Anything growing in current Japan except their age?
Idol groups and robot development.
Japan's Universities Are Failing
171–180 of 202 posts
Re: Japan's Universities Are Failing
#172Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is such a huge gap between your incredibly bleak image of Japan and the lively, optimistic and impressive Japan that I live in. I've lost count of the number of gaijin experts on Japan who want to tell me about how wrecked Japan is, and how Japanese people are in denial, and all the ways they need to emulate the West to get with the program. I've also lost count of the things that Japan does measurably better t…
So I have been a Japan watcher/liver for the past 30 years. I might resemble some of the negative nellies you refer to, but not in precisely the same way. That said, you are about 180 degrees from what I and most of my trusted Japanese friends believe. I would like to better understand why we see things differently. Please help me understand. So to define my beliefs in your terms: - Japan is not currently wrecked eco…
I'll indulge your request but I doubt it matters. My experience is mine and yours is different. The point I make above is that the relentless doomsaying about Japan is totally outside my experience and has no reality in my daily life. Am I just lucky? Yes and no.
First, I'm not an authority on Japan. I've lived here for three years about but have a history of spending long stretches of time here that goes back over a decade. My current situation is more that of a typical Japanese person than a typical gaijin--i.e., no one in my world speaks any English and I see another gaijin about once every few weeks at most. I live in Nagoya, which is obviously a big city, but also a very Japanese city, if you know what I mean. Anyway, I'm not in some satoyama paradise.
I have a lot of money by local standards. I run my own businesses which are state-side from here. My friends here range from taxi drivers to factory workers to CEOs. I would like to think I have a very interesting and diverse cross-section of people in my life. I'm well aware of the intense pressures of life here for people who are just scraping by. I know a lot if people who work in jobs that are soul destroying. They deal with bullies and stupid bosses and so on. I doubt anywhere is free of that kind of nonsense, though. I definitely don't think it's unique to Japan.
I've also never seen a ghetto in Japan, and there's one in every major American city. Japan has a working middle class that should be the envy of America--affordable and good housing, cars, food, healthcare, etc. Lots of unskilled jobs, arubaito, etc. Somehow, this is characterized as abject failure. You say that only upper class people live well in Japan, and I say that by any reasonable standard, everyone in Japan lives pretty goddamn well.
Everyone, everywhere worries about their future. That's not the point. The point is that Japan is not going anywhere. It will adapt, as it has done for thousands of years, but it is uniquely good at preserving some core values and those are what keeps me in this place. Values like being civil to one another, not being a crazy, selfish asshole, trying really hard to do a good job--you know, little things like that.
Coming from America (New York City), I find my life here far more gratifying, and less anxious. I don't care in the slightest if people need to justify their hangups by writing me off as a dupe or weeb or whatever self-inflicted misery they harbor.
I'm not going to answer your enumerated questions because I don't purport to write social or economic policy statements. There is a lot of wealth in Japan tied up in personal assets of old people. If Japan can weather the storm of providing a soft landing for the current generation, the future is bright. I will tell you that I'm moving my business here, and I'm involved in other startups here. I'm more bullish on Japan than the US long term. You are free to call me a fool and disagree.
Re: Japan's Universities Are Failing
#173Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is such a huge gap between your incredibly bleak image of Japan and the lively, optimistic and impressive Japan that I live in. I've lost count of the number of gaijin experts on Japan who want to tell me about how wrecked Japan is, and how Japanese people are in denial, and all the ways they need to emulate the West to get with the program. I've also lost count of the things that Japan does measurably better t…
> There is such a huge gap between your incredibly bleak image of Japan and the lively, optimistic and impressive Japan that I live in. Yet you manage to tackle not a single one of those criticisms head on. Of course, nobody read anything into that. And revenge? For what? For someone not liking you? That right there points directly to what I don't find particularly sexy about lots of Asia but Japan especially, the ob…
"The best revenge is living well" is a well-known expression in English. I don't literally need to exact any revenge. If you want to dwell on shortcomings, that's what you'll do.
Re: Japan's Universities Are Failing
#174Earlier quoted context omitted.
