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You may be surprised to hear this: that part about "stay in one place, do not talk to each other and look straight down" is true even in Japan and Korea, even i

You may be surprised to hear this: that part about "stay in one place, do not talk to each other and look straight down" is true even in Japan and Korea, even in many high tech office settings. My vivid recollection when I worked in Japan was "These people are so nice outside the office, why do they become such expressionless robots inside?" I have many close friends in Japan (and we have done a lot of fun stuff outside the office), and so I would ask them this. They would shrug and say "At work we have to wear a mask, that is just the culture here, everyone has to conform to it." It felt oppressive to me, but they seem to take it in their stride.

LogicHoleFlaw 17y ago
China is historically the cultural juggernaut of east Asia. I don't know why the culture has taken on this aspect, but yes, it is ubiquitous in these nations.
- robak 17y ago
  very weird. I have the same feeling about places I worked in the US compared to Europe. People wear mask, are quiet and pretend someone they're not, don't trust anybody.
- mahmud 17y ago
  Perhaps an imperial history explains it? The early industrialists looked around for a social model for the "factory" and the people gathered there in, and the closest thing they found was the military and the warrior classes. The industrialists often refer to themselves a "moguls" and their large businesses as "empires"; you can see how their little ego might take on a whip and shape people in the imperial master/server image. You never see the same thing in ancient trades; agriculture, education, restaurants, etc. specially in China. Family or community owned industries. It's businesses operated by "forward looking" management that's learning and applying this robo-militaristic attitude. Henry Ford did the same thing, the man pretty much removed workers from society and built walled cities in the jungle. Though I think Henry the Great might be shooting for a "benovelant dictator" sort of title.
RK 17y ago
At our startup one of the main customers is a big Japanese company. They sent over a group of engineers for about a month once and the majority of the day they would just sit around the conference table, seemingly staring at their laptops in a trance, no typing, no mousing, no talking. When they weren't in the conference room and you'd talk to them they often seemed stressed out about getting the project completed, but then they seemed to sit around doing nothing (while maybe one guy was working with our engineers). That was always such a conflict in my mind, since we are all busy around the clock. But here these guys were worried, but not doing anything about it. It was one of those things I just chalked up to bizarre cultural differences. Edit: we've also worked with a small Japanese startup company with maybe 4 employees, and they bust their asses all the time. So part of the culture is really a corporate culture difference as well.

LogicHoleFlaw 17y ago

China is historically the cultural juggernaut of east Asia. I don't know why the culture has taken on this aspect, but yes, it is ubiquitous in these nations.

robak 17y ago
very weird. I have the same feeling about places I worked in the US compared to Europe. People wear mask, are quiet and pretend someone they're not, don't trust anybody.
mahmud 17y ago
Perhaps an imperial history explains it? The early industrialists looked around for a social model for the "factory" and the people gathered there in, and the closest thing they found was the military and the warrior classes. The industrialists often refer to themselves a "moguls" and their large businesses as "empires"; you can see how their little ego might take on a whip and shape people in the imperial master/server image. You never see the same thing in ancient trades; agriculture, education, restaurants, etc. specially in China. Family or community owned industries. It's businesses operated by "forward looking" management that's learning and applying this robo-militaristic attitude. Henry Ford did the same thing, the man pretty much removed workers from society and built walled cities in the jungle. Though I think Henry the Great might be shooting for a "benovelant dictator" sort of title.

RK 17y ago

At our startup one of the main customers is a big Japanese company. They sent over a group of engineers for about a month once and the majority of the day they would just sit around the conference table, seemingly staring at their laptops in a trance, no typing, no mousing, no talking. When they weren't in the conference room and you'd talk to them they often seemed stressed out about getting the project completed, but then they seemed to sit around doing nothing (while maybe one guy was working with our engineers). That was always such a conflict in my mind, since we are all busy around the clock. But here these guys were worried, but not doing anything about it. It was one of those things I just chalked up to bizarre cultural differences. Edit: we've also worked with a small Japanese startup company with maybe 4 employees, and they bust their asses all the time. So part of the culture is really a corporate culture difference as well.