In Japan, Young Face Generational Roadblocks • Hacker News Board

Re: In Japan, Young Face Generational Roadblocks

#31

Post by borism » Fri, Jan 28, 2011, 10:54 PM UTC

patio11 wrote: post #7

gojomo wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you clarify that last sentence a bit? (I think you mean, things are enough cheaper in Japan that a skimpy salary still has great purchasing-power-parity... but I thought as a highly-urbanized country, Japan had relatively high prices for everything from real estate to food. I could easily be mistaken, and would love to hear examples of what is cheaper there, and where.)

Japan is a rich nation, by any measure you want. Japanese twenty-something engineers are not rich people. You can take their labor and use it to sell to other Japanese people, like their parents or the beneficiaries of Californian-public-employee-esque sweet retirement deals. (See also: Demand Media, which does the same equation except it substitutes "stay-at-home moms" for 20-something Japanese engineers.) Most pers…

how long more do you think it will take for young japanese to realize they're "profitably exploitable"?

Re: In Japan, Young Face Generational Roadblocks

#32

Post by bane » Sat, Jan 29, 2011, 12:59 AM UTC

cdavid wrote: post #22

donw wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

While this is true, I think Japanese culture mostly just makes this more obvious. A big part of it is based on perception (in western culture, change is much more accepted generally, and people tend to show/believe they change much more than they actually do). 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…

What's the old corporate training line American's get before doing business in Japan? Something like "In Japan it can take forever to come to a decision, but once made, it's executed at a frightening pace."

Re: In Japan, Young Face Generational Roadblocks

#33

Post by donw » Sat, Jan 29, 2011, 1:50 PM UTC

bane wrote: post #32

cdavid wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While this is true, I think Japanese culture mostly just makes this more obvious. A big part of it is based on perception (in western culture, change is much more accepted generally, and people tend to show/believe they change much more than they actually do). 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…

What's the old corporate training line American's get before doing business in Japan? Something like "In Japan it can take forever to come to a decision, but once made, it's executed at a frightening pace."

Oh no it's not. The Japanese are, and I'm generalizing quite heavily here, not good at getting going, or at going quickly once they get moving.

What they are really, shockingly, amazingly good at, is doing things well once they do get moving.

Over here, quality matters more than anything else, and it shows everywhere -- even the 'dollar-store' (100 yen shop goods) have shockingly good quality.

Re: In Japan, Young Face Generational Roadblocks

#34

Post by donw » Sat, Jan 29, 2011, 1:52 PM UTC

gaelian wrote: post #15

gojomo wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you clarify that last sentence a bit? (I think you mean, things are enough cheaper in Japan that a skimpy salary still has great purchasing-power-parity... but I thought as a highly-urbanized country, Japan had relatively high prices for everything from real estate to food. I could easily be mistaken, and would love to hear examples of what is cheaper there, and where.)

I can't claim to be an expert, but I visited Japan last year and found that you can get away with eating very cheaply if you want to. Lawson 100 yen shops, Za Watami and Watamin Chi FTW! We found this awesome Tonkatsu place (it was a chain, I forget the name) in Kyoto where you could get a great feed for an average price. Plus if you're willing to be a little more adventurous and get off the beaten track, there's alw…

Customer service is amazing, as long as you stay within the script -- once you leave, you're screwed.

In the US, the Starbucks barista will be slower and waaaaay less formal, but she'll probably not worry if you're a penny short.

In Japan, if you are one yen short, you aren't getting the latte you've ordered, even if it's already made, because Those Are The Rules.