3 ms·

how counterproductive their entire culture is What a sentence! Instead of arguing and pointing out obvious, I highly recommend you read something about Japan,

how counterproductive their entire culture is What a sentence! Instead of arguing and pointing out obvious, I highly recommend you read something about Japan, other than "internet news". Putting a label on someone's culture at least calls for a few years of actually living there. After 10 years in US I still wouldn't dare giving a grade to American culture, it would take a tome (and I'd still be wrong), let alone labeling it with a single word. Disclaimer: I'm not Japanese P.S. Canon&Nikon, despite their "counterproductive" cultures, pretty much destroyed American and German photo equipment industries. These days it feels awkward to say "Kodak moment", most kids will probably ask "who is Kodak?"

jibiki 17y ago
I upvoted you because I agree in this case, but I disagree with your principles. > Putting a label on someone's culture at least calls for a few years of actually living there. No, it doesn't. To give an example, I have no problem labeling Aztec culture as violent. (Here's the long, boring thread debating this point: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=548429 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=548429 )
Confusion 17y ago
It wouldn't really make sense to call Hello Kitty (adding injury to insult ;)) counterproductive, now would it? I was referring to culture with respect to labour. I think the suicide rate is a serious clue, but stories like the one of jbm are more relevant. I don't need to live somewhere to be able to point out cultural flaws, like I don't need to drink alcohol to point out the dangers of ethanol intoxication.
jbm 17y ago
Disclaimer: I live in Japan, I'm Canadian. My girlfriend works at Proto, a company that produces a bunch of entertainment-related websites. Large company, 10k people. Between meetings and actual work, she spends approximately 15 hours a DAY at work. This is not abnormal. Another friend who works at a kindergarden works 6 days a week (sunday is spent preparing lessons) and about the same (15-16 hours a day). Read that again, tell me how that is not "counterproductive". In my girlfriend's case, the meetings alone take up 3-4 hours in a day. She leaves at 7 AM and often gets back after midnight. And for what? So that the world can find out the latest gossip about Korean dramas with an easy-to-use GUI? While working on my startup, I took a small contract at Fujitsu. I was responsible for cleaning up the translations on some of their cell phones (the Docomo F1100 being the main one - a story for another day). I had a chat with some people there and they told me how the game works; Fujitsu gives a small salary, and pays overtime. As a result, average workers sit around for half the day, then work like nuts during overtime to finish their work. A lot of younger workers realize this is madness, but keep in mind that the people in charge generally came up during a worker shortage in the "bubble" era. These were less competent people who now have seniority in a seniority-based system. Can you imagine how depressing it is to work on a project that you know is going to fail? That's life. I love Japan, I love the trains, I love the politeness and I love the people. However, given a level playing field (IE: No banks artificially propping up a company to avoid declaring losses on their own records), it wouldn't take much to break the back of a lot of local companies. (As much as I hate admitting it, but I can't work effectively after 8 or 9 hours - and the Japanese don't have superior body operating systems)
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]

jibiki 17y ago

I upvoted you because I agree in this case, but I disagree with your principles. > Putting a label on someone's culture at least calls for a few years of actually living there. No, it doesn't. To give an example, I have no problem labeling Aztec culture as violent. (Here's the long, boring thread debating this point: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=548429 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=548429 )

Confusion 17y ago

It wouldn't really make sense to call Hello Kitty (adding injury to insult ;)) counterproductive, now would it? I was referring to culture with respect to labour. I think the suicide rate is a serious clue, but stories like the one of jbm are more relevant. I don't need to live somewhere to be able to point out cultural flaws, like I don't need to drink alcohol to point out the dangers of ethanol intoxication.

jbm 17y ago

Disclaimer: I live in Japan, I'm Canadian. My girlfriend works at Proto, a company that produces a bunch of entertainment-related websites. Large company, 10k people. Between meetings and actual work, she spends approximately 15 hours a DAY at work. This is not abnormal. Another friend who works at a kindergarden works 6 days a week (sunday is spent preparing lessons) and about the same (15-16 hours a day). Read that again, tell me how that is not "counterproductive". In my girlfriend's case, the meetings alone take up 3-4 hours in a day. She leaves at 7 AM and often gets back after midnight. And for what? So that the world can find out the latest gossip about Korean dramas with an easy-to-use GUI? While working on my startup, I took a small contract at Fujitsu. I was responsible for cleaning up the translations on some of their cell phones (the Docomo F1100 being the main one - a story for another day). I had a chat with some people there and they told me how the game works; Fujitsu gives a small salary, and pays overtime. As a result, average workers sit around for half the day, then work like nuts during overtime to finish their work. A lot of younger workers realize this is madness, but keep in mind that the people in charge generally came up during a worker shortage in the "bubble" era. These were less competent people who now have seniority in a seniority-based system. Can you imagine how depressing it is to work on a project that you know is going to fail? That's life. I love Japan, I love the trains, I love the politeness and I love the people. However, given a level playing field (IE: No banks artificially propping up a company to avoid declaring losses on their own records), it wouldn't take much to break the back of a lot of local companies. (As much as I hate admitting it, but I can't work effectively after 8 or 9 hours - and the Japanese don't have superior body operating systems)

deleted 17y ago
[deleted]