They still have high speed trains and can send spacecraft to distant asteroid. How many countries "living in 2020" can achieve that? Or by "living in 2020" you mean by gender ideology, racism, overmigration and so on.
its simple...Japan its not independent country since they have a huge american military. so whatever decisions they make they are done in the interest of americans. Just see what Plaza accord is.
@@havencat9337 South Korea and Singapore also have American military but they don't suffer from bureaucracy like Japan does. So your argument is extremely dumb and you should think before you write.
@@olska9498south korea and Singapour have a different kind of US intervention. Japan was punished to make them dependent of the US, they were riddled with american propaganda, the high consumption of bread despite how wheat doesnt even grow in japan is one of the most transparent exemples.
@trevorwebb448yup. They don’t import people with different values that destroy their culture for “MUH GDP!!!!!!1!!”. Some things are more important than having a constantly growing economy at the expense of your society.
@@barexampasser but it is at the expense of their society Their birth rate is plummeting and the Yen is unstable Nothing is static, the Japanese from today would be unrecognisable to the Japanese from the 1900s, They have made changes before and they need to do it again if they're planning on sticking around but implementing changes that suits and works for them.
Yet with the way the US operates, employees can see their wages increase a lot faster than they do in Japan. And dont be fooled, just b/c a Japan business has more employees does not mean theyre not overworked. Japan citizens are the second most overworked individuals on the planet on avg after Mexican citizens. So not only are wages not increasing in Japan, people still get overworked more so than the US....
Most insightful comment here. The obsession with high marginal productivity of labor in customer facing service industry makes the worker experience horrible in US and customer experience horrible in Europe
Agreed entirely, the focus on “worker productivity” has made a lot of jobs miserable to perform in the USA. His Starbucks example was indeed a very poor one when you consider the situation from the perspective of the employee on that floor and effects on turnover. Also charts of wage growth in the US versus Japan are worthless without a corresponding chart to show inflation rates. Japan has had relatively low inflation for awhile now and that’s relevant. Also surprisingly considering their land area constraints housing has not ballooned how it has here in the US in recent times. This video seems to want to paint Japan as a dinosaur but in many many ways they’ve got a great thing going seems to me. Low crime to boot.
@jorgeavelar98 I have worked alongside Mexicans here in the US since the 80s in Chicago. Got tired of having to do their work and mine. Their work ethic is a myth.
Housing market depressed in Japan because of population decline. But i agree with you. Low inflation has been a boon for the workers. Only the capitalists of the WSJ complain
Japan is fine. You can't have infinite economic growth in a finite world. It's already richer than 190+ other countries. Keep in mind they have the highest life expectancy in the world still
exactly. I have lived in Japan for many years with salary the same each year and I never felt anything missing from my life. In fact its their process oriented nature that helps keeps things working and stable, and I personally loved it.
I was looking forward to this but disappointed by the shallow and stereotypical analysis. The more interesting question is whether Japan's course is really worse than what other countries have chosen. The US may have hyper-productivity and innovation but are the outcomes - economic and societal - really better than Japan's? I guess it depends on what is important to you. For me, I'd choose the balance of Japan's positives and negatives over those of the U.S. any day.
@@Valentin-oc5nh The average American worker works more hours per year than the average Japanese worker, according to OECD data The idea that Japanese workers have incredibly long hours is quite outdated. Similar to the incorrect notion that Japan has an exceptionally high suicide rate (their suicide rate is now markedly lower than the US)
I think if a country has low productivity, their economy is plunging, their workplace is overworked and disappointed. Then yes I would say it's going rather bad for you.
@@livwake Tell that to the hundreds of thousands of homeless people here in the US. The millions that can barely afford rent. The millions that can't pay medical bills. Not to mention the majority of the country that can't even afford a $1K emergency.
@@gimei-chan so what's the issue if more people are rich than middle class? Because it will spiral into what we have in the US today. A few rich people and a whole bunch of poor people that have to live on the street. >Wouldn't you wanna be rich than stay middle class? People always assume they would be on the winning end of a society of few winners and a majority of losers. Statistically speaking, your odds of being well off are low in that kind of society (see US).
@@mehg8407 That's just false. US has seen increase in number of rich people, meaning people have moved from middle class to rich. What the US calls "poor" is actually a very high bar, even for japan. Of course, when the mean is moved higher, more people will count in the 2nd quartile, but that's just how statistics work; it doesn't mean those people are way worse than before.
The video fails to acknowledge what seems to be the elephant in _every_ room these days, which is *China* . Even in the 90's it was already known that Japan was a "two speed economy -- a globally competitive export-facing economy subsidizing an inefficient domestic one." Mr. Koll's anecdote about Japanese fax machines has been repeated by historians and economists ad nauseum for decades now. The difference now is that Japan's bread and butter export industries have been slowly displaced by the rising boats of first the Koreans (Samsung, LG, Hyundai) and the Taiwanese (TSMC, Foxconn) and now by 1.4 billion Chinese. The US has avoided this fate mainly by fleeing to higher ground, to the labor-rate-insensitive knowledge-worker industries of the Magnificent Seven, but there are only a limited number of such jobs (even with the US nearly monopolizing these industries in the global economy), which are leading to the US' signature problem today -- a limited quantity of extremely lucrative jobs creating a shortlist of crammed, overpriced, gentrified cities, leading to mass suffering and inequality.
wow, i would love to learn more about what you said. it's very interesting. if you dont mind, could u please elaborate more or point me to a direction where I can learn more about this? Thank youuu!
@@christine_notchristina there's not a lot I can do in TH-cam comments, but certainly there are two phrases which you can look up to find more of what I am referring to here. The first is _"Rise of the Rest"_ , coined by Fareed Zakaria in his book of the same name, describing the process of what China and the rest of the BRICS are doing in the world economy. The second is _"Dual Economy"_ , coined by Richard Katz in his book "Japan: The System That Soured" (which, notably, was published in 1998).
@@farzana6676 A probable scenario. But like you said it is manufacturing. Not manufacturing JOBS. How are the American people going to buy the stuff being manufactured by robots if they don't have jobs, or even fewer jobs. I still haven't figured out the conundrum. Robots and AI will take over many of the physical labor as well as knowledge based jobs.
Respect, finally someone in a commentry section, who has at least read the works of Adam Smith and Ricardo. The only mistake you made is in case of US. It did not avoided this fate, it just prints money and uses it to buy the goods while at the same time, investing some of it into financial sector's blob. As long as US$ is the main currency in the world's trade, US will consume large part of goods produced abroad, and does not need to worry about having a competitive economy or anything like that. Thus, it is not because of the magnificant seven that there are no jobs, it is because most of the money and investitions is sucked into financial markets for speculations, etc, not into real sector of economy. Thus, one trully needs only a limited number of brokers, bankers, etc not so many as in case of factories, etc.
I have visited Japan many times. Unlike my hometown in the USA, the streets are clean (no litter, feces, needles, tents, comatose drug addicts) and safe, people are polite and the trains run on time. We have nothing to be smug about.
You've never lived in Nagoya then. The streets are clean, but you go by the train tracks, there's liter everywhere. The bridges are rusting away from lack of maintenance and the malls looks like ghost towns. Women of the night line the streets, many of them underage Yakuza girls. What Japan lacks in street liter and addicts, it makes up for in urban decay and human trafficking.
As a person having japanese dad and Amerian mother, and living in Japan right now, I would say it is fact Japan has some outdated custome in business. but honestly, I found it unique, and interesting. I enjoy the diffrence. I feel like if entrie world focus on productivity and discard uniqueness, the world would be more boring.
Definitely. I'm English and I would absolutely love to spend some time in Japan. It's of course so different, but endlessly fascinating. And, let's not forget, there are many things the Japanese do *really* well, better than everyone else, in fact. Like trains, to name but one. I love the fact that they have these rich cultural traditions that we discarded decades, if not centuries ago. We should celebrate our differences, but make an effort to understand why we are different.
