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> our work force just did not compare to Japan in its devout dedication to the customer and making sure that parts That is true. But a big problem with Japanes

> our work force just did not compare to Japan in its devout dedication to the customer and making sure that parts That is true. But a big problem with Japanese companies is the insider/outsider mentality. Japanese employees are loyal to their boss and their company before any other person. These “other people” include the general public (and their safety) and the actual stockholders of the companies. If something goes wrong, everyone in the company will hide it. Whistleblowing is completely against Japanese culture and obedience to authority. This mentality showed itself in numerous cases, most recently with Takata airbags (employees know about the problem but covered it up). Japanese cosmetics giant Kanebo had a product that caused permanent blemishes on the face. Even after the company was well aware of the problem, they covered it up. Other examples include the Toshiba and Olympus scandals. Japanese quality is good, but I would never trust Japanese products in any safety related thing (such as pharmaceuticals). PS: IMHO, Japanese universities are mediocre. Japanese corporate success is mostly due to the exploitation of their employees. /rant

michaelbuddy 11y ago
I've heard the tough thing is getting into the universities. once you're in supposedly the challenge is a bit lighter. Just what I heard. never attended.
- hotaru29 11y ago
  Sorry, I brought up another topic :) In Japan there are two types of universities: national universities (such as University of Tokyo/University of Kyoto) and many private universities. For Bachelor students, getting into national universities (especially prestigious ones) are extremely difficult. But when someone successfully entered a university, no special effort is needed to graduate. Passing is the norm, even with minimum effort on the part of the student. The first three years are spent mostly on club activities. The last year-and-a-half is spend on job search. After someone secured a job, they have very little incentive to work for the remainder of their stay. So, it is basically a question of doing as little as possible and holding out until the job starts. There are perhaps 3 or 4 good private universities (Keio, Waseda, etc...). (They are actually fairly mediocre by international standards, but many in Japan think they are great. ()) The rest of the private universities are absolute garbage. The majority of people will go to this type of university. Many of these were upgraded "colleges" for women who had ambitions to become housewives, but have not yet found suitable husbands. Especially with the falling number of students, these universities will accept literally anyone. In these universities it is also extremely easy to graduate, so any degree from them is essentially worthless. A big problem with these universities is truancy (e.g., http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=7716805 http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=7716805). These places are very similar to bad high schools (in the way classes are given and students are treated). () Many in Japan think that Waseda is one of the best elite universities in Japan and well regarded world wide. Yet, international rankings shows that it is lower-ranked than the University of Belgrade, Beihang University, and Federal University of Minas Gerais. http://www.shanghairanking.com/ARWU2014.html http://www.shanghairanking.com/ARWU2014.html
  - ectoplasm 11y ago
    It's really frustrating going to grad school in Japan if you did your undergrad at a good school the West.
- patio11 11y ago
  Japanese universities represent the absolute triumph of the signaling theory of education: given that you've passed our (incredibly rigorous) entrance examination, literally nothing that happens between now and your job interviews matters. Supposing that a ham sandwich had successfully passed the examination for, I don't know, Constitutional Law, the ham sandwich would graduate with ease, and not meaningfully bring down average student participation in its classes. (Things are slightly more rigorous in engineering.) Japanese firms assume that all training which matters happens at the company.
gohrt 11y ago
This is a strange comment. USA companies also cover up embarassing failures, until caught our by the public. You say that employees are not loyal to customers, but you don't disagree with "devout dedication to the customer" or the perfect-detail-obsession How do you distinguish "safety" from "quality"? What are the universities doing wrong, if they aren't holding back the worker from achieving results in industry?
- stretchwithme 11y ago
  GM totally did with an ignition switch. They fixed the part but never let the customers with the defective part know there was a problem. http://www.npr.org/2014/03/31/297158876/timeline-a-history-of-gms-ignition-switch-defect http://www.npr.org/2014/03/31/297158876/timeline-a-history-o...
  - kazinator 11y ago
    I didn't know about a secret warranty to replace the bad ignition switch in 5th gen Honda Civics until mine started cutting out while driving. Including once when trying to complete a left turn in the face of oncoming traffic.
  - hga 11y ago
    That's in large part because, as the above tendentious timeline omits, a key engineer at GM was lying to everyone about the switch, which he initially approved knowing it didn't pass the required specifications. Some fault GM's systems and procedures, but it's hard to imagine successful ones that can deal with engineers lying.
- hotaru29 11y ago
  > USA companies also cover up embarassing failures, until caught our by the public. I did not say that US companies are evil. But American employees are much less cooperative with evil companies. Americans in general are much less submissive and obedient to authority figures. Americans also tend the view morally questionable things as wrong or right (evil/not evil), while in Japan it is more gray. Furthermore, Americans can exit and enter the job market. If you are unhappy with how things are going at your company, you can quit and work somewhere else. That will not happen in Japan: top companies hire new graduates and someone who quit or was fired in middle age is unwanted in the job market. In America, if your employer unfairly discriminates against you (for example whistleblowing\refusing to do morally wrong things) you can go to court. In Japan problems are solved via the existing power hierarchy, and courts are fairly inaccessible. In America, a new CEO digs up all the wrong things that the previous CEO did and “cleans house”. In Japan, new CEOs are the previous CEO’s proteges and continue to hide their predecessors secrets (cf. Toshiba and Olympus scandals). Lastly, in America, corrupt CEOs get send to jail (e.g. Enron). Three years after the Olympus scandal, everyone just retired. (There is an exception: if you are a foreign executive in Japan, and you have 50 painkillers, you are held for 18 days without charge until you quit and return to your country).

