet and bathroom are different concepts over there.)
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.
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.
The Amish don't have urine sugar sensing toilets! (Score:3, Funny)
That's it (Score:2)
It's all about tradeoffs - (Score:2)
It's the tech in Japan, and the food in Europe... (Score:5, Interesting)
In Europe you're allowed to make and sell things that contain non-pasturized dairy products. In the US, you're not. Apparently americans aren't allowed to determine for themselves what is or isn't an acceptable risk. So the best European young cheeses and chocolates have poor substitutes as their namesakes in the US.
To make matters worse, they've convinced people here that "ultra-pasturized" means "better", even though it just means they used extra high temperatures to get it done more quickly and save money at the expense of flavor. That means the milk here doesn't taste nearly as good as it could under the current regulations. All this in the name of safety, yet at the same time, you can't get irradiated beef...
Sigh.
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:Supporting irradiated beef ??? (Score:3, Funny)
Apparently, you've never seen cautionary tales as "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes". Of course, after seeing "The Toxic Avenger" I'd take irradiation over chemical preservatives any day...)
Re:Supporting irradiated beef ??? (Score:3, Funny)
With extra E.Coli for flavor...
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Columns.. (Score:2)
Tip of the Day: Click 'Print version' or whatever it's called, and it will lay the article out in a normal fashion.
Works on a great many sites which stupid layouts in fact. Having the text taking up a large %age of the screen allows you to resize it as you fit, one of the wonders provided by most windowing systems.
(x) Check here to recieve a new tip with every post.
Smart toilet. (Score:5, Funny)
"Your urine contains traces of an illegal subtance. The bathroom door has been locked and the police has been notified. Please remain seated until they arrive.
Thank you for using Matsushita."
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.
Meowlingual - Language Translator (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Meowlingual - Language Translator (Score:3, Funny)
Here's an actual transcript of a recent Meowlingual translation:
C: "Meow!"
M: "Feed Me!"
Cat: "Meow!"
Meowlingual: "I am the coolest thing on this planet".
C: "Meow!"
M: "Don't touch me! Leave me alone!"
C: "Meow!"
M: "I am way too important to be inside this house!"
C: "Meow!"
M: "I will do what I want, when I want, and YOU will learn to like it!"
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.
Re:Fantasy Island (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
dynamism (Score:5, Interesting)
Wooden Processor (Score:2)
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.
europe (Score:2, Informative)
Quite simple. (Score:3, Funny)
Some have pointed out that we don't have giant robots battling in the strees, gangs of psychic mutant orphans roaming the streets, and little to no defense against nude female aliens with magical powers, but I for one don't really find that to be a realistic assesment of the situation. As anyone in Japan can tell you, those problems are more than adequately delt with by the superhero cyborg schoolgirls that roam the countryside.
we're not all such big boobies! (Score:3, Interesting)
""The way business works here is simple," says David J. Farber. "In America, if you have a potential product, you do research, you try to figure out the size of the potential market. And if it's a totally new, totally innovative thing, where no one has any idea of the size of the market, and there's no guaranteed return on a large investment, well, forget it. No American company will touch it. In Japan, it's usually quite the opposite: manufacturers know that the home market loves new stuff; they'll take risks there, hoping that something will catch fire and take off. The only U.S. company that's doing that is Apple, and, honestly, I don't think that even Steve Jobs, in all of his infinite wisdom, thought that the iPod was going to take off the way it has.""
how about that? who knew that I, with my ibook/ipod toting ways, was such a technological zeitgeist?
Three years ago... (Score:5, Informative)
Then again, everything is cooler... in Japan!!!
Great source for Japanese gadgets (Score:2)
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.
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.
IMO not a fair characterization (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
Re:Couldn't be because (Score:4, Interesting)
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?
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....
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:morning procedure.. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Moving back to asia (Score:4, Funny)
The other reason being your fetish for Japanese midgets, for all the midget wrestling glory.
Re:European cars (Score:2)
Re:Ob. South Park Ref. (Score:5, Funny)
Judging by all the Hummer II's I've been seeing, not so much.
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.
Re:Because they're dorks? (Score:3, Interesting)
I mean, DDR? Perfect example.
On the contrary, that's one of the worst examples you could possibly think of. Go into a Fry's Electronics or some other store with a DDR display, and you will almost always see some teenager dancing on it. And there's no one as fashion-conscious or worried about being "uncool" as a teenager.
I'm not even sure tech in general is dorky anymore here (now take this with a grain of salt, this is a Slashdotter talking about tech). Even building one's computer from parts, once a pa
Re:The US is conservative by nature. (Score:2)