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From my years with my Japanese wife, and the time I've spend in Japan. I've learned that the key difference of Japanese culture from American culture is is tha

by joshuak 13y ago

From my years with my Japanese wife, and the time I've spend in Japan. I've learned that the key difference of Japanese culture from American culture is is that americans consider quantity as the measure of value, and Japanese consider quality to be that measure. Japanese people will pay more for the higher quality of equivalent goods, and are interested to learn the difference. While americans feel cheated if they pay more for a great meal served in small portions, and consider stores like costco and k-mart to be some of the best shopping choices. I can assure you if you think Japanese people are missing the point by copying others you are very much mistaken. They are not making a copy, they are embracing the point.

adventured 13y ago
I think this is far too blanket of a statement given the radical diversity of America in most every respect. Many Americans certainly will go for the 50% cheaper, 85% as good product. And yet America is the largest market for the iPhone, and it does particularly well here. In the not so distant past, superior Sony products - amongst people I know - used to be heavily desired for their quality. I don't think very many people consider K-Mart to be among the best shopping choices, quite the opposite in fact; ditto Wal-Mart. Being economical doesn't mean they consider it ideal shopping.
- joshuak 13y ago
  It's very difficult to grok without seeing it at many levels for many years. And your counter point is a good example of why. It's easy to point to Americans who have plenty of money and so shop at finer stores. Nevertheless, at every level the difference between cultures is quality vs quantity. Regardless if you and I shop at K-Mart you can not deny the market share those types of stores hold in the US. Most people who don't go to them associate them with being poor, or unfashionable products. Not because we truly evaluate, or even know how to evaluate the quality of the products they sell. This is why rich Americans are just as likely to buy poor quality expensive products. The measure is exclusivity, or status symbol, which is an aspect of quantity. Successful Americans rarely show off their good taste and fine quality, they show off the amount of money they have. Whereas a Japanese person will go into a K-Mart or a Forever-21(low price current fashion 'knock-offs') for that matter and look at the stitching and actually judge the quality. There are poor people in Japan, who wold never buy some types of american products because they know that while it's cheep it won't last very long so the net value is lower. I rarely, if ever, see an American make that trade off (especially in business). In a quality oriented society, people actually build skills to judge quality over a life time. Not every single person mind you, but as a culture we each lean in a direction.

by joshuak 13y ago

adventured 13y ago

I think this is far too blanket of a statement given the radical diversity of America in most every respect. Many Americans certainly will go for the 50% cheaper, 85% as good product. And yet America is the largest market for the iPhone, and it does particularly well here. In the not so distant past, superior Sony products - amongst people I know - used to be heavily desired for their quality. I don't think very many people consider K-Mart to be among the best shopping choices, quite the opposite in fact; ditto Wal-Mart. Being economical doesn't mean they consider it ideal shopping.

joshuak 13y ago
It's very difficult to grok without seeing it at many levels for many years. And your counter point is a good example of why. It's easy to point to Americans who have plenty of money and so shop at finer stores. Nevertheless, at every level the difference between cultures is quality vs quantity. Regardless if you and I shop at K-Mart you can not deny the market share those types of stores hold in the US. Most people who don't go to them associate them with being poor, or unfashionable products. Not because we truly evaluate, or even know how to evaluate the quality of the products they sell. This is why rich Americans are just as likely to buy poor quality expensive products. The measure is exclusivity, or status symbol, which is an aspect of quantity. Successful Americans rarely show off their good taste and fine quality, they show off the amount of money they have. Whereas a Japanese person will go into a K-Mart or a Forever-21(low price current fashion 'knock-offs') for that matter and look at the stitching and actually judge the quality. There are poor people in Japan, who wold never buy some types of american products because they know that while it's cheep it won't last very long so the net value is lower. I rarely, if ever, see an American make that trade off (especially in business). In a quality oriented society, people actually build skills to judge quality over a life time. Not every single person mind you, but as a culture we each lean in a direction.