Why Japanese companies do so many different things • Hacker News Board

Re: Why Japanese companies do so many different things

#421

Post by i_am_a_peasant » Sat, May 23, 2026, 9:01 PM UTC

petra wrote: post #284

munificent wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

* Japan is ranked 61st on the World Happiness Index. The US is 23rd. * Japan is ranked 23rd on the Human Development Index. The US is 17th. * However, Japan is ranked 8th on the US News Quality of Life Index. The US is 30th. Grass is greener on the other side. https://data.worldhappiness.report/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Human_Dev... https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/best-countries-f…

And Israel is ranked #8 in the world happiness index, but if you look at the rates of depression and anxiety, you'll see a different story.

#8 if you’re born in the right religion and socio economical background anyway…

Re: Why Japanese companies do so many different things

#422

Post by pibaker » Sun, May 24, 2026, 4:09 AM UTC

jdw64 wrote: post #7

It’s always fascinating to see how Westerners idealize Japan on platforms like HN. It makes me wonder(i'm korean): how would a Westerner react if they saw me romanticizing the Mondragon cooperatives in Spain? They’d probably find it strange and out of touch with reality. This essay on Japan's corporate diversification and physical tacit knowledge is an interesting read. However, as an East Asian, my assessment is tha…

I have noticed that when Japanese megacorps get brought up on the internet, people will admire how cool it is for a company to make so many things. But when a Korean megacorp who makes the same variety of stuffs get brought up, it's all about how evil and oppressive the late stage capitalism chaebols are. There is definitely a double standard when it comes to Japan.

Re: Why Japanese companies do so many different things

#423

Post by pibaker » Sun, May 24, 2026, 4:11 AM UTC

qurren wrote: post #81

jdw64 wrote: post #7

It’s always fascinating to see how Westerners idealize Japan on platforms like HN. It makes me wonder(i'm korean): how would a Westerner react if they saw me romanticizing the Mondragon cooperatives in Spain? They’d probably find it strange and out of touch with reality. This essay on Japan's corporate diversification and physical tacit knowledge is an interesting read. However, as an East Asian, my assessment is tha…

> how Westerners idealize Japan Westerners are taught by the media and education to idealize Japan and hate China almost everywhere. They present cherry-picked aspects of both countries that make China look bad and Japan look good. In reality every country has its good and bad aspects. This is just part of the propaganda machine and what politicians want you to believe, in an effort to align their populations to be s…

What I find weird is that they idolize Japan but not South Korea. South Korean is as much a western ally as Japan and share many of the same social ills as Japan, but the typical western perspective on it is a lot more negative.

Re: Why Japanese companies do so many different things

#424

Post by mcbishop » Sun, May 24, 2026, 6:09 AM UTC

jinjin2 wrote: post #352

amunozo wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same thing, being Spanish the Basque Cooperatives movement is fascinating. Do you have any recommended read about it?

There is a really interesting article that goes into the origin and modern development of the Mondragon Cooperative here: https://open.substack.com/pub/ellegriffin/p/mondragon-as-the...

> As a rule, the highest-paid workers at Mondragon cooperatives earn only six times more than the lowest-paid workers.

And I bet these salary-capped co-op leaders are still appropriately capable / qualified. The U.S. billionare situation is ugly.

Re: Why Japanese companies do so many different things

#425

Post by Jolter » Sun, May 24, 2026, 6:59 AM UTC

0xDEAFBEAD wrote: post #384

ikurei wrote: post #364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a couple of eye-opening conversations about this the last time I was in San Sebastian. Not everyone there loves Mondragon as much as we think, some see it as a closed club that makes it arbitrarily hard to get a job with them depending on your connections. I met some workers unhappy of their hiring practices and I think their starting working conditions. No idea if they were fair or just resentful. I still admi…

Yeah the problem with co-ops is that every new employee means reduced profit-sharing for existing employees. Ironically, companies in SV actually have a nice solution to this problem: Employees get equity, but newer employees get less than older employees. So from the perspective of old employees, it still makes financial sense to hire new employees, because the old employee equity becomes more valuable. In technical…

What is ”SV” in this context? Silicon Valley? (Not a US resident, and I’ve never heard of any software cooperatives from there.)