michaelbuddy 11y ago

I've heard the tough thing is getting into the universities. once you're in supposedly the challenge is a bit lighter. Just what I heard. never attended.

hotaru29 11y ago
Sorry, I brought up another topic :) In Japan there are two types of universities: national universities (such as University of Tokyo/University of Kyoto) and many private universities. For Bachelor students, getting into national universities (especially prestigious ones) are extremely difficult. But when someone successfully entered a university, no special effort is needed to graduate. Passing is the norm, even with minimum effort on the part of the student. The first three years are spent mostly on club activities. The last year-and-a-half is spend on job search. After someone secured a job, they have very little incentive to work for the remainder of their stay. So, it is basically a question of doing as little as possible and holding out until the job starts. There are perhaps 3 or 4 good private universities (Keio, Waseda, etc...). (They are actually fairly mediocre by international standards, but many in Japan think they are great. ()) The rest of the private universities are absolute garbage. The majority of people will go to this type of university. Many of these were upgraded "colleges" for women who had ambitions to become housewives, but have not yet found suitable husbands. Especially with the falling number of students, these universities will accept literally anyone. In these universities it is also extremely easy to graduate, so any degree from them is essentially worthless. A big problem with these universities is truancy (e.g., http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=7716805 http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=7716805). These places are very similar to bad high schools (in the way classes are given and students are treated). () Many in Japan think that Waseda is one of the best elite universities in Japan and well regarded world wide. Yet, international rankings shows that it is lower-ranked than the University of Belgrade, Beihang University, and Federal University of Minas Gerais. http://www.shanghairanking.com/ARWU2014.html http://www.shanghairanking.com/ARWU2014.html
- ectoplasm 11y ago
  It's really frustrating going to grad school in Japan if you did your undergrad at a good school the West.
patio11 11y ago
Japanese universities represent the absolute triumph of the signaling theory of education: given that you've passed our (incredibly rigorous) entrance examination, literally nothing that happens between now and your job interviews matters. Supposing that a ham sandwich had successfully passed the examination for, I don't know, Constitutional Law, the ham sandwich would graduate with ease, and not meaningfully bring down average student participation in its classes. (Things are slightly more rigorous in engineering.) Japanese firms assume that all training which matters happens at the company.

gohrt 11y ago

This is a strange comment. USA companies also cover up embarassing failures, until caught our by the public. You say that employees are not loyal to customers, but you don't disagree with "devout dedication to the customer" or the perfect-detail-obsession How do you distinguish "safety" from "quality"? What are the universities doing wrong, if they aren't holding back the worker from achieving results in industry?

stretchwithme 11y ago
GM totally did with an ignition switch. They fixed the part but never let the customers with the defective part know there was a problem. http://www.npr.org/2014/03/31/297158876/timeline-a-history-of-gms-ignition-switch-defect http://www.npr.org/2014/03/31/297158876/timeline-a-history-o...
- kazinator 11y ago
  I didn't know about a secret warranty to replace the bad ignition switch in 5th gen Honda Civics until mine started cutting out while driving. Including once when trying to complete a left turn in the face of oncoming traffic.
- hga 11y ago
  That's in large part because, as the above tendentious timeline omits, a key engineer at GM was lying to everyone about the switch, which he initially approved knowing it didn't pass the required specifications. Some fault GM's systems and procedures, but it's hard to imagine successful ones that can deal with engineers lying.
hotaru29 11y ago
> USA companies also cover up embarassing failures, until caught our by the public. I did not say that US companies are evil. But American employees are much less cooperative with evil companies. Americans in general are much less submissive and obedient to authority figures. Americans also tend the view morally questionable things as wrong or right (evil/not evil), while in Japan it is more gray. Furthermore, Americans can exit and enter the job market. If you are unhappy with how things are going at your company, you can quit and work somewhere else. That will not happen in Japan: top companies hire new graduates and someone who quit or was fired in middle age is unwanted in the job market. In America, if your employer unfairly discriminates against you (for example whistleblowing\refusing to do morally wrong things) you can go to court. In Japan problems are solved via the existing power hierarchy, and courts are fairly inaccessible. In America, a new CEO digs up all the wrong things that the previous CEO did and “cleans house”. In Japan, new CEOs are the previous CEO’s proteges and continue to hide their predecessors secrets (cf. Toshiba and Olympus scandals). Lastly, in America, corrupt CEOs get send to jail (e.g. Enron). Three years after the Olympus scandal, everyone just retired. (There is an exception: if you are a foreign executive in Japan, and you have 50 painkillers, you are held for 18 days without charge until you quit and return to your country).