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The overall point of the editorial might be right, but some of the metrics that it mentions are random or problematic. The number of high-rise buildings constr
by surrealize 15y ago
The overall point of the editorial might be right, but some of the metrics that it mentions are random or problematic. The number of high-rise buildings constructed? That says more about how little buildable land Japan has than it says about the strength of the Japanese economy.
The article also mentions electricity "output" (a.k.a. consumption), which has grown faster in Japan than in the US. The article spins it as an indicator of the strength of the Japanese economy, but you could just as easily describe it as a success story about US conservation efforts.
And some of it is just strange. Michelin ratings as a measure of the strength of an economy? Cultural factors matter as much as economic strength, there.
Japan might actually be doing better than people in the US think, but this article isn't a good argument for that position.
- gwern 15y ago> And some of it is just strange. Michelin ratings as a measure of the strength of an economy? Cultural factors matter as much as economic strength, there. I was in a theater on the 4th to watch _Nausicaa_, and one of the previews was for a documentary about some sushi chef. Breathlessly it mentioned that he was the first Japanese restaurant to receive 3 Michelin stars. I was a little astonished. 'Yes, I know 3 Michelin stars is very hard to get, but this must've been in the last 20 or 30 years - how could Michelin have deprived Japan of any 3-star rankings for so long after WWII? Their restaurants are not unusually better these days than they were over the last century or two.' The obvious answer is that Michelin didn't have any real presence but began ramping up relatively recently (perhaps during the bubble). So it wouldn't be surprising if the coverage continued to increase despite whatever the true trend of Japanese restaurant quality is (up or down).
- learc83 15y agoFrom what I've been able to find, it looks like Michelin didn't review Japan at all until around 2007-2008.
- gwern 15y agoThat would make sense.
- nl 15y agoMichelin Guides only cover Europe (including the UK), the US (not Canada), Japan, Hong Kong & Macau: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelin_Guide#Other_ratings http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelin_Guide#Other_ratings
- lancewiggs 15y agoThe movie is called Jiro Dreams of Sushi. My recollection is that Jiro's tiny restaurant was the first Sushi restaurant to receive 3 stars, and it received them in the first year it was visited by reviewers. The movie itself is a stunning testament to the power of doing something narrow and deep extraordinarily well. I cannot recommend it enough.