" I found it unique, and interesting." Congrats, now you know how the tourists of the 19th and 20th centuries felt when visiting backwards nations - It is what fueled exoticism, including orientalism. Later on, these sentiments justified imperialism against these places - on the grounds that the people there were did not deserve to rule themselves if they were incapable of modernizing. That is how Japan itself rationalized colonizing Korea and later China. As Paul Krugman said “Productivity isn’t everything, but in the long run, it’s almost everything.” - As a metric productivity is the key to a country's prosperity and standard of living. And for Japan, they have stagnated for the past 2 generations. Even former Socialist countries in Eastern Europe have already reached or surpassed Japan here. And that is not good news for Japan's future, since it's population will only get older, requiring even more investment and focus on that aging cohort, which will only increase pressure on younger generations. We already see from the low birthrates and closing schools, higher tax burdens and labour shortages, dying countrysides and lack of innovation that Japan's standard of living is diminishing.
Keep the quality up Japan, it matters to a lot of people. If the alternative is overpriced, fragile junk that will end up in landfills or recalled then I wouldn't say that's a worthy alternative to strive for.
Part of this is also due to how US impose Japanese technology products to be priced same as US and Europe products in 90s. Since the Asian market are looking for cheap products, of course, Japanese lost their markets since their products, to this day, is difficult to enter those countries who imposed these condition on Japan. Asian countries then see Chinese made products being cheaper, even though some of the brands are from the US and Europe, of course they would buy it. As time goes on, Chinese got the skills uplifted from massively producing US and Europe digital products, leading to steadily create their own products with much cheaper price. This further leads Japanese losing their markets. So, who should be blame on this? Japan? China? Of course, it is those who always imposing whatever on countries they deemed a threat (to be frank, it would be US). Then, US argue that they do that to 'safeguarding' the principle of free market. What a load of BS, if I could say. When they see certain country comes up with cheaper products with quality rivals theirs, they will do everything to stop them. Then, why don't they create cheaper products than them? Then, they will argue that to cover the cost since they pay their worker 'fairly'. They will always trying to justify themselves even though what they are justifying is unjust.
Japanese Government "people aren't buying enough stuff. we must stimulate consumption." Also Japanese government "we're gonna raise the consumption tax."
Its VERY hard to beat USA's ludicrously high homeless population, but if you look into it, a number of outlets and orgs are highly skeptical of Japan's homeless reporting. Some consider it to be very lackluster and dismissive with intentional agenda of keeping their numbers low to look good to the rest of the world. Additionally, there's a sizable phenomenon in Japan of young adults and teens technically not being "homeless" only because they are literally forced to go home by police when they are intentionally trying to harmful home/family situations such as domestic abuse or SA, which Japan does not take a strong stance against, prioritizing "the parent is always right" philosophy. Does that change your point all that much when you compare to America? No. But don't think Japan is just all sunshine and rainbows either
@@sirebellum0 Japan is not all sunshine and rainbows. That's not what he meant. But COMPARED to the US. My god, it's way way better. I hope they don't change. We should be learning from them.
@@sirebellum0 Japan is not all sunshine and rainbows but you couldn't pay me to leave it. I've lived in Japan for 10 years, every time I return to the US everything just seems like a mess of rude people and disorganization
Yeah, that's because Japan has a lot of homeless shelter-esque net cafes, karaoke boxes and SROs, paired with a high social stigma towards homelessness, which makes a lot of homeless people to hide themselves away in those places, thus taking them out of homeless statistics. If they live in the US, they'd 100% become actually homeless.
There is value in quality and something that’s handmade vs machine made! Economists can say whatever but that doesn’t change ground reality. Look at the state of public transportation in the US vs Japan, look at the state of bridges and road in the US vs Japan. Look at the quality of stuff that’s made in US vs Japan. It’s day and night😊
Thing is Japan doesn’t have unemployment, in fact they have opposite problem-rapidly shrinking labor force due to their rapidly aging population and are running out of workers
It doesn't create employment, it creates _underemployment._ Most young adults in Japan are underemployed and poor. Is it better than unemployment? Yes, marginally.
If Japan's economy is so bad, why is so much of Japan better that the US? Big cities are extremely clean, almost no homeless, very little crime, longer life expectancy, easy and affordable public transportation. Is dollar per hour output what is important about a country?
American companies typically strive for efficiency. Meanwhile, urban development is oftentimes hamstrung by preservationists who want to preserve landmarks and neighborhood character. Japan is the opposite of this. You have all of the issues with corporate culture but the national government sets a zoning code and development is much easier in Japan than in the US (which is saying something because Japan has strict earthquake standards). As a result, NYC is filled with buildings from the early 20th century while Tokyo is cutting edge. Housing is notably more affordable in Japan than in the US because Japan keeps on building.
But overall, all service speed in Japan feels at least x2 as efficient as in the US. Waiting time at the grocery cashier or on the phone in the US are ridiculous. People just don't get paid enough in Japan for what they do.
@@darthutah6649 Tokyo has embraced modern buildings because of *TWO* bad experiences with large scale fires last century: the 1923 Great Kantō Earthquake and the infamous firebombing raid of March 9-10, 1945. That's why it's just about impossible to find wooden structures in Tokyo that pre-date World War II.
@@Sacto1654 It was a choice of Japan as a whole to move into the modern. Western European cities were devastated in WWII but were pretty much rebuilt the way they were before the war. This contrasts with Warsaw which was completely destroyed and rebuilt in the soviet image.
GDP is a very poor metric to use. There is no such thing as infinite parabolic growth forever in a world with finite resources. Stability and prosperity is a better metric.
My observation is Japan prioritizes social stability foremost. This includes over employing workers even at low wages overall and trying to support workers at the expense of the bottom line. At least citizens have their basic needs met especially with their good national healthcare. Compared to the US companies that easily fire employees to appease shareholders and staggering displays of homelessness and citizens struggling w healthcare needs/costs. So we need to ask “what’s the point of just focusing on efficiency?”
This is what makes Japan's culture rich. Can't believe they have listed in this video all the good things about any civilization and calling it bad. American obsession with infinite growth is going to doom the whole world.
they killed millions of people and area very cruel civilization - also they build temples for those criminals ofwar... and neve apologised fully (given that they are known for deep apology when it comes to the WW2 they did very very small gestures) . ask the Koreans, Chinese, Philipine and others in Asia. IMO their culture should be reformed and surpassed.
If they stop the negative press on Japan, Americans might start to question why we can't all live in a big, safe city and live to 84 years old while making only $33,000
My opinion of Japan was that the worst thing was the fertility rate. If that country could stabilize at like 2.3 TFR somehow Japan would be the gold standard for how to be a nation state in the modern world
Forcing people to come into the office to stamp a document instead of using a digital certificate like everyone else in the world is what makes Japan's culture rich? Maintaining a business culture where looking busy instead of streamlining problem solving and paying out dividends instead of investing in R&D is what makes Japan's culture rich? Enduring sexism and terrible working culture creating non-existent work-life-balances, plummeting birthrates and karoshi is what makes Japan's culture rich? You think all of these things are the best Japanese civilization has to offer?
Hmmm, the U.S. is a society where only a few rich people are making money, right? There is no proper social insurance system. Inflation is so high and the gap between the rich and the poor is so great that it cannot be compared to Japan.
Japan is even moving away from sewing machines, which they are/were a global leader in -- and have set the entire standard for sewing machines that make all of our clothes. What happens when Japan moves away from holding supremacy in that space will be interesting. No one makes metal parts as precisely as Japan on such a mass scale. Your clothing was sewn on a Japanese sewing machine ... as soon as they lose interest in their process-centricity and "obsolete technologies" like mechanical sewing machines, the quality of clothing and sewn goods dies and //you// naked. Think about it. Support Japan, buy Japanese, and stop the over-emphasis on virtual technologies, rather than tangible ones. Japan needs tech diversification and a way to retain the old while integrating the new. Humanity is dependent on Japanese reliability and innovation. Praise and respect to Japan!!!
The dude that he interviewed gave terrible examples to be honest, he could have given Japanese love for cash instead of using digital payments which is more surprising in an advanced economy.
I just came back from Japan and it seems the change from cash to digital payment is definitely improving. I was able to use my card for like 95% of places. This pertains to the big cities like tokyo/osaka. It was way different from when I visited back in 2017.
@@tonyquach9655 That's great to hear, heading that way later this year again and constantly using cash was quite a hassle, especially when so many cards now have no foreign transaction fees
@tonyquach9655 the Suica card is honestly great. You can use it as a debit card in most of Tokyo. These days though it's more so through the app as sort of an apple pay type affair. The US has been really bad with cards for a long time. When Europe switched to chip and pin the US didn't adopt that. And the US was very slow to adopt contactless debit/credit card payment. It's improved a lot in the last few years at least.