No culture has escaped appropriation and mixing, especially not Japan. So much of modern Japanese life has been molded by the American occupation. Why do you think more non-Japanese people in the country means the end of Japanese culture? I know many foreigners who live long-term in Japan and have absorbed many ways of working in the society. Why do you think they stay? Ultimiately, the base belief behind the anti-mu…
" So much of modern Japanese life has been molded by the American occupation." Very true. But it's also fundamentally different than if the American influence were to have come from 10 or 20 million actual Americans living in Japan. "Have they not accepted American culture?" America does not have a culture in the classical sense of the term, or to be more fair - it's a new kind of culture . Ergo - there is a 'lot les…
It is demonstratively untrue that the US doesn't have a culture. You think the people on the Mayflower had mindwipes before landing? The country is full of people with a certain mindset.
One could argue that American culture is shitty, but it's a direct extension of western European culture. Why else are so many movies retellings of Shakespeare and not Romance of the three kingdoms?
Obviously Canada also has a culture.
Every 'no go' zone claim I've seen is followed by debunking , so forgive me if I take that with a grain of salt.
Re: Japan's Universities Are Failing
#175Being a PhD student in Japan (and a non-native English speaker) I agree with many points in the article. Some frustrating things about my own experience: - In my lab, all of the papers written by Japanese students have to be checked by foreign students (which are mostly non-native speakers). The quality of the writing is typically less than mediocre, with a few exceptions. - We have a seminar every week in which the…
- I have a monthly meeting of 30 minutes with my supervisor (should be bi-weekly but he almost never has time for it). Those meetings are usually about which journal or conference we should submit an article to, seldom and barely scratching the surface of what my research is about.
Don't worry, this is about par for the course (if you have a great graduate advisor, treasure them).
Re: Japan's Universities Are Failing
#176Being a PhD student in Japan (and a non-native English speaker) I agree with many points in the article. Some frustrating things about my own experience: - In my lab, all of the papers written by Japanese students have to be checked by foreign students (which are mostly non-native speakers). The quality of the writing is typically less than mediocre, with a few exceptions. - We have a seminar every week in which the…
>I have heard of cases where students join a company and end up working on projects not remotely related to their research interests.
This is normal worldwide - they hire you for your problem-solving skills, not for your tiny research niche
Re: Japan's Universities Are Failing
#177If Japanese universities are failing, how they are leaders in science?
Can you qualify 'leaders in science' ? It's hard to quantify a broad statement :)
Re: Japan's Universities Are Failing
#178I really don't see a way out for Japan that's not immigration. It might lead to social upheaval, but it sounds like that kind of change is sorely needed. A well executed immigration policy could inject fresh blood into that country.
Japan's policy problems seem to be (a) underinvestment in people, (b) poor labor policy leading to over work and (c) population decline due to people's difficulties facing such an environment.
How does immigration help? Say some people immigrate next year. They stick around. They become Japanese. Their children are (a) trained in the Japanese way and (b) find themselves subject to the same labor policy as other Japanese. What has changed?
Re: Japan's Universities Are Failing
#179Being a PhD student in Japan (and a non-native English speaker) I agree with many points in the article. Some frustrating things about my own experience: - In my lab, all of the papers written by Japanese students have to be checked by foreign students (which are mostly non-native speakers). The quality of the writing is typically less than mediocre, with a few exceptions. - We have a seminar every week in which the…
>I have heard of cases where students join a company and end up working on projects not remotely related to their research interests. This is normal worldwide - they hire you for your problem-solving skills, not for your tiny research niche
I would have to disagree with "normal"-- many phd students at top (CS) univs in Europe and US can get hired for research-relevant work - e.g. off the top of my head Goog Research, MSR, FAIR, Uber, Snapchat, AirBnB hire a non-trivial # of Phd researchers for relevant fields -- that said some fields are better fits, e.g. a typical exmaple being stochastic modeling tends to align well /w finance.
Re: Japan's Universities Are Failing
#180Earlier quoted context omitted.
Also true of undergrad at so-called elite universities in the U.S. The "top schools" have something like 95% graduation rates.
> Also true of undergrad at so-called elite universities in the U.S. The "top schools" have something like 95% matriculation rates. I think you mean "graduation rates", but I completely agree. That said, there are some majors at elite schools that are very tough. The catch is that the enrollment in these majors/programs decreases rapidly as the weaker students change majors to something that is easier and/or requires…
^ this! Though I would argue not all top schools make it easy to change majors also the in major matriculation rate (people who start and dont transfer/change majors) vs school matriculation rate (do they graduate) is very important especially with the current focus on mental health at many universities.