3 ms·
> Before anyone dismisses the Japanese for using old tech - whether it’s fax machines or funny looking flip phones, I’ll say that it’s truly admirable of them t
by patrec 3y ago
> Before anyone dismisses the Japanese for using old tech - whether it’s fax machines or funny looking flip phones, I’ll say that it’s truly admirable of them to always focus on the problem than getting excited over new tech.
Excluding totalitarian communist monarchies, the Japanese are, human-capital adjusted, about the least productive people on earth. So they are not actually "focusing on the problem".
> Has that prevented them from advancing as a society? No.
The US pumped out a number of popular and populist movies and books in the 80ies and 90ies that betray a real fear of being overtaken by Japan. The notion seems completely ridiculous nowadays, and a glance of the GDP development of both countries over the last four decades will immediately make clear why.
> Has that prevented new innovations? Certainly not.
So what important innovations have come out of Japan in the last 40 years?
Japan has a lot of admirable qualities, but a pragmatic focus on productivity and innovation is not one of them.
- wazzer 3y agohave you got any sources for those claims? I’d be interested in learning more!
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- patrec 3y agoProductivity: https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?QueryId=107229 https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?QueryId=107229 Human Capital (let's take Pisa scores as a proxy): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programme_for_International_Student_Assessment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programme_for_International_St... GDP growth, JPN vs US https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/national-gdp-constant-usd-wb?tab=chart&time=1980..latest&country=JPN~USA https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/national-gdp-constant-usd... (Worth pointing out that the US population has grown by ~1/3 whilst Japan has remained about constant, so per capita the effect is not as pronounced)
- patrec 3y agoP.S. Movies: Great example: https://youtu.be/Km6bFBSVty4?t=74 https://youtu.be/Km6bFBSVty4?t=74 https://www.pastposters.com/details.php?prodId=4514 https://www.pastposters.com/details.php?prodId=4514 https://filmandfurniture.com/2014/09/blade-runner-design-whiskey-glasses/ https://filmandfurniture.com/2014/09/blade-runner-design-whi... Books: Neuromancer etc. Good compilation: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/JapanTakesOverTheWorld https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/JapanTakesOverTh...
- gen220 3y agoOne point, I would be curious what the numbers would look like if you subtract immigrants from the US figures (since Japan has effectively no immigration). Stepping back... having higher "productivity" or "GDP growth" does not make a cut-and-dry "winner". Everything is a trade-off.
- patrec 3y ago> Stepping back... having higher "productivity" or "GDP growth" does not make a cut-and-dry "winner". Everything is a trade-off. OK, so what's the upside to working almost twice as long to achieve the same output as an American? Doesn't seem to be happiness, because Japan seems to score a good deal lower there as well, and that's after GDP adjustment: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/gdp-vs-happiness?country=~JPN~USA https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/gdp-vs-happiness?country=... As I said, I'm aware of plenty of metrics that Japan does significantly better than the US on, but I'd like to see one that's linked to low productivity and low growth.
- sheepscreek 3y agoVideo games (Sony, Nintendo). Manga, Anime!