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Innovation happens at the individual level, and to that end, the Japanese are incredibly innovative. The person must then fight the hierarchies which farms the

by unabst 6y ago

Innovation happens at the individual level, and to that end, the Japanese are incredibly innovative. The person must then fight the hierarchies which farms the innovations from individuals who are undercompensated for their miraculous work. Same with the incredible craftsmen and artists. But if the hierarchy is bad, everyone loses. The engineer would often then defect and seek a meritocracy where they are valued by their work and not seniority. A quick lookup for the Flash inventor backs this. Fujio Masuoka is now CTO of a company in Singapore. Shuji Nakamura, the inventory of the blue LED is the other primary example. He is now professor of Materials at the University of California, Santa Barbara, with 208 US patents and a Nobel prize. He was in the news a lot, and stirred up much needed debate in Japan regarding who owns the work of an employee. But one counter example is Nintendo. Shigeru Miyamoto is the genius behind Super Mario, and him and his small team are responsible for so much of their hierarchy's success. Nintendo stands tall to this day. Sony is a mixed bag, but their gaming division is still winning. Korea is actually known to be incredibly similar to Japan, and according to one theory the only reason why Korea outpaced Japan is because the Japanese were too busy addicted to Pachinko. That may sound absurd, but not if you've seen how ubiquitous Pachinko is, and it's pure gambling with all the dangers of addiction and lives in shambles. Ironically, 80% of the parlors are owned by Japanese Koreans.

deleted 6y ago
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lovemenot 6y ago
>>80% of the parlors are owned by Japanese Koreans Especially those with longstanding connections to the North.
jbay808 6y ago
I know a lot of very innovative and entrepreneurial Japanese people, both within and outside of big companies. Outside of big companies, Japan's risk-averse system makes it very difficult for them to pursue ambitious tech projects. They have to fight much harder to get financing and also to work with suppliers that are more used to dealing with corporate partners. So the ones that insist on starting a business often go into lower risk but still rewarding sectors. Within companies, it really depends. As you point out, Nintendo is a good example of a company that is actually averse to not taking risks, and doesn't get humbled by failure. They insist on reinventing themselves and trying crazy things even when they'd probably do just fine sticking to something easy and proven. Their senior leadership drives that. They're far from the only company like that in Japan, but one of the few in tech. Japan's big slow companies are good at the kind of innovation that takes decades of slow, continuous refinement and constant long-term funding rather than sudden pivots and breakthroughs. Metallurgy and materials science, chemistry, and precision engineering are fields where those big heirarchies have done well for themselves.
- unabst 6y ago
  Except sudden pivots and breakthroughs are what made Sony and Toyota and Nintendo and what still drive them. Mario, the Walkman, the Corolla. More recently, the Switch, PlayStation, and Prius. All breakthroughs with exciting beginnings resulting in massively popular and lucrative products. Nintendo trusts the innovators who insist on innovation. I would love to believe this is the winning formula, and maybe many Japanese companies do, but the problem with that is when the innovators are wrong. How often does a researcher invent exactly what the market needs? So in between hits, the hierarchies must figure ways to feed themselves. And some self destruct through corruption (Toshiba) and internal conflict (Nissan). Some get bailed out (Sharp, JAL). Sony's gaming division has been bailing out their other businesses. In the case of Xperia, the innovation and product is there, but Sony miserably failed at marketing and being competitive in the US core market. Sony marketing is legendary in Japan, but they have never successfully translated that magic to the US. In Japan, the Xperia is killing it. https://onlineshop.smt.docomo.ne.jp/ranking/index.html?color=1 https://onlineshop.smt.docomo.ne.jp/ranking/index.html?color...
  - hattori31 6y ago
    Some of the stuff you list are not that sudden. Switch for example is exactly a product of long time refinement. Nintendo has been trying to make a tv-portable hybrid since the snes years.
hattori31 6y ago
>Korea outpaced Japan is because the Japanese were too busy addicted to Pachinko. Hello from Japan. When people from the Westernized world talk about Japan, I find it interesting to hear what everyone has to say. Some are true, some are ridiculous, some are "facts" people echo on forums. This in not true. This is ridiculous. Do you think everyone is so addicted that we do nothing else? Do you understand that the addicted to pachinko is a small percentage and these people would be addicted to something else and be un-productive anyway? Its not a matter of "people". Korean companies have outpaced Japanese companies, because Korean company are more global. And nice for them. But Pachinko has absolutely nothing to do with that.
- SomeoneFromCA 6y ago
  Pachinko sound like Russian word "pochinka", which means "the process of repairing something".
ThrowawayR2 6y ago
> "Shigeru Miyamoto is the genius behind Super Mario, and him and his small team are responsible for so much of their hierarchy's success. Nintendo stands tall to this day." Not really a counterexample. If you have one hypertalented person that rises to the top of the otherwise moribund system, sure they can work miracles ... until they retire. Moreover, their blind spots become the company's blind spots; e.g. missing out on network features like cloud saves that Nintendo is criticized for. It's not a generally applicable model.