@@tonyquach9655 absolutely, I remember times when transiting through NRT or HND I couldn't buy ANYTHING from those vending machines without coins or their own cards. Looks like they are on the right path now, at least in this matter. More, same NRT and HND, the multitude of employee just unnecessary guiding people from jetways to security AGAIN, is far from efficient...
Germany also has that problem because they love cash and they apparently also still use faxes, my country in small businesses has that problem but because they like a bit of tax evasion don’t tell anyone ect
I know this is WSJ but life and culture ain't all about making money. Let Japan be a one of kind in piece. There is still the rest of the world to do as the rest of the world does...
Japan's population has been getting older and has dropped. They are doing perfectly fine considering the deflation this causes. Economic growth based on unlimited population growth is unsustainable.
The use of hanko (dojang in Korean) is optional and very much the exception rather than the rule. In fact, these days, most documents are digital requiring electronic signatures so i'm not sure if dojang is still accepted in these cases.
I don't agree with the Hanko craftsman, but what he actually said was "When it comes to the things that matter, inefficiency matters". What he's trying to say was something like polite language tends to be superfluous, or there's always a ceremony for an event of great magnitude, which is inefficient from an economic point of view. I hate Hanko tradition, but the subtitle is unfair translation.
Even if they economy is inefficient, it still has respect, good work ethic and does not reply on outsourcing overseas workers do to cheap jobs for like America. I very much respect Japan for still being traditional.
4:16 There are more employees working in Starbucks in major cities all over the world, not just in Japan. In Tokyo, for example, coffee shops can be extremely busy, with constant lines. As such, more staff is needed. Starbucks is a profit-hungry corporation, and are not prone to overstaffing for no reason. Duh.
Japan should not listen to foreign critics. A bustling economy, on paper, isn't the mighty end all be all. Strides for perfect efficiency have destroyed so much of the good we have here in the west, where all of our goods have turned into junk quality trash, and an economic environment that feels sickly despite markets being at "all time highs". Companies here work very hard to redefine US culture, with pride. Companies there work hard to respect and oblige by Japanese culture. Companies here have a price-gouging attitude of "the right price is the highest someone is willing to pay for it". In Japan, they practice self restraint. Your prices for goods don't fluctuate regardless of whether you're in or out of the airport, in the heart of a busy city, or out in the country. Let Japan address their own issues in accordance with their values.
Leave it to Americans to always think the grass is greener on the other side. Companies in Japan don’t “respect and oblige by Japanese culture”, they are just as fiercely materialistic and shallow as anyone else. You seem to have some sort of rosy picture where companies can have these idealistic values and still be competitive. Go search up some of the Japanese corruption or shady and appalling business practices.
@@team3am149 Firstly, I am Japanese American. Secondly, I have observed many of these differences and attitudes from businesses myself. I am not saying that Japanese businesses are without blemish, but there very much is a clear difference in how companies make decisions and how they behave towards Japanese consumers versus the states.
I found Japan (at least Tokyo) way more efficient/high-tech-oriented than North America. I mean, the ramen places had vending machines so you didn't need more than 2 waiters!!
@@missplainjane3905 In Japan, construction work is already being carried out using unmanned heavy machinery operated from a control room hundreds of kilometers away.
@@Patricia-cn7ox You would be surprised how much better modern stuff is made versus in the past. it's commonly said that stuff made today is lower quality but that's because we have a better selection of things. You can absolutely buy American made products that are just as good if not better than Japanese ones.
@@sarkaranish Yeah but those have lower margins with high price tags for a much smaller audience, so what businesses push is not really that but cheaply made goods that will break in two minutes and you’ll need to replace constantly. That goes directly against Japanese way of living, even religious beliefs. That’s what’s stifling innovation for them as well, they do really push against the “cheap efficiency” let’s say.
A bit disappointing how this WSJ analysis could not get beyond the surface level. 1. Japan slipped behind Germany mostly because of the exchange rate ---- which is a result of external factor(USD) rather than internal. 2. Japan's inefficiency may be notable in a few examples, but almost everyone can also agree they'd rather make the money in the US(the "more productive" economy) and then spend it in Japan, usually because quality and service are better. Should we not factor quality, service etc. into the measurement too? 3. Is there more data than the anecdotal Starbucks diss in the video? (which seems to be the only quantifiable evidence of Japanese low productivity here). It is widely accepted by economists that individual productivity had stagnated globally since the 1960s ---- I really doubt Japan is faring worse than global average.
I grow up with Japanese products. When I was young, everything electronics come from Japan. TV, mobile phones, Radio, Cars, portable CD players. Now, I don't see any Japanese products, TVs are Korean or Chinese, mobile phones are Chinese, Korean or iPhone, there are still Toyotas here but it is losing ground to Korean cars and Chinese cars. Japan is just slowly fading away and becomes irrelevant.
German population is only 84 vs 125 million of the Japanese. What is it with all the Japan white knights, when something even remotely negative is said about the country? Weakening of the yen might not even be a temporary issue but may persist for the foreseeable future. The situation will only get worse, not better due to the dire demographic situation in the country.
Don't listen to others. Being the top largest economies has its own toll to its citizens. Just go at your own pace and maintain that balance between economy n culture. The price to pay for progress for progress sake is not worth it.
Seen from a viewpoint of productivity at a corporate level, "fewer people are better". Alas, those who are denied to have a job then become a burden to the social system of the country, hence, to the taxpayers. With the exception of the US of course, as there social systems are almost non existent. Looking from a societal standpoint, Japan is doing far better, than the report tries to make viewers believe.
This is all BS. It's about market access. Germany, South Korea & above all China have been eating Japan's lunch for some time now because the US favored them over Japan.
Foreign direct investment from the US plays a part but it's not that big of a factor. The US doesnt control the global market. It's all about momentum. Japan was already developed and there not much room left for rapid growth like SK or China. SK and China grew from 0 development into manufacturing and export oriented economies, had allow them to accumulated fast wealth to reinvest and keep snowballing their economy momentum with growing export and domestic demand for the past 3-4 decades. China today dominates global export volume in all sort of low commodities to mid tech products, using its advantage in economy of scale, low wages, large population thus large domestic market. While Japan manufaturing and export hardly grew much since. The aircons, TVs, home electronics and appliances by Toshiba, Sony, Sharp in the 90s that Japan used to make today are replaced with Chinese brands like Midea, Haier, Hisense, TCL,... at much lower prices point, or more premium Korean brands like Samsung, LGs... Japan cant really compete with manufacturing edge on a low resource island, where most raw materials have to be imported, relatively higher wages and aging population. While Korea had luck with its large high tech innovate, high manufacturing based coporations like Samsung, Hyundai hauling its entire economy. Korea also invested heavily in their own manufacturing facturies and supply chains in other developing countries to keep their cost low. China also do this to some extend in underdeveloped countries for both raw material access, and hoping for high investment return once these countries become high growth formula like China used to be. On the other hand Japan similar to most other Western countries had moved to finance and services based economy, instead of heavy manufacturing where they had lost the advantage. Not only does its output and export becomes stagnant. Japan also 1stly doesnt innovate like it used to, it missed out on the smartphone and EV trends that China and Korea had capitalized on. And 2ndly their coroprate leaders are very conservative with foreign investment elsewhere to find a way out, probly because 90s bubble and recession wiped out much of their accumulated wealth and cash, and set them on a very risk adverse, focus inward mindset. For Germany, it always long have had many innovative small to mid size companies specialized in niche export of parts, machineries and 'machines that go inside other machines' for the global market to keep its economy going.
Keep in mind Japan also does NOT have unaffordability or homelessness or addiction issues AT ALL. Arguably it has the highest standard of living of any developed country. Maybe they're onto something by keeping people employed, not putting corporate profit maximization above all else, and retaining some tradition.
I hate to say this, but. If it works, why fix it? The digital transformation cost money to the company. Plus with the weak yen currently and the cost of living rising.
