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While I don't think sweeping generalizations are useful, there do seem to be some categories in which Japan has seen slower modernization than others. This doe

While I don't think sweeping generalizations are useful, there do seem to be some categories in which Japan has seen slower modernization than others. This doesn't have to imply anything more than that, just like the prevalence of copper broadband doesn't say much more about the US than the fact that the US has some pretty antiquated broadband technology. You can argue about "coulds" and "shoulds", but it's always more complicated than that. My personal experience in this space is specifically related to "RPA / Robotic Process Automation". There is significant RPA demand (and growing) in Japan due to the significant number of old systems that have never been modernized, preventing traditional forms of API-centric automation from happening. I learned about this when consulting for an RPA product team, and was surprised that a disproportionately large percentage of their prospective customers were in the Japanese market. I won't claim that Japan is "stuck in the 90s", but there are certainly some categories in which there seems to be a cultural tendency towards caution / away from modernization for the sake of it. This isn't inherently good or bad, just interesting. It's part of what's fueling the RPA hype cycle, which is arguably just a different path to modernization than the one many other companies followed. Acknowledging this doesn't have to be disparaging. > For some reason it's culturally acceptable to make these kinds of comments about Japan in English language forums. But I don't really understand why... Japan is no doubt very different from other countries in various respects. But it doesn't seem helpful to say essentially "we are 30 years ahead of Japan". Examining the rate of progress and current state of things doesn't automatically have to imply there was intent to disparage or conclude anything negative. I realize that some people will do just that, but I'm just trying to say that not all discussion is coming from this place - I personally find the RPA thing fascinating, and it helped me better understand the nature of the problems some companies are trying to solve, and why those problems are more challenging in the Japanese market than others.

new299 4y ago
Right, I absolutely agree. It's interesting to compare, in fact I've written about the startup environment comparing the US to Japan before: https://41j.com/blog/2022/05/startups-and-japan/ https://41j.com/blog/2022/05/startups-and-japan/ But when people make broad statements based on single events it doesn't come off as a thoughtful comparison but something else entirely...
kbenson 4y ago
I wonder how much of this is because of early adoption and then a laggy update cycle because of that. There's quite a few European countries that look much more modern than the U.S. in their roads and ports and buildings, and it's always been my pet theory that later modernization has something to do with it. Much of the major U.S. infrastructure was created in the 50's and 60's as we went though a major modernization (the highway system, for example), but that means that all those "modern" works are now half a century old or more. Countries that went through modernization more recently often look much newer to my eyes. Was Japan early to adopt technology in the 90's? If so, maybe what we're seeing is that modernization effort left them somewhat stuck at that level in some industries, just like it sometimes feels like the U.S. is stuck a decade or two or three behind in some industries based on the last time the majority of it retooled and modernized. If so, maybe we'll see another modernization effort soon. In some respects this is just like buying a brand new top of the line TV with all the bells and whistles, and then skipping the next 2-3 cycles of innovation trends until the current TV seems like it's just not cutting it anymore. That seems to be a natural cycle for a lot of things.

new299 4y ago

Right, I absolutely agree. It's interesting to compare, in fact I've written about the startup environment comparing the US to Japan before: https://41j.com/blog/2022/05/startups-and-japan/ https://41j.com/blog/2022/05/startups-and-japan/ But when people make broad statements based on single events it doesn't come off as a thoughtful comparison but something else entirely...

kbenson 4y ago

I wonder how much of this is because of early adoption and then a laggy update cycle because of that. There's quite a few European countries that look much more modern than the U.S. in their roads and ports and buildings, and it's always been my pet theory that later modernization has something to do with it. Much of the major U.S. infrastructure was created in the 50's and 60's as we went though a major modernization (the highway system, for example), but that means that all those "modern" works are now half a century old or more. Countries that went through modernization more recently often look much newer to my eyes. Was Japan early to adopt technology in the 90's? If so, maybe what we're seeing is that modernization effort left them somewhat stuck at that level in some industries, just like it sometimes feels like the U.S. is stuck a decade or two or three behind in some industries based on the last time the majority of it retooled and modernized. If so, maybe we'll see another modernization effort soon. In some respects this is just like buying a brand new top of the line TV with all the bells and whistles, and then skipping the next 2-3 cycles of innovation trends until the current TV seems like it's just not cutting it anymore. That seems to be a natural cycle for a lot of things.