by unabst 6y ago

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

lovemenot 6y ago

>>80% of the parlors are owned by Japanese Koreans Especially those with longstanding connections to the North.

jbay808 6y ago

I know a lot of very innovative and entrepreneurial Japanese people, both within and outside of big companies. Outside of big companies, Japan's risk-averse system makes it very difficult for them to pursue ambitious tech projects. They have to fight much harder to get financing and also to work with suppliers that are more used to dealing with corporate partners. So the ones that insist on starting a business often go into lower risk but still rewarding sectors. Within companies, it really depends. As you point out, Nintendo is a good example of a company that is actually averse to not taking risks, and doesn't get humbled by failure. They insist on reinventing themselves and trying crazy things even when they'd probably do just fine sticking to something easy and proven. Their senior leadership drives that. They're far from the only company like that in Japan, but one of the few in tech. Japan's big slow companies are good at the kind of innovation that takes decades of slow, continuous refinement and constant long-term funding rather than sudden pivots and breakthroughs. Metallurgy and materials science, chemistry, and precision engineering are fields where those big heirarchies have done well for themselves.

unabst 6y ago
Except sudden pivots and breakthroughs are what made Sony and Toyota and Nintendo and what still drive them. Mario, the Walkman, the Corolla. More recently, the Switch, PlayStation, and Prius. All breakthroughs with exciting beginnings resulting in massively popular and lucrative products. Nintendo trusts the innovators who insist on innovation. I would love to believe this is the winning formula, and maybe many Japanese companies do, but the problem with that is when the innovators are wrong. How often does a researcher invent exactly what the market needs? So in between hits, the hierarchies must figure ways to feed themselves. And some self destruct through corruption (Toshiba) and internal conflict (Nissan). Some get bailed out (Sharp, JAL). Sony's gaming division has been bailing out their other businesses. In the case of Xperia, the innovation and product is there, but Sony miserably failed at marketing and being competitive in the US core market. Sony marketing is legendary in Japan, but they have never successfully translated that magic to the US. In Japan, the Xperia is killing it. https://onlineshop.smt.docomo.ne.jp/ranking/index.html?color=1 https://onlineshop.smt.docomo.ne.jp/ranking/index.html?color...
- hattori31 6y ago
  Some of the stuff you list are not that sudden. Switch for example is exactly a product of long time refinement. Nintendo has been trying to make a tv-portable hybrid since the snes years.

hattori31 6y ago

>Korea outpaced Japan is because the Japanese were too busy addicted to Pachinko. Hello from Japan. When people from the Westernized world talk about Japan, I find it interesting to hear what everyone has to say. Some are true, some are ridiculous, some are "facts" people echo on forums. This in not true. This is ridiculous. Do you think everyone is so addicted that we do nothing else? Do you understand that the addicted to pachinko is a small percentage and these people would be addicted to something else and be un-productive anyway? Its not a matter of "people". Korean companies have outpaced Japanese companies, because Korean company are more global. And nice for them. But Pachinko has absolutely nothing to do with that.

SomeoneFromCA 6y ago
Pachinko sound like Russian word "pochinka", which means "the process of repairing something".

ThrowawayR2 6y ago

> "Shigeru Miyamoto is the genius behind Super Mario, and him and his small team are responsible for so much of their hierarchy's success. Nintendo stands tall to this day." Not really a counterexample. If you have one hypertalented person that rises to the top of the otherwise moribund system, sure they can work miracles ... until they retire. Moreover, their blind spots become the company's blind spots; e.g. missing out on network features like cloud saves that Nintendo is criticized for. It's not a generally applicable model.