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Has the myth that Japan is a uniquely technically advanced society been debunked in culture yet? I see this a bit among laymen but it seems the only Japanese te

Has the myth that Japan is a uniquely technically advanced society been debunked in culture yet? I see this a bit among laymen but it seems the only Japanese technological advantage today is the manufacturing of factory line robotics and control systems. The large consumer tech companies have been effectively plundered (Sony is a shell of what it was in the 90s) and Toyota and Honda are routinely outcompeted by Tesla and GM in EVs. The rest of consumer tech seems to be coming out of Taiwan, PRC and South Korea now.

trynumber9 5y ago
It seems so. I primarily see it played for laughs in media these days, with hyper-advanced toilets or useless robots. Of course Japanese suppliers are involved in many advanced industries (image sensors, displays, solid-state storage, heavily-integrated packaging, battery cells) but now days they often outsource production too.
- rejectedandsad 5y ago
  The OLEDs all seem to be LG designed these days. With you on the image sensors though - a few years ago it was one of the most successful Sony divisions thanks to their Apple deal for the iPhone
  - trynumber9 5y ago
    It depends, JOLED makes some panels for LG. Smaller scale but technically interesting.
- njacobs5074 5y ago
  Having spent a fair amount of time in Japan with the "hyper-advanced toilets", I would kill to have those easily accessible where I live now (South Africa). Not only did they leave my bum amazingly clean, a packet of toilet paper literally sat there and gathered dust. I think that there is a lot of tech in Japan focused on quality of life improvements that just sits in the background. Perhaps given the aging demographics of the society, this is a good fit.
  - DonHopkins 5y ago
    Meanwhile in the rest of the world: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVHYTdGUAZM&ab_channel=ABCNews%28Australia%29 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVHYTdGUAZM&ab_channel=ABCNe... "It's not the Thunderdome. It's not Mad Max. We don't need to do that."
adrianN 5y ago
They make pretty good trains.
thaumasiotes 5y ago
They seem to be doing well in zippers.
suction 5y ago
I don't think this and many other myths about Japan have been debunked nearly enough yet. For instance, the "there is zero crime in Japan" myth which I still see and hear repeated almost daily both by Japanophiles and the Japanese themselves. Actually, I don't think there is any other culture in the world today where the reality differs so much from the myth-based image, and in almost every single aspect. One reason is that the focus of serious Western journalists has shifted towards China nowadays, and Japan has fallen to the wayside, mirroring its economic slump. The gap that this created has been filled with the views of American teens and twens who became interested in Japan through its pop culture. And of course, if you are an impressionable young person from a rural part of the US who moves to the center of Tokyo, you'll think you've moved to the future. But on close inspection, the technological prowess in Japan often begins and ends with little speakers and screens blaring a 24h loop of ads. Most of what is written about Japan nowadays is the work of Japanophiles with very little interest in actual research or comparison. There are only a handful of books about Japan worth reading: "The enigma of Japanese power" by van Wolferen (quite long and dry), and "Japan - A reinterpretation" by Patrick Smith (more to the point and more casually written), as well as "Demons and Dogs" by Kerr.
DiogenesKynikos 5y ago
Japan is not uniquely advanced, but by an objective measure of economic complexity, Japan does have the most advanced economy in the world. "Complexity" here essentially means that a country exports lots of different goods that other countries rarely export. A country that only exports unrefined petroleum will rank very low in complexity, while a country that exports a roughly even mix of goods across a wide range of different sectors will rank high in complexity. Japan is at the top of that ranking, followed by Switzerland. 1. https://atlas.cid.harvard.edu/countries/114 https://atlas.cid.harvard.edu/countries/114
throw0101a 5y ago
> Has the myth that Japan is a uniquely technically advanced society been debunked in culture yet? One hypothesis I saw put forward by a Japanese-American vlogger was that Japan basically "does not do software". * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqMSWuSeDPA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqMSWuSeDPA Software is treated as a second-class career in most major corporations. There's less cultural prestige with being a software engineer. I'm not sure that Japan is uniquely advanced, but it certainly is skilled in certain niches. Does any doubt the quality control of most things manufactured in Japan? Culturally it seems to be content with the old way of doing things in other ways (e.g., using cash (wrapped in envelopes)).
- sumedh 5y ago
  > Japan basically "does not do software". I guess they dont know how to do UX either. As a tourist using Japanese (English) websites was a terrible experience. I dont know why the web designs is still stuck in the 90's
  - suction 5y ago
    I asked this exact question in Japan. The usual answer was "because it is safer" - when I asked to elaborate what "safer" meant, I was met with annoyed stares. Questioning things isn't really known in Japan, if someone sometime decided that it's safer, then that's what it is. Apart from some boutique startups, UX isn't even a thing in Japan. Similar to how it worked in the 80s in the US, UX is done by the same people who engineer the application who have no formal training or talent in UX.
    - neillyons 5y ago
      Good article on this from a few years ago https://randomwire.com/why-japanese-web-design-is-so-different/ https://randomwire.com/why-japanese-web-design-is-so-differe...
- ascagnel_ 5y ago
  > Software is treated as a second-class career in most major corporations. There's less cultural prestige with being a software engineer. While I can't comment on the latter half of this statement, the first still rings true even today. The PlayStation 5 came out and featured a completely new system interface, and there have been numerous complaints about everything from navigation to moving saves forward from the PS4 to the PS5. Microsoft, Sony's biggest competitor in the space, chose to iterate on their interface, and while there are still some complaints, keeping the same wheel let them focus on things like easing the transition between hardware boxes via game updates and syncing saves. For example, if you want to move a save game from a PS4 to a PS5 running an updated version of the game: - Start the game on the old PS4, and make sure the save is synced to the cloud service. - Install the PS4 version of the game on the PS5. On launch, the system didn't do a very good job of distinguishing the two versions of a game. - Launch the PS4 version of the game on the PS5, just to pull the game down from the cloud service. - Launch the PS5 version of the game on the PS5, so it can ingest the now-local cloud save. Microsoft set up some system-level infrastructure to handle installing the "correct" version of the game (useful since they're selling two boxes with different specs) and has always handled save games as cloud saves, so moving between platforms can be as simple as "install game, start game", provided the developer/publisher hasn't opted out of the upgrade infrastructure (so they can sell an upgrade path).