Japan is an extraordinary nation. As the first non European country to achieve industrialization by early 20th century, this nation prooved that it was possible to ascend technologicaly as a oriental civilization. Indirectly Japan was the inspiration behind every non western success story. Japan is a phoenix. Rising from the ashes of defeat and disasters. Land of rising love and beauty. 🗾
Jesper Koll and Peter Landers would be unemployed if it wasn't for the japanese. Its so weird they don't realize that its easier to fake signatures since a person's signature isn't 100% the same whenever they sign something. A stamp on another hand is an exact copy every single time.
In utopia I guess the purpose would be to serve the people, without an economy there'd be no dispersible resources to the extent even a trade between 2 individuals constitute something economic, so the society depend on a certain efficiency to achieve the set goals, with the capitalist system you can end up with growth for the sake of growth, i'd agree it'd function similar to cancer, it doesn't even care if it kills its host, so there'd need to be a balance as to say humans must control the system and not the opposite way
Efficiency is quantity oriented in nature... And does not have a consideration for qualitative aspects.... Growth is not always good... A cancer is also a growth albeit abnormal
The problem with Japan's economy is that Japan is a colony of the United States, and the United States does not allow its younger brothers to be better than itself. Japan even needs to provide blood transfusions to the United States amid the U.S. economic crisis. Japan's semiconductor industry was dismantled by the United States itself and distributed to South Korea, Malaysia, and Taiwan.
Wonder if that quirk with the fax machine is for the same reason they're still around in German businesses. A fax with a transfer receipt has the same legal weight as a certified letter. The other side can't use the claim that the message never arrived.
Need more examples. Why does it take 5 people to do the same work at Starbucks in Japan that takes 2 people in the US? Are the extra 3 just standing around?
A Starbucks location could have more staff for a variety of reason, more orders, customers have more complex orders, strong peak times, etc. It's probably just a bad example/anecdote.
i used to work in a japanese bank in nyc, japanese workers value facetime, looking busy even when they are not being productive... this is the toxic culture they mentioned in the video, i've seen it with my own eyes
@@pengchihanyou said it yourself: your latte is made to perfection in Japan… perfection takes a LOT of time. Look at Pareto’s Rule. Japan is inefficient because they spend too much time going to 100% when it’s sufficient and much more efficient to just go to 80%, for example. The argument is that Japanese spend too much extra time and resources to go from 80% to 100% quality that it is hurting them thru inefficiency.
@@pewpewpower it's great for consumers though, the same brand that sell shavers will sell very high quality model in japan, while that same brand name sell very floppy product in the US. You can't find the Japan quality shavers in the US, consumers are brainwashed to used inferior produce so they can consume more, and be more "efficient". Japan inefficient is not because of high quality, it's because of bureaucracy & refusal to cut old ways of doing things (fax, stamp, prio long-hours over task-oriented work, etc.)
@@SASMADBRUV7 Then that's when they stop using them. That's kind of a pattern with Japanese culture, they undergo periods of severe reform and transformation up to a point where they become a leader and reach cutting edge. They then stop at a comfortable cutting edge, then maintain their great system until it stagnates them, then reform once obsolete again. It's a cycle of great growth and stagnation.
It’s not working though, in fact it hasn’t worked for decades. Japanese workers don’t have the time or money to have kids and now it’s going into a demographic collapse.
I remember being a kid in the 80s and 90s and seeing Japan as this technological tour de force.. Which it was, but upon moving here. It's a lot more complex than that. And I believe you captured what it's really like to live here for those who want to take the big step. This is very important information to have.
Japan is an extraordinary nation. As the first non European country to achieve industrialization by early 20th century, this nation prooved that it was possible to ascend technologicaly as a oriental civilization. Indirectly Japan was the inspiration behind every non western success story. Japan is a phoenix. Rising from the ashes of defeat and disasters. Land of rising love and beauty. 🗾
@@Nerinav1985China was the most technologically advanced place on the planet for hundreds of years, did they somehow become non-oriental or European? They inspired everything Japan ever had or acquired.
An old man in Dubai once showed me similar wooden hunko stamp with Arabic writing on it. He said in old days people in the region used to use it as an official signature 🤷♀️
so tired of DW, WSJ and many other western perspectives on how other nations are inefficient or whatever. It's getting old and the boomer perspective is pretty annoying.
it is true though and Japanese howl w pain at the consequences. this is why the japanese will work 70-80 hour suicidal inducing weeks and have lower salaries than western 9-5 workers.
This work from Wall Street Journal really misses the point. Focusing on hanko is ridiculous. Has WSJ given up on pens and pencils as well? Are there no more economists at WSJ?
Germany and Japan actually have much in common here - insisting on still using faxes (ironically had to fax my broadband provider last week), and of refusing to digitise. Online forms have to be printed, signed, then scanned, even in government offices. It's not unusual for someone to print a form in front of you, put it right back on top to scan.
The guest says, "The transition from analog to digital never happened." This is a preposterous claim. His example (Sony Walkman) alone is enough to prove otherwise. He just needs to buy the latest Sony PlayStation. The critique is justified, but it does not require absurd exaggerations.
Sounds okay to me. Modern Tech is mostly just digital tech and as Solow showed, productivity in the ict is almost non-existent. its why Japan can still cling on to top 5 without embracing to much digital tech.
Modems and faxes are still the norm in even the largest companies in Japan, not to say internal documents in paper that require tons of seals from different departments and groups.
Japan data confirms first currency intervention since 2022: on.wsj.com/3X9gaex
I understand the point of the video, but surely it isn't growing because of the negative interest rate...
4th largest economy is great, it doesn't need infinite growth to prosper.
@@wsj Good stuff
When everybody lived in 1980, Japan already lived in 2000
When everybody lived in 2020, Japan still lived in 2000
Are you sure the 2020s are better than 2000?
@@w1s86Not sending Americans to fight in Iraq/Afghanistan and global decrease in poverty is a big one
@@kimjongoof5000idk. I had fun in Iraq...
They still have high speed trains and can send spacecraft to distant asteroid. How many countries "living in 2020" can achieve that? Or by "living in 2020" you mean by gender ideology, racism, overmigration and so on.
And when the Japanese were cannibals during the world war ..... where were we?🤔
It's simple.
Japan is extremely bureaucratic.
Companies value age over skills and pretending to be busy over being productive.
It destroys innovation.
its simple...Japan its not independent country since they have a huge american military. so whatever decisions they make they are done in the interest of americans. Just see what Plaza accord is.
@@havencat9337 South Korea and Singapore also have American military but they don't suffer from bureaucracy like Japan does. So your argument is extremely dumb and you should think before you write.
Exactly. All the Japanese have mastered is the illusion of industry and now the chickens are coming home to roost.
Ridiculous comment. Easily debunked by search.
@@olska9498south korea and Singapour have a different kind of US intervention. Japan was punished to make them dependent of the US, they were riddled with american propaganda, the high consumption of bread despite how wheat doesnt even grow in japan is one of the most transparent exemples.
Japan's stubbornness to stick to tradition is also the same reason why they are so fascinating to us outsiders
What is fascinating
@trevorwebb448 you can keep your traditions while at least upgrading your useless bureaucracy no one talks about changing their culture or whatever
@trevorwebb448yup. They don’t import people with different values that destroy their culture for “MUH GDP!!!!!!1!!”. Some things are more important than having a constantly growing economy at the expense of your society.
@@barexampasser but it is at the expense of their society
Their birth rate is plummeting and the Yen is unstable
Nothing is static, the Japanese from today would be unrecognisable to the Japanese from the 1900s,
They have made changes before and they need to do it again if they're planning on sticking around but implementing changes that suits and works for them.
@trevorwebb448 it's called racism
The Starbucks comparison is the most hilarious thing I’ve heard in decades. Working at a Starbucks in the US SUCKS because of this way of thinking smh
Yet with the way the US operates, employees can see their wages increase a lot faster than they do in Japan. And dont be fooled, just b/c a Japan business has more employees does not mean theyre not overworked. Japan citizens are the second most overworked individuals on the planet on avg after Mexican citizens. So not only are wages not increasing in Japan, people still get overworked more so than the US....
Most insightful comment here. The obsession with high marginal productivity of labor in customer facing service industry makes the worker experience horrible in US and customer experience horrible in Europe
Agreed entirely, the focus on “worker productivity” has made a lot of jobs miserable to perform in the USA.
His Starbucks example was indeed a very poor one when you consider the situation from the perspective of the employee on that floor and effects on turnover.
Also charts of wage growth in the US versus Japan are worthless without a corresponding chart to show inflation rates. Japan has had relatively low inflation for awhile now and that’s relevant.
