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This looks like an amazing opportunity to start a company and hire talented young people.
See the comment above by rshigeta and my reply as to why that will be a lot harder than you think. I wish it wasn't, but a society based entirely on social connections that is resistant to change is a hard place for an outsider to start a company.
The part about Horie was kind of interesting. He was really seen as someone to rock the boat, and as someone who could really turn around the stodgering top-down society that is Japan. It's probably safe to say that most of the youth of the country were rooting for him, and the new economic growth that he would most likely bring to Japan. Then he f-ed up, and got caught up in stock fraud. I know that he's still appea…
This reflects my experience in Japan; overall, people here are terrified of change. Even within most companies, the tiniest of changes need to be communicated and agreed upon by every separate group, before anything can actually happen.
For example, what happened during the Meiji area is pretty unique in world history AFAIK, and that was a gigantic change. My experience in Japan is that people are less willing to change things, but are much more willing to change once they agreed on the nature of the change (that's part of what makes Japanese company still efficient today: people are willing to sacrifice a lot for something else than their own self if they believe it worths it).
There is no question that Japan is facing huge challenges as of today - but I would not bet on Japanese society not being able to deal with it once they really have no choice. Also, the young people the article refers too are actually between 25 up to 40 years old (people entering the job market after the bubble in mid 90ies), so mathematically, old people who benefitted from the pre-bubble system will be less and less influential
Deru kugi wa utareru Cross-reference with "An Innovator Leaving Japan" http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1325704 http://synaptify.com/?p=613728 OT: Ikiru "To Life" (a 1952 film about one man and Japan's human crushing bureaucracy) is one of Kurosawa's best http://www.acepilots.com/discussions/ikiru.html
The part about Horie was kind of interesting. He was really seen as someone to rock the boat, and as someone who could really turn around the stodgering top-down society that is Japan. It's probably safe to say that most of the youth of the country were rooting for him, and the new economic growth that he would most likely bring to Japan. Then he f-ed up, and got caught up in stock fraud. I know that he's still appea…
This reflects my experience in Japan; overall, people here are terrified of change. Even within most companies, the tiniest of changes need to be communicated and agreed upon by every separate group, before anything can actually happen.
A nation that produced Sony, Toyota and Honda has failed in recent decades to nurture young entrepreneurs Why did those companies succeed?
Furthermore, the nation was hungry, not literally, but hungry for success, so they worked extra hard. The success of post-war Japan is built on the 16-hour workdays of countless salarymen. Those peculiar post-war conditions are long gone.
The part about Horie was kind of interesting. He was really seen as someone to rock the boat, and as someone who could really turn around the stodgering top-down society that is Japan. It's probably safe to say that most of the youth of the country were rooting for him, and the new economic growth that he would most likely bring to Japan. Then he f-ed up, and got caught up in stock fraud. I know that he's still appea…
I don't find that so awful. At least they look at what works abroad. That's better than changing all the time and being blind to everything outside your own borders.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Japan seems like a different place. Its a country that loves systems of harmony so much that the police are only now trying to break away from their collaboration with the gangs, and sometimes failing. Established newspapers have a system of collaboration with news sources (like government officials) that they are tasked report upon. Among all these harmony systems is the seniority = age system. Even corporate financ…
>Even corporate finance loans are often based on social connections rather than creditworthiness Here's the thing. EVERYHING. I mean EVERYTHING in Japan is based on social connections. Not just business, but every social interaction you have with any person anywhere will in most probability be based on who you know, and what connections you have. Which is one reason why I think it is very hard for foreigners and fore…
Translation, please?
I feel the US is in roughly the same boat.We have more freedoms, but our whole system puts pressure on promoting higher education, while simultaneously providing no promise that there will be a way to recoup the debt load. Our mentalities, of protecting a gentrifying population, are stifling future generations access to the same privilege that prior generations had. My personal view on the situation, is that we need…
Such as?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Even corporate finance loans are often based on social connections rather than creditworthiness Here's the thing. EVERYHING. I mean EVERYTHING in Japan is based on social connections. Not just business, but every social interaction you have with any person anywhere will in most probability be based on who you know, and what connections you have. Which is one reason why I think it is very hard for foreigners and fore…
"お世話になります has never been so true" Translation, please?
A nation that produced Sony, Toyota and Honda has failed in recent decades to nurture young entrepreneurs Why did those companies succeed?
Because they had a very much blank slate after the war, when the old order was not only toppled, but ashamed and humiliated, and the old good-old-boys networks were destroyed or at least weakened. Furthermore, the nation was hungry, not literally, but hungry for success, so they worked extra hard. The success of post-war Japan is built on the 16-hour workdays of countless salarymen. Those peculiar post-war conditions…