trynumber9 5y ago

It seems so. I primarily see it played for laughs in media these days, with hyper-advanced toilets or useless robots. Of course Japanese suppliers are involved in many advanced industries (image sensors, displays, solid-state storage, heavily-integrated packaging, battery cells) but now days they often outsource production too.

rejectedandsad 5y ago
The OLEDs all seem to be LG designed these days. With you on the image sensors though - a few years ago it was one of the most successful Sony divisions thanks to their Apple deal for the iPhone
- trynumber9 5y ago
  It depends, JOLED makes some panels for LG. Smaller scale but technically interesting.
njacobs5074 5y ago
Having spent a fair amount of time in Japan with the "hyper-advanced toilets", I would kill to have those easily accessible where I live now (South Africa). Not only did they leave my bum amazingly clean, a packet of toilet paper literally sat there and gathered dust. I think that there is a lot of tech in Japan focused on quality of life improvements that just sits in the background. Perhaps given the aging demographics of the society, this is a good fit.
- DonHopkins 5y ago
  Meanwhile in the rest of the world: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVHYTdGUAZM&ab_channel=ABCNews%28Australia%29 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVHYTdGUAZM&ab_channel=ABCNe... "It's not the Thunderdome. It's not Mad Max. We don't need to do that."

adrianN 5y ago

They make pretty good trains.

thaumasiotes 5y ago

They seem to be doing well in zippers.

