5 ms·

Just don't expect any "disruptive innovations" is all I'm saying.

by Pitarou 13y ago

VexXtreme 13y ago
Spot on. The creative/disruptive spirit is next to non-existent in this country. Conformism and herd behavior seem to be the national past time.
- hkmurakami 13y ago
  I'm actually not even sure if individuals with such a spirit can even do much in the environment (funding, exit options, corruption, backdoor dealing, etc.) they are in. Piggybacking on trends abroad (like how Coiny is cloning Square) might actually be a wise strategy given their context.
  - eru 13y ago
    Germany's Rocket Internet is doing pretty well on piggy backing. It would probably work in Japan, too.
- kenshiro_o 13y ago
  Still Japan is the country where companies such as Sony and Nintendo originate from and the people over there certainly can be creative/disruptive. One such company that can truly change the world as opposed to creating another chat app is euglena: http://www.euglena.jp/en/ http://www.euglena.jp/en/
  - exo_duz 13y ago
    Sony and Nintendo is now stagnating. So I'm not sure what innovation is anymore in Japan. The conformism, herd and inflexibility of generations helped the downward spiral of Japan. Which is really such a shame from such a beautiful country.
    - kenshiro_o 13y ago
      Maybe now but they have innovated in the past, and Nintendo still does to a certain degree. It's not like their society became more conformist all of a sudden. In fact it was probably even more so a couple of years/decades earlier. Look at the manga industry: there are mangas that touch on virtually any genre. That is a testament to the creativity of some of the people in this land. I am not saying they will become as creative as the people in SV but I believe they definitely have the potential to bring innovative concepts to life.
      - lmm 13y ago
        Or look at board gaming in recent year. Japan is certainly capable of disruptive innovation.
      - exo_duz 13y ago
        I lived in Japan for 6 years and found that there is no more innovation there. It's because of the way they are a self preserving economy. Things that are available in Japan can't be used overseas. Which is the main reason why they are falling behind. TVs, mobile phones (before the iPhone came out in Japan), voltage aren't available to be used overseas. View my comments here from a previous thread https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6717211 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6717211
- Pitarou 13y ago
  No, no. The animal spirits are still there. But the structure of the economy is locked down tight. New business models that threaten to disrupt the established oligopolies are routinely killed off through the simple mechanism of outlawing them. Still, there is room for innovation in new product categories. And technology is changing fast enough that new categories appear every few years. Take mobile gaming, for instance. And it comes as no surprise to me that the Number 1 Bitcoin exchange is Japanese. They have to deal in Bitcoins because the rest of the financial sector is locked down so tight that even Paypal can barely operate here.
  - gwern 13y ago
    > And it comes as no surprise to me that the Number 1 Bitcoin exchange is Japanese. MtGox's not Japanese, really. It was founded by Jed McCaleb (American) who may have been living in NYC when he started it, and was bought out by, I think, some Europeans. It may now be located in Japan and have some Japanese employees, but in a way, it is an exception that proves the rule.
    - Pitarou 13y ago
      That's kind of disappointing. Why is Mt. Gox in Japan at all, then? Is it simply because of the popularity of trading card games in Japan?
      - gwern 13y ago
        I have no idea. Japan doesn't seem like a great place to be doing something like MtGox (and AFAIK, _Magic: The Gathering_ is not popular in Japan).

Just don't expect any "disruptive innovations" is all I'm saying.

by Pitarou 13y ago

Just don't expect any "disruptive innovations" is all I'm saying.

Spot on. The creative/disruptive spirit is next to non-existent in this country. Conformism and herd behavior seem to be the national past time.

hkmurakami 13y ago
I'm actually not even sure if individuals with such a spirit can even do much in the environment (funding, exit options, corruption, backdoor dealing, etc.) they are in. Piggybacking on trends abroad (like how Coiny is cloning Square) might actually be a wise strategy given their context.
- eru 13y ago
  Germany's Rocket Internet is doing pretty well on piggy backing. It would probably work in Japan, too.
kenshiro_o 13y ago
Still Japan is the country where companies such as Sony and Nintendo originate from and the people over there certainly can be creative/disruptive. One such company that can truly change the world as opposed to creating another chat app is euglena: http://www.euglena.jp/en/ http://www.euglena.jp/en/
- exo_duz 13y ago
  Sony and Nintendo is now stagnating. So I'm not sure what innovation is anymore in Japan. The conformism, herd and inflexibility of generations helped the downward spiral of Japan. Which is really such a shame from such a beautiful country.
  - kenshiro_o 13y ago
    Maybe now but they have innovated in the past, and Nintendo still does to a certain degree. It's not like their society became more conformist all of a sudden. In fact it was probably even more so a couple of years/decades earlier. Look at the manga industry: there are mangas that touch on virtually any genre. That is a testament to the creativity of some of the people in this land. I am not saying they will become as creative as the people in SV but I believe they definitely have the potential to bring innovative concepts to life.
    - lmm 13y ago
      Or look at board gaming in recent year. Japan is certainly capable of disruptive innovation.
    - exo_duz 13y ago
      I lived in Japan for 6 years and found that there is no more innovation there. It's because of the way they are a self preserving economy. Things that are available in Japan can't be used overseas. Which is the main reason why they are falling behind. TVs, mobile phones (before the iPhone came out in Japan), voltage aren't available to be used overseas. View my comments here from a previous thread https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6717211 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6717211
Pitarou 13y ago
No, no. The animal spirits are still there. But the structure of the economy is locked down tight. New business models that threaten to disrupt the established oligopolies are routinely killed off through the simple mechanism of outlawing them. Still, there is room for innovation in new product categories. And technology is changing fast enough that new categories appear every few years. Take mobile gaming, for instance. And it comes as no surprise to me that the Number 1 Bitcoin exchange is Japanese. They have to deal in Bitcoins because the rest of the financial sector is locked down so tight that even Paypal can barely operate here.
- gwern 13y ago
  > And it comes as no surprise to me that the Number 1 Bitcoin exchange is Japanese. MtGox's not Japanese, really. It was founded by Jed McCaleb (American) who may have been living in NYC when he started it, and was bought out by, I think, some Europeans. It may now be located in Japan and have some Japanese employees, but in a way, it is an exception that proves the rule.
  - Pitarou 13y ago
    That's kind of disappointing. Why is Mt. Gox in Japan at all, then? Is it simply because of the popularity of trading card games in Japan?
    - gwern 13y ago
      I have no idea. Japan doesn't seem like a great place to be doing something like MtGox (and AFAIK, _Magic: The Gathering_ is not popular in Japan).