Also surprisingly considering their land area constraints housing has not ballooned how it has here in the US in recent times. This video seems to want to paint Japan as a dinosaur but in many many ways they’ve got a great thing going seems to me. Low crime to boot.
@jorgeavelar98 I have worked alongside Mexicans here in the US since the 80s in Chicago. Got tired of having to do their work and mine. Their work ethic is a myth.
Housing market depressed in Japan because of population decline. But i agree with you. Low inflation has been a boon for the workers. Only the capitalists of the WSJ complain
Japan is fine. You can't have infinite economic growth in a finite world. It's already richer than 190+ other countries. Keep in mind they have the highest life expectancy in the world still
I'm tired of this bs propaganda of "economy needs to grow"... f the economy
Yes, Western media biased
exactly. I have lived in Japan for many years with salary the same each year and I never felt anything missing from my life. In fact its their process oriented nature that helps keeps things working and stable, and I personally loved it.
That's a fine mindset, hate this bs, a lot of things are more important than being rich.
@@मराठी.माणूसabsolutely agree. I live here currently and while it took some getting used to, I certainly do love it.
I was looking forward to this but disappointed by the shallow and stereotypical analysis. The more interesting question is whether Japan's course is really worse than what other countries have chosen. The US may have hyper-productivity and innovation but are the outcomes - economic and societal - really better than Japan's? I guess it depends on what is important to you. For me, I'd choose the balance of Japan's positives and negatives over those of the U.S. any day.
In 200 years, the US and Europe will be absolutely unrecognizable. But Japan will still be Japan.
working long hours everyday?
@@Valentin-oc5nh The average American worker works more hours per year than the average Japanese worker, according to OECD data
The idea that Japanese workers have incredibly long hours is quite outdated. Similar to the incorrect notion that Japan has an exceptionally high suicide rate (their suicide rate is now markedly lower than the US)
But compare to european countries then. Germany is richer and more innovative and still has a good economical and societal situation.
I think if a country has low productivity, their economy is plunging, their workplace is overworked and disappointed. Then yes I would say it's going rather bad for you.
japan's way of doing things also allows them to have a MUCH larger middle class than the US
No point having money if there’s no time to enjoy it
@@livwake Tell that to the hundreds of thousands of homeless people here in the US. The millions that can barely afford rent. The millions that can't pay medical bills. Not to mention the majority of the country that can't even afford a $1K emergency.
so what's the issue if more people are rich than middle class? Wouldn't you wanna be rich than stay middle class?
@@gimei-chan so what's the issue if more people are rich than middle class?
Because it will spiral into what we have in the US today. A few rich people and a whole bunch of poor people that have to live on the street.
>Wouldn't you wanna be rich than stay middle class?
People always assume they would be on the winning end of a society of few winners and a majority of losers. Statistically speaking, your odds of being well off are low in that kind of society (see US).
@@mehg8407 That's just false. US has seen increase in number of rich people, meaning people have moved from middle class to rich. What the US calls "poor" is actually a very high bar, even for japan. Of course, when the mean is moved higher, more people will count in the 2nd quartile, but that's just how statistics work; it doesn't mean those people are way worse than before.
Did you guys forget to color grade the video?
thought the same
No, it was intentional
Maybe it's intentional, to give some old vibes.
I think the intern edit this video.
Doubt it's intentional - I think theres a bit of stock footage at 3:02 which IS colour graded (probably because it wasn't downloadable in log)
The video fails to acknowledge what seems to be the elephant in _every_ room these days, which is *China* .
Even in the 90's it was already known that Japan was a "two speed economy -- a globally competitive export-facing economy subsidizing an inefficient domestic one." Mr. Koll's anecdote about Japanese fax machines has been repeated by historians and economists ad nauseum for decades now.
The difference now is that Japan's bread and butter export industries have been slowly displaced by the rising boats of first the Koreans (Samsung, LG, Hyundai) and the Taiwanese (TSMC, Foxconn) and now by 1.4 billion Chinese.
The US has avoided this fate mainly by fleeing to higher ground, to the labor-rate-insensitive knowledge-worker industries of the Magnificent Seven, but there are only a limited number of such jobs (even with the US nearly monopolizing these industries in the global economy), which are leading to the US' signature problem today -- a limited quantity of extremely lucrative jobs creating a shortlist of crammed, overpriced, gentrified cities, leading to mass suffering and inequality.
wow, i would love to learn more about what you said. it's very interesting. if you dont mind, could u please elaborate more or point me to a direction where I can learn more about this? Thank youuu!
@@christine_notchristina there's not a lot I can do in TH-cam comments, but certainly there are two phrases which you can look up to find more of what I am referring to here. The first is _"Rise of the Rest"_ , coined by Fareed Zakaria in his book of the same name, describing the process of what China and the rest of the BRICS are doing in the world economy. The second is _"Dual Economy"_ , coined by Richard Katz in his book "Japan: The System That Soured" (which, notably, was published in 1998).
@@leeswecho Robots with AI are going to reshore manufacturing back to the USA.
@@farzana6676 A probable scenario. But like you said it is manufacturing. Not manufacturing JOBS. How are the American people going to buy the stuff being manufactured by robots if they don't have jobs, or even fewer jobs. I still haven't figured out the conundrum. Robots and AI will take over many of the physical labor as well as knowledge based jobs.
Respect, finally someone in a commentry section, who has at least read the works of Adam Smith and Ricardo.
The only mistake you made is in case of US. It did not avoided this fate, it just prints money and uses it to buy the goods while at the same time, investing some of it into financial sector's blob.
As long as US$ is the main currency in the world's trade, US will consume large part of goods produced abroad, and does not need to worry about having a competitive economy or anything like that.
Thus, it is not because of the magnificant seven that there are no jobs, it is because most of the money and investitions is sucked into financial markets for speculations, etc, not into real sector of economy. Thus, one trully needs only a limited number of brokers, bankers, etc not so many as in case of factories, etc.
I have visited Japan many times. Unlike my hometown in the USA, the streets are clean (no litter, feces, needles, tents, comatose drug addicts) and safe, people are polite and the trains run on time. We have nothing to be smug about.
You've never lived in Nagoya then. The streets are clean, but you go by the train tracks, there's liter everywhere. The bridges are rusting away from lack of maintenance and the malls looks like ghost towns. Women of the night line the streets, many of them underage Yakuza girls. What Japan lacks in street liter and addicts, it makes up for in urban decay and human trafficking.
Both Japan and USA are in trouble.
@@missplainjane3905 Other places are nice, especially places catered to tourists. I never saw any liter in Nara, Kyoto, or Tokyo.
@a1sauce775 "I am black and beautiful."
- Song of Solomon 1:5🙏🏾✝📖
@@missplainjane3905 Nah I've been to Iga too but I wasn't there very long.
As a person having japanese dad and Amerian mother, and living in Japan right now, I would say it is fact Japan has some outdated custome in business. but honestly, I found it unique, and interesting. I enjoy the diffrence. I feel like if entrie world focus on productivity and discard uniqueness, the world would be more boring.
Definitely. I'm English and I would absolutely love to spend some time in Japan. It's of course so different, but endlessly fascinating. And, let's not forget, there are many things the Japanese do *really* well, better than everyone else, in fact. Like trains, to name but one.
I love the fact that they have these rich cultural traditions that we discarded decades, if not centuries ago.
We should celebrate our differences, but make an effort to understand why we are different.
" I found it unique, and interesting." Congrats, now you know how the tourists of the 19th and 20th centuries felt when visiting backwards nations - It is what fueled exoticism, including orientalism. Later on, these sentiments justified imperialism against these places - on the grounds that the people there were did not deserve to rule themselves if they were incapable of modernizing. That is how Japan itself rationalized colonizing Korea and later China.
As Paul Krugman said “Productivity isn’t everything, but in the long run, it’s almost everything.” - As a metric productivity is the key to a country's prosperity and standard of living. And for Japan, they have stagnated for the past 2 generations. Even former Socialist countries in Eastern Europe have already reached or surpassed Japan here. And that is not good news for Japan's future, since it's population will only get older, requiring even more investment and focus on that aging cohort, which will only increase pressure on younger generations. We already see from the low birthrates and closing schools, higher tax burdens and labour shortages, dying countrysides and lack of innovation that Japan's standard of living is diminishing.