suction 5y ago

I don't think this and many other myths about Japan have been debunked nearly enough yet. For instance, the "there is zero crime in Japan" myth which I still see and hear repeated almost daily both by Japanophiles and the Japanese themselves. Actually, I don't think there is any other culture in the world today where the reality differs so much from the myth-based image, and in almost every single aspect. One reason is that the focus of serious Western journalists has shifted towards China nowadays, and Japan has fallen to the wayside, mirroring its economic slump. The gap that this created has been filled with the views of American teens and twens who became interested in Japan through its pop culture. And of course, if you are an impressionable young person from a rural part of the US who moves to the center of Tokyo, you'll think you've moved to the future. But on close inspection, the technological prowess in Japan often begins and ends with little speakers and screens blaring a 24h loop of ads. Most of what is written about Japan nowadays is the work of Japanophiles with very little interest in actual research or comparison. There are only a handful of books about Japan worth reading: "The enigma of Japanese power" by van Wolferen (quite long and dry), and "Japan - A reinterpretation" by Patrick Smith (more to the point and more casually written), as well as "Demons and Dogs" by Kerr.

DiogenesKynikos 5y ago

Japan is not uniquely advanced, but by an objective measure of economic complexity, Japan does have the most advanced economy in the world. "Complexity" here essentially means that a country exports lots of different goods that other countries rarely export. A country that only exports unrefined petroleum will rank very low in complexity, while a country that exports a roughly even mix of goods across a wide range of different sectors will rank high in complexity. Japan is at the top of that ranking, followed by Switzerland. 1. https://atlas.cid.harvard.edu/countries/114 https://atlas.cid.harvard.edu/countries/114

throw0101a 5y ago

> Has the myth that Japan is a uniquely technically advanced society been debunked in culture yet? One hypothesis I saw put forward by a Japanese-American vlogger was that Japan basically "does not do software". * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqMSWuSeDPA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqMSWuSeDPA Software is treated as a second-class career in most major corporations. There's less cultural prestige with being a software engineer. I'm not sure that Japan is uniquely advanced, but it certainly is skilled in certain niches. Does any doubt the quality control of most things manufactured in Japan? Culturally it seems to be content with the old way of doing things in other ways (e.g., using cash (wrapped in envelopes)).

sumedh 5y ago
> Japan basically "does not do software". I guess they dont know how to do UX either. As a tourist using Japanese (English) websites was a terrible experience. I dont know why the web designs is still stuck in the 90's
- suction 5y ago
  I asked this exact question in Japan. The usual answer was "because it is safer" - when I asked to elaborate what "safer" meant, I was met with annoyed stares. Questioning things isn't really known in Japan, if someone sometime decided that it's safer, then that's what it is. Apart from some boutique startups, UX isn't even a thing in Japan. Similar to how it worked in the 80s in the US, UX is done by the same people who engineer the application who have no formal training or talent in UX.
  - neillyons 5y ago
    Good article on this from a few years ago https://randomwire.com/why-japanese-web-design-is-so-different/ https://randomwire.com/why-japanese-web-design-is-so-differe...
ascagnel_ 5y ago
> Software is treated as a second-class career in most major corporations. There's less cultural prestige with being a software engineer. While I can't comment on the latter half of this statement, the first still rings true even today. The PlayStation 5 came out and featured a completely new system interface, and there have been numerous complaints about everything from navigation to moving saves forward from the PS4 to the PS5. Microsoft, Sony's biggest competitor in the space, chose to iterate on their interface, and while there are still some complaints, keeping the same wheel let them focus on things like easing the transition between hardware boxes via game updates and syncing saves. For example, if you want to move a save game from a PS4 to a PS5 running an updated version of the game: - Start the game on the old PS4, and make sure the save is synced to the cloud service. - Install the PS4 version of the game on the PS5. On launch, the system didn't do a very good job of distinguishing the two versions of a game. - Launch the PS4 version of the game on the PS5, just to pull the game down from the cloud service. - Launch the PS5 version of the game on the PS5, so it can ingest the now-local cloud save. Microsoft set up some system-level infrastructure to handle installing the "correct" version of the game (useful since they're selling two boxes with different specs) and has always handled save games as cloud saves, so moving between platforms can be as simple as "install game, start game", provided the developer/publisher hasn't opted out of the upgrade infrastructure (so they can sell an upgrade path).