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90s and 00s Japan was truly another world. This represents well the diversity of ideas for an electronic device. Nowadays everything is just a smartphone or ta

90s and 00s Japan was truly another world. This represents well the diversity of ideas for an electronic device. Nowadays everything is just a smartphone or tablet from 2 or 3 relevant manufacturers. Boring. Sony is a shadow of it’s former self even though PlayStation is a success, and Casio is tiny and only focuses on niches (watches, instruments).

agumonkey 5y ago
Isn't it a natural course for most industries ? it starts like a wild and creative jungle, then settles on a small set of solutions.
baybal2 5y ago
Japan in nineties also seen the most absurd property bubble, which has only met its peer now in Chinese property bubble. Japan in nineties also seen the peak of the most absurd corporate culture in the world, which was a strange broken phone image of the Western one. Japan in nineties was been a capital of vice on size unseen since Sodom and Gomorrah. Japan in nineties was more ambitious, and more crazy, but in a bad way. What Japanese buddies of mine tell of it — "Nineties were a time when foreigners wanted to get into Japan, and Japanese wanted to get out"
- phreeza 5y ago
  Can you elaborate on the vice part? My mental image of Japan in that period is pretty conformist. Which kind of vice was rampant?
  - SuoDuanDao 5y ago
    Probably sexual - the 'tentacle porn' stereotype must come from somewhere.
    - kurthr 5y ago
      Well, it's at least 200 years old: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dream_of_the_Fisherman%27s_Wife https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dream_of_the_Fisherman%27s...
    - baybal2 5y ago
      Not that in particular, it's Japan turning from an easy going, and simple society into a polar opposite, obsessed with profit, and stimulation like some worst gambling addicts
      - SuoDuanDao 5y ago
        That is surprising, given Japan's reputation pre-1945. I guess their equivalent of the baby boom generation was an outlier in terms of drive?
        syntheweave 5y ago
        It was. The post-war conditions, with the cooperation of American occupying forces, made Japan scramble to reinvent itself from a militaristic industrial power(from the Meiji period until 1945) into a consumer corporate economy with strong export businesses, and it did so in a top-down collective fashion - which has made external observers remark things to the effect of "it seems like Japan is stuck in the 1950's", since the model remained in place, everything in lock-step, for decades. This can be studied through the history of the major companies that emerged from that period like the auto manufacturers(Toyota, Honda) and electronics companies(Casio, Philips, Sony, Roland and more). This culture is also reflected in more detail through prominent figures in the boom generation that came of age in the 70s, e.g. Hayao Miyazaki(animation) and Shigeru Miyamoto(games) - both extremely driven, fastidious types. The model worked and created the "economic miracle", but it also set the stage for an enormous property bubble in the 80s. I recommend reading "Japan, inc." to get a sense of the bubble period in the form of a manga focused on finance and economics. Ever since the bubble burst, Japan could be described as "unmotivated" - a combination of being chained to the structure of existing institutions and seeing demographic declines set in earlier than other nations. While the country is still known for a fastidious corporate culture, the demographics are catching up with it now and suggest what things will look like in countries facing population decline going forward.
- CapitalistCartr 5y ago
  Japanese property bubble was the late Eighties. Stock market tanked in 1990, real estate followed in 1991. Most of the Eighties I heard "The Japanese are taking over America. They're winning an economic war."
  - mikepurvis 5y ago
    Doc (1955): "No wonder this circuit failed; it says 'Made in Japan'." Marty (1985): "What do you mean, Doc? All the best stuff is made in Japan."
msrenee 5y ago
Casio did make at least one smart phone around 2014. It was ruggedized and waterproof. Not very powerful and the operating system was out of date the day it came out, but I remember it fondly. It was great for fieldwork, since I didn't have to worry if it got wet slogging through streams or busted against riprap on the way up the bank.

agumonkey 5y ago

Isn't it a natural course for most industries ? it starts like a wild and creative jungle, then settles on a small set of solutions.

baybal2 5y ago

Japan in nineties also seen the most absurd property bubble, which has only met its peer now in Chinese property bubble. Japan in nineties also seen the peak of the most absurd corporate culture in the world, which was a strange broken phone image of the Western one. Japan in nineties was been a capital of vice on size unseen since Sodom and Gomorrah. Japan in nineties was more ambitious, and more crazy, but in a bad way. What Japanese buddies of mine tell of it — "Nineties were a time when foreigners wanted to get into Japan, and Japanese wanted to get out"

phreeza 5y ago
Can you elaborate on the vice part? My mental image of Japan in that period is pretty conformist. Which kind of vice was rampant?
- SuoDuanDao 5y ago
  Probably sexual - the 'tentacle porn' stereotype must come from somewhere.
  - kurthr 5y ago
    Well, it's at least 200 years old: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dream_of_the_Fisherman%27s_Wife https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dream_of_the_Fisherman%27s...
  - baybal2 5y ago
    Not that in particular, it's Japan turning from an easy going, and simple society into a polar opposite, obsessed with profit, and stimulation like some worst gambling addicts
    - SuoDuanDao 5y ago
      That is surprising, given Japan's reputation pre-1945. I guess their equivalent of the baby boom generation was an outlier in terms of drive?
      - syntheweave 5y ago
        It was. The post-war conditions, with the cooperation of American occupying forces, made Japan scramble to reinvent itself from a militaristic industrial power(from the Meiji period until 1945) into a consumer corporate economy with strong export businesses, and it did so in a top-down collective fashion - which has made external observers remark things to the effect of "it seems like Japan is stuck in the 1950's", since the model remained in place, everything in lock-step, for decades. This can be studied through the history of the major companies that emerged from that period like the auto manufacturers(Toyota, Honda) and electronics companies(Casio, Philips, Sony, Roland and more). This culture is also reflected in more detail through prominent figures in the boom generation that came of age in the 70s, e.g. Hayao Miyazaki(animation) and Shigeru Miyamoto(games) - both extremely driven, fastidious types. The model worked and created the "economic miracle", but it also set the stage for an enormous property bubble in the 80s. I recommend reading "Japan, inc." to get a sense of the bubble period in the form of a manga focused on finance and economics. Ever since the bubble burst, Japan could be described as "unmotivated" - a combination of being chained to the structure of existing institutions and seeing demographic declines set in earlier than other nations. While the country is still known for a fastidious corporate culture, the demographics are catching up with it now and suggest what things will look like in countries facing population decline going forward.
CapitalistCartr 5y ago
Japanese property bubble was the late Eighties. Stock market tanked in 1990, real estate followed in 1991. Most of the Eighties I heard "The Japanese are taking over America. They're winning an economic war."
- mikepurvis 5y ago
  Doc (1955): "No wonder this circuit failed; it says 'Made in Japan'." Marty (1985): "What do you mean, Doc? All the best stuff is made in Japan."

msrenee 5y ago

Casio did make at least one smart phone around 2014. It was ruggedized and waterproof. Not very powerful and the operating system was out of date the day it came out, but I remember it fondly. It was great for fieldwork, since I didn't have to worry if it got wet slogging through streams or busted against riprap on the way up the bank.