Too bad the locals who can't afford to travel because Yen fell 50% can't experience the difference.
@@serebii666 Lol, what?
exactly, just see how china running anything as fast as possible, it comes with price of losing identity
Yet, living in Japan is more pleasant and safe than in any other western places...
ur not wrong yet video is also right
And it's still backward on so many levels!
@@Ex.zed.
What other things
@@anonymous_person-iv4pw
You live there
I’d argue the Scandinavian countries like Sweden and Norway also provide a pleasant experience while utilizing modern technologies
Keep the quality up Japan, it matters to a lot of people. If the alternative is overpriced, fragile junk that will end up in landfills or recalled then I wouldn't say that's a worthy alternative to strive for.
the alternative to floppy disks is better, i promise
Absolutely correct. I have several Japanese made products, including my 14 year old Toyota, they are all of good quality.
@keithmartin1328 so you still use floppy disks then?
I remember when back in the 90s Japan was going to take over the world economy.
To the editors in charge of this video:
Did you really not realize the footage was shot in log?
log? Do you mean analog?
No, log format, Google it
@@addygreen8919
He’s saying the video wasn’t color graded. LOG video has dull looking color as it’s meant to be graded in editing.
Yes mate, it’s hilarious that such a big company made such a rookie mustake
@@addygreen8919 no i think that was on purpose to demonstrate a point
Did WSJ see US put a straw into Japan's vein by forcing Japan, with the help from Japanese collaborator, to sign the Plaza Accord in 1985?
Part of this is also due to how US impose Japanese technology products to be priced same as US and Europe products in 90s. Since the Asian market are looking for cheap products, of course, Japanese lost their markets since their products, to this day, is difficult to enter those countries who imposed these condition on Japan. Asian countries then see Chinese made products being cheaper, even though some of the brands are from the US and Europe, of course they would buy it.
As time goes on, Chinese got the skills uplifted from massively producing US and Europe digital products, leading to steadily create their own products with much cheaper price. This further leads Japanese losing their markets. So, who should be blame on this? Japan? China? Of course, it is those who always imposing whatever on countries they deemed a threat (to be frank, it would be US).
Then, US argue that they do that to 'safeguarding' the principle of free market. What a load of BS, if I could say. When they see certain country comes up with cheaper products with quality rivals theirs, they will do everything to stop them. Then, why don't they create cheaper products than them? Then, they will argue that to cover the cost since they pay their worker 'fairly'. They will always trying to justify themselves even though what they are justifying is unjust.
"Be like us" is not a compelling argument americans. Please provide actual data points. "Americans does this" means nothing.
Japanese Government
"people aren't buying enough stuff. we must stimulate consumption."
Also Japanese government
"we're gonna raise the consumption tax."
The stamp is interesting how Japan uses old technology to avoid foreign hackers
Fun fact: America now has a higher suicide rate than Japan, and Japan has only about 3,000 homeless people, compared to about 650,000 in America.
Its VERY hard to beat USA's ludicrously high homeless population, but if you look into it, a number of outlets and orgs are highly skeptical of Japan's homeless reporting. Some consider it to be very lackluster and dismissive with intentional agenda of keeping their numbers low to look good to the rest of the world. Additionally, there's a sizable phenomenon in Japan of young adults and teens technically not being "homeless" only because they are literally forced to go home by police when they are intentionally trying to harmful home/family situations such as domestic abuse or SA, which Japan does not take a strong stance against, prioritizing "the parent is always right" philosophy.
Does that change your point all that much when you compare to America? No. But don't think Japan is just all sunshine and rainbows either
@@sirebellum0 Japan is not all sunshine and rainbows. That's not what he meant. But COMPARED to the US. My god, it's way way better. I hope they don't change. We should be learning from them.
@@sirebellum0 Japan is not all sunshine and rainbows but you couldn't pay me to leave it. I've lived in Japan for 10 years, every time I return to the US everything just seems like a mess of rude people and disorganization
Yeah. Japan's unemployment rate is 2.6% so it's perfect. Many unemployed Chinese and Koreans are looking for work in Japan.
Yeah, that's because Japan has a lot of homeless shelter-esque net cafes, karaoke boxes and SROs, paired with a high social stigma towards homelessness, which makes a lot of homeless people to hide themselves away in those places, thus taking them out of homeless statistics. If they live in the US, they'd 100% become actually homeless.
Someone hasn't been to Germany 😂
There is value in quality and something that’s handmade vs machine made!
Economists can say whatever but that doesn’t change ground reality. Look at the state of public transportation in the US vs Japan, look at the state of bridges and road in the US vs Japan. Look at the quality of stuff that’s made in US vs Japan. It’s day and night😊
one thing to be said about needing 5 baristas in a Japanese Starbucks vs only 2 in the US is that 3 more people are employed.
Thing is Japan doesn’t have unemployment, in fact they have opposite problem-rapidly shrinking labor force due to their rapidly aging population and are running out of workers
It doesn't create employment, it creates _underemployment._ Most young adults in Japan are underemployed and poor. Is it better than unemployment? Yes, marginally.
@@thomasgrabkowski8283 that one is a self inflicted problem. You improve workforce with immigration but Japan prefers robots to immigrants.
If Japan's economy is so bad, why is so much of Japan better that the US? Big cities are extremely clean, almost no homeless, very little crime, longer life expectancy, easy and affordable public transportation. Is dollar per hour output what is important about a country?
American companies typically strive for efficiency. Meanwhile, urban development is oftentimes hamstrung by preservationists who want to preserve landmarks and neighborhood character.
Japan is the opposite of this. You have all of the issues with corporate culture but the national government sets a zoning code and development is much easier in Japan than in the US (which is saying something because Japan has strict earthquake standards). As a result, NYC is filled with buildings from the early 20th century while Tokyo is cutting edge. Housing is notably more affordable in Japan than in the US because Japan keeps on building.
But overall, all service speed in Japan feels at least x2 as efficient as in the US. Waiting time at the grocery cashier or on the phone in the US are ridiculous. People just don't get paid enough in Japan for what they do.
@@darthutah6649 Tokyo has embraced modern buildings because of *TWO* bad experiences with large scale fires last century: the 1923 Great Kantō Earthquake and the infamous firebombing raid of March 9-10, 1945. That's why it's just about impossible to find wooden structures in Tokyo that pre-date World War II.
@@Sacto1654 It was a choice of Japan as a whole to move into the modern. Western European cities were devastated in WWII but were pretty much rebuilt the way they were before the war. This contrasts with Warsaw which was completely destroyed and rebuilt in the soviet image.
GDP is a very poor metric to use. There is no such thing as infinite parabolic growth forever in a world with finite resources. Stability and prosperity is a better metric.
My observation is Japan prioritizes social stability foremost. This includes over employing workers even at low wages overall and trying to support workers at the expense of the bottom line. At least citizens have their basic needs met especially with their good national healthcare. Compared to the US companies that easily fire employees to appease shareholders and staggering displays of homelessness and citizens struggling w healthcare needs/costs. So we need to ask “what’s the point of just focusing on efficiency?”
Did they just skip colour grading this video entirely? This looks like raw footage, with nothing done to it.
I think we can all agree that customer experience at a Starbucks is the true mark of societal progression.
Service progression
@CharlieGeorge - It's not but it can be a proxy for deeper systemic differences.
I want a coffee, but I don't want to get a coffee from someone who has to live with their mother because starbucks pays $$10 an hour in 2024
If their coffee was good it would a phenomenal success
This is what makes Japan's culture rich.
Can't believe they have listed in this video all the good things about any civilization and calling it bad.
American obsession with infinite growth is going to doom the whole world.
I Like Japanese culture
they killed millions of people and area very cruel civilization - also they build temples for those criminals ofwar... and neve apologised fully (given that they are known for deep apology when it comes to the WW2 they did very very small gestures) . ask the Koreans, Chinese, Philipine and others in Asia. IMO their culture should be reformed and surpassed.