Re: Why Japanese companies do so many different things

#426

Post by 0xDEAFBEAD » Sun, May 24, 2026, 7:31 AM UTC

Jolter wrote: post #425

0xDEAFBEAD wrote: post #384

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah the problem with co-ops is that every new employee means reduced profit-sharing for existing employees. Ironically, companies in SV actually have a nice solution to this problem: Employees get equity, but newer employees get less than older employees. So from the perspective of old employees, it still makes financial sense to hire new employees, because the old employee equity becomes more valuable. In technical…

What is ”SV” in this context? Silicon Valley? (Not a US resident, and I’ve never heard of any software cooperatives from there.)

Yes, SV=Silicon Valley. Startups aren't co-ops (the term "co-op" implies employee governance for example). But employee compensation is heavily loaded towards equity or stock in the employing firm. If you're an early hire at a unicorn, you can make serious money off your ownership share in the company. It helps align the incentives of the employees and management. Press coverage of Silicon Valley doesn't usually mention it, but employee ownership is a huge part of the culture.

Re: Why Japanese companies do so many different things

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Post by sunrisetiger » Sun, May 24, 2026, 10:15 AM UTC

toephu2 wrote: post #42

> So why are Japanese companies like this? Why do they do so many different things? And how do they manage to do so all those different things so well? Author says: Japanese companies excel in lots of very different domains because it’s inherent in how they’re structured. My response: No mention of culture? Sure maybe it is because of how they are structured somewhat, but it's also because of their culture. Japanese…

The best pizza restaurant in Tokyo is run by an Italian. So perhaps the Italians edge out Japanese in terms of craft?

Re: Why Japanese companies do so many different things

#428

Post by sunrisetiger » Sun, May 24, 2026, 10:17 AM UTC

jmyeet wrote: post #107

jdw64 wrote: post #7

It’s always fascinating to see how Westerners idealize Japan on platforms like HN. It makes me wonder(i'm korean): how would a Westerner react if they saw me romanticizing the Mondragon cooperatives in Spain? They’d probably find it strange and out of touch with reality. This essay on Japan's corporate diversification and physical tacit knowledge is an interesting read. However, as an East Asian, my assessment is tha…

I've thought a lot about (and I don't mean this in a derogatory way) the weebu phenomenon. I remember encountering it first in college when I met people who were in an anime club. It wasn't for me but my philosophy generally is "let people enjoy things". I will say that it often goes beyond "idealizing". I'd use the word "fetishizing". I've wondered how much of this stems from being disaffected by the modern (particu…

Korean birth rates are one of the very few that are rising in the rich world. So something is going right.

Re: Why Japanese companies do so many different things

#429

Post by eunos » Sun, May 24, 2026, 11:51 AM UTC

ajmurmann wrote: post #391

eunos wrote: post #367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Laugh in Plaza Accord and 80s anti Japan scare. At one point American was more concerned with Japanese economy than Soviet lmao/

Not being worried annoy the Soviet economy makes sense though

Is not economy per se. Japanese economy was putting more pressure than Soviet military in perception

Re: Why Japanese companies do so many different things

#430

Post by ksec » Sun, May 24, 2026, 12:31 PM UTC

jdw64 wrote: post #223

dfabulich wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What article were you reading? This article isn't idealizing Japanese companies, and specifically discusses the drawbacks of the Japanese approach, including zombie companies. The article's thesis statement isn't "the Japanese approach is better," but that business practices like these bundle together, that they're very difficult to change, and that each bundle has different advantages and disadvantages. Ironically,…

I did read it, but my impression remains the same. While the article does contain critiques of the Japanese system, as an East Asian, I feel it completely misses the actual underlying dynamics. I know the author isn't trying to paint Japan as a utopia. The reason I call it 'romanticized' is because the author claims Japan's success in precision parts is driven by 'horizontal' and 'collaborative' practices. That just…

This is a two part question, the system and the idolise part aren't related.

You are ignoring a lot of quality Japanese product have been producing for more than 50 years, which answer partly why idolise Japan question. But the so called squeezing of subcontractors is true as of any other American companies if not worldwide and yet they failed ( or mostly failed ) to achieve similar standing to Japanese counterparts in terms of quality.