If they stop the negative press on Japan, Americans might start to question why we can't all live in a big, safe city and live to 84 years old while making only $33,000
My opinion of Japan was that the worst thing was the fertility rate. If that country could stabilize at like 2.3 TFR somehow Japan would be the gold standard for how to be a nation state in the modern world
Forcing people to come into the office to stamp a document instead of using a digital certificate like everyone else in the world is what makes Japan's culture rich? Maintaining a business culture where looking busy instead of streamlining problem solving and paying out dividends instead of investing in R&D is what makes Japan's culture rich? Enduring sexism and terrible working culture creating non-existent work-life-balances, plummeting birthrates and karoshi is what makes Japan's culture rich? You think all of these things are the best Japanese civilization has to offer?
Hmmm, the U.S. is a society where only a few rich people are making money, right?
There is no proper social insurance system.
Inflation is so high and the gap between the rich and the poor is so great that it cannot be compared to Japan.
Japan is even moving away from sewing machines, which they are/were a global leader in -- and have set the entire standard for sewing machines that make all of our clothes. What happens when Japan moves away from holding supremacy in that space will be interesting. No one makes metal parts as precisely as Japan on such a mass scale. Your clothing was sewn on a Japanese sewing machine ... as soon as they lose interest in their process-centricity and "obsolete technologies" like mechanical sewing machines, the quality of clothing and sewn goods dies and //you// naked. Think about it. Support Japan, buy Japanese, and stop the over-emphasis on virtual technologies, rather than tangible ones. Japan needs tech diversification and a way to retain the old while integrating the new. Humanity is dependent on Japanese reliability and innovation. Praise and respect to Japan!!!
The dude that he interviewed gave terrible examples to be honest, he could have given Japanese love for cash instead of using digital payments which is more surprising in an advanced economy.
I just came back from Japan and it seems the change from cash to digital payment is definitely improving. I was able to use my card for like 95% of places. This pertains to the big cities like tokyo/osaka. It was way different from when I visited back in 2017.
@@tonyquach9655 That's great to hear, heading that way later this year again and constantly using cash was quite a hassle, especially when so many cards now have no foreign transaction fees
@tonyquach9655 the Suica card is honestly great. You can use it as a debit card in most of Tokyo. These days though it's more so through the app as sort of an apple pay type affair.
The US has been really bad with cards for a long time. When Europe switched to chip and pin the US didn't adopt that. And the US was very slow to adopt contactless debit/credit card payment. It's improved a lot in the last few years at least.
@@tonyquach9655 absolutely, I remember times when transiting through NRT or HND I couldn't buy ANYTHING from those vending machines without coins or their own cards. Looks like they are on the right path now, at least in this matter. More, same NRT and HND, the multitude of employee just unnecessary guiding people from jetways to security AGAIN, is far from efficient...
Germany also has that problem because they love cash and they apparently also still use faxes, my country in small businesses has that problem but because they like a bit of tax evasion don’t tell anyone ect
I know this is WSJ but life and culture ain't all about making money.
Let Japan be a one of kind in piece.
There is still the rest of the world to do as the rest of the world does...
Life ain't about working ridiculous hours either. Japan would have more time for culture if they cleaned up their inefficiencies
Japan's population has been getting older and has dropped. They are doing perfectly fine considering the deflation this causes.
Economic growth based on unlimited population growth is unsustainable.
My mom is Korean and also has a Hanko. They are also still used in Korea.
The use of hanko (dojang in Korean) is optional and very much the exception rather than the rule. In fact, these days, most documents are digital requiring electronic signatures so i'm not sure if dojang is still accepted in these cases.
"Inefficient" at what, putting everyone into debt slavery?
that's wrong thinking
And probably at housing crisis, the US and the West are so “efficient” there 😂
I don't agree with the Hanko craftsman, but what he actually said was "When it comes to the things that matter, inefficiency matters".
What he's trying to say was something like polite language tends to be superfluous, or there's always a ceremony for an event of great magnitude, which is inefficient from an economic point of view.
I hate Hanko tradition, but the subtitle is unfair translation.
Even if they economy is inefficient, it still has respect, good work ethic and does not reply on outsourcing overseas workers do to cheap jobs for like America. I very much respect Japan for still being traditional.
4:16 There are more employees working in Starbucks in major cities all over the world, not just in Japan. In Tokyo, for example, coffee shops can be extremely busy, with constant lines. As such, more staff is needed. Starbucks is a profit-hungry corporation, and are not prone to overstaffing for no reason. Duh.
1:50 *showing chinese tourists dressed in kimonos as it they were Japanese* LOL
Japan should not listen to foreign critics. A bustling economy, on paper, isn't the mighty end all be all. Strides for perfect efficiency have destroyed so much of the good we have here in the west, where all of our goods have turned into junk quality trash, and an economic environment that feels sickly despite markets being at "all time highs". Companies here work very hard to redefine US culture, with pride. Companies there work hard to respect and oblige by Japanese culture. Companies here have a price-gouging attitude of "the right price is the highest someone is willing to pay for it". In Japan, they practice self restraint. Your prices for goods don't fluctuate regardless of whether you're in or out of the airport, in the heart of a busy city, or out in the country.
Let Japan address their own issues in accordance with their values.
Leave it to Americans to always think the grass is greener on the other side. Companies in Japan don’t “respect and oblige by Japanese culture”, they are just as fiercely materialistic and shallow as anyone else. You seem to have some sort of rosy picture where companies can have these idealistic values and still be competitive. Go search up some of the Japanese corruption or shady and appalling business practices.
@@team3am149 Firstly, I am Japanese American. Secondly, I have observed many of these differences and attitudes from businesses myself. I am not saying that Japanese businesses are without blemish, but there very much is a clear difference in how companies make decisions and how they behave towards Japanese consumers versus the states.
@@Aar69
You have work there sir, what are the differences ?
Did you guys shoot Log and forget to add a LUT or color correct?
Not mentioning plaza accord?
God forbid that a country doesn't sacrifice it's soul on the altar of efficiency and profit.
But they work to death
I found Japan (at least Tokyo) way more efficient/high-tech-oriented than North America. I mean, the ramen places had vending machines so you didn't need more than 2 waiters!!
@@missplainjane3905 In Japan, construction work is already being carried out using unmanned heavy machinery operated from a control room hundreds of kilometers away.
Living in Japan paints a very different picture to just visiting.
@@sumguy7716
Universal
Accuracy and detail oriented results in a process is important in most large consumer durable goods
Yeah but mass produced low quality is what rich people want us to believe as efficiency.
Detail oriented like Toyota, Honda and Nissan faking car safety rating?
@@Patricia-cn7ox You would be surprised how much better modern stuff is made versus in the past. it's commonly said that stuff made today is lower quality but that's because we have a better selection of things. You can absolutely buy American made products that are just as good if not better than Japanese ones.
@@vlhc4642what do you mean they're reliable
@@sarkaranish Yeah but those have lower margins with high price tags for a much smaller audience, so what businesses push is not really that but cheaply made goods that will break in two minutes and you’ll need to replace constantly. That goes directly against Japanese way of living, even religious beliefs. That’s what’s stifling innovation for them as well, they do really push against the “cheap efficiency” let’s say.
They have a population crisis, and this guy is blaming the hanko and floppy disks.
A bit disappointing how this WSJ analysis could not get beyond the surface level.
1. Japan slipped behind Germany mostly because of the exchange rate ---- which is a result of external factor(USD) rather than internal.
2. Japan's inefficiency may be notable in a few examples, but almost everyone can also agree they'd rather make the money in the US(the "more productive" economy) and then spend it in Japan, usually because quality and service are better. Should we not factor quality, service etc. into the measurement too?
3. Is there more data than the anecdotal Starbucks diss in the video? (which seems to be the only quantifiable evidence of Japanese low productivity here). It is widely accepted by economists that individual productivity had stagnated globally since the 1960s ---- I really doubt Japan is faring worse than global average.
I grow up with Japanese products. When I was young, everything electronics come from Japan. TV, mobile phones, Radio, Cars, portable CD players. Now, I don't see any Japanese products, TVs are Korean or Chinese, mobile phones are Chinese, Korean or iPhone, there are still Toyotas here but it is losing ground to Korean cars and Chinese cars. Japan is just slowly fading away and becomes irrelevant.
It's a 5 minutes long video. For more data, buy the newspaper? :-)
German population is only 84 vs 125 million of the Japanese. What is it with all the Japan white knights, when something even remotely negative is said about the country? Weakening of the yen might not even be a temporary issue but may persist for the foreseeable future. The situation will only get worse, not better due to the dire demographic situation in the country.
Absolutely agreed 👏
日本的主要原因还是创新不够，从而很难看到独角兽企业，所谓“完美”也是不愿改变、没有创新的体现。从另外一方面来说日本并不追求完美，从汽车行业经常性大规模数据造假可以看出这也点
Good video, please color grade it correctly with more contrast
Don't listen to others. Being the top largest economies has its own toll to its citizens. Just go at your own pace and maintain that balance between economy n culture. The price to pay for progress for progress sake is not worth it.
Seen from a viewpoint of productivity at a corporate level, "fewer people are better". Alas, those who are denied to have a job then become a burden to the social system of the country, hence, to the taxpayers. With the exception of the US of course, as there social systems are almost non existent. Looking from a societal standpoint, Japan is doing far better, than the report tries to make viewers believe.
Great, now I want a Hanko to sign my letters with. Not that I send letters, but it would look badass on my Christmas cards.
I thought the same! As soon I visit Japan i will get one
^you can make your own with a potato
Perhaps the Japanese got the idea from the Dune movie. I remember Duke Leto Atreides igning the takeover of Dune with a Hanko.
@@temper44 Sadly I can't tell if you are joking or not.
I agree with all points & criticism about Japan. But what is ignored in this video is that Japan is changing & adopting new strategies now.
This is all BS. It's about market access. Germany, South Korea & above all China have been eating Japan's lunch for some time now because the US favored them over Japan.
Foreign direct investment from the US plays a part but it's not that big of a factor. The US doesnt control the global market. It's all about momentum. Japan was already developed and there not much room left for rapid growth like SK or China. SK and China grew from 0 development into manufacturing and export oriented economies, had allow them to accumulated fast wealth to reinvest and keep snowballing their economy momentum with growing export and domestic demand for the past 3-4 decades. China today dominates global export volume in all sort of low commodities to mid tech products, using its advantage in economy of scale, low wages, large population thus large domestic market. While Japan manufaturing and export hardly grew much since. The aircons, TVs, home electronics and appliances by Toshiba, Sony, Sharp in the 90s that Japan used to make today are replaced with Chinese brands like Midea, Haier, Hisense, TCL,... at much lower prices point, or more premium Korean brands like Samsung, LGs... Japan cant really compete with manufacturing edge on a low resource island, where most raw materials have to be imported, relatively higher wages and aging population. While Korea had luck with its large high tech innovate, high manufacturing based coporations like Samsung, Hyundai hauling its entire economy. Korea also invested heavily in their own manufacturing facturies and supply chains in other developing countries to keep their cost low. China also do this to some extend in underdeveloped countries for both raw material access, and hoping for high investment return once these countries become high growth formula like China used to be. On the other hand Japan similar to most other Western countries had moved to finance and services based economy, instead of heavy manufacturing where they had lost the advantage. Not only does its output and export becomes stagnant. Japan also 1stly doesnt innovate like it used to, it missed out on the smartphone and EV trends that China and Korea had capitalized on. And 2ndly their coroprate leaders are very conservative with foreign investment elsewhere to find a way out, probly because 90s bubble and recession wiped out much of their accumulated wealth and cash, and set them on a very risk adverse, focus inward mindset. For Germany, it always long have had many innovative small to mid size companies specialized in niche export of parts, machineries and 'machines that go inside other machines' for the global market to keep its economy going.
Saying suicide rate is high in japan but in america they will run around shooting random people or just became a zombie in the corner
and actually
Suicide rate
31 US 14.5
49 Japan 12.2
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate
Keep in mind Japan also does NOT have unaffordability or homelessness or addiction issues AT ALL. Arguably it has the highest standard of living of any developed country.
Maybe they're onto something by keeping people employed, not putting corporate profit maximization above all else, and retaining some tradition.
They're just good at hiding that stuff. It does exist.
I hate to say this, but.
If it works, why fix it?
The digital transformation cost money to the company.
Plus with the weak yen currently and the cost of living rising.
Japan is an extraordinary nation.
As the first non European country to achieve industrialization by early 20th century, this nation prooved that it was possible to ascend technologicaly as a oriental civilization.
Indirectly Japan was the inspiration behind every non western success story.
Japan is a phoenix.
Rising from the ashes of defeat and disasters.
Land of rising love and beauty.
🗾
I loved Japan's penchant for perfection and precision, i dont mind if its slow and steady!
Japan is so awesome that so many people from all over the world want to visit or live there.
Jesper Koll and Peter Landers would be unemployed if it wasn't for the japanese. Its so weird they don't realize that its easier to fake signatures since a person's signature isn't 100% the same whenever they sign something. A stamp on another hand is an exact copy every single time.
Japan has low unemployment, low inflation, and low crime. They’re fine.
Don't change!
Stay the way you are, Japan. 😳
What is the purpose of the economy? Efficiency? Is it happiness? Is efficiency happiness?
In utopia I guess the purpose would be to serve the people, without an economy there'd be no dispersible resources to the extent even a trade between 2 individuals constitute something economic, so the society depend on a certain efficiency to achieve the set goals, with the capitalist system you can end up with growth for the sake of growth, i'd agree it'd function similar to cancer, it doesn't even care if it kills its host, so there'd need to be a balance as to say humans must control the system and not the opposite way
God forbid cultural tradition stand in the way of growth for growth’s sake
Efficiency is quantity oriented in nature... And does not have a consideration for qualitative aspects.... Growth is not always good... A cancer is also a growth albeit abnormal
Koreans would love to see something like this.
The problem with Japan's economy is that Japan is a colony of the United States, and the United States does not allow its younger brothers to be better than itself. Japan even needs to provide blood transfusions to the United States amid the U.S. economic crisis. Japan's semiconductor industry was dismantled by the United States itself and distributed to South Korea, Malaysia, and Taiwan.
❤Precisely
Toshiba and Plaza Accord.
That was awhile ago Japan can do better now but they need reforms
They did the same to Germany pushing the conflict with Russia and cutting off the germans from cheap energy and resources.
Japan also doesn't have mass shootings, rampant crime and drug addiction epidemic.
Wonder if that quirk with the fax machine is for the same reason they're still around in German businesses. A fax with a transfer receipt has the same legal weight as a certified letter. The other side can't use the claim that the message never arrived.
It’s pretty wierd that Japan is often portrayed as something like fantastical world
wibu
Wild to think that Japan's economy hasn't changed AT ALL since 1989.
The 90s were so much better than nowadays though.............
Need more examples. Why does it take 5 people to do the same work at Starbucks in Japan that takes 2 people in the US? Are the extra 3 just standing around?
Because they are so picky, extremely slow too. No sense of urgency 😅 they are very weird people 😅
A Starbucks location could have more staff for a variety of reason, more orders, customers have more complex orders, strong peak times, etc. It's probably just a bad example/anecdote.
i used to work in a japanese bank in nyc, japanese workers value facetime, looking busy even when they are not being productive... this is the toxic culture they mentioned in the video, i've seen it with my own eyes
@@pengchihanyou said it yourself: your latte is made to perfection in Japan… perfection takes a LOT of time. Look at Pareto’s Rule. Japan is inefficient because they spend too much time going to 100% when it’s sufficient and much more efficient to just go to 80%, for example. The argument is that Japanese spend too much extra time and resources to go from 80% to 100% quality that it is hurting them thru inefficiency.
@@pewpewpower it's great for consumers though, the same brand that sell shavers will sell very high quality model in japan, while that same brand name sell very floppy product in the US. You can't find the Japan quality shavers in the US, consumers are brainwashed to used inferior produce so they can consume more, and be more "efficient".
Japan inefficient is not because of high quality, it's because of bureaucracy & refusal to cut old ways of doing things (fax, stamp, prio long-hours over task-oriented work, etc.)
But which country is happier?
Considering the rates for suicide despite lack of personally owned weapons, not Japan.
Mad max country Australia 😊
Japan: if it's working, why stop using it 😊
It's beginning to not work though
@@SASMADBRUV7 Then that's when they stop using them. That's kind of a pattern with Japanese culture, they undergo periods of severe reform and transformation up to a point where they become a leader and reach cutting edge. They then stop at a comfortable cutting edge, then maintain their great system until it stagnates them, then reform once obsolete again. It's a cycle of great growth and stagnation.
It’s not working though, in fact it hasn’t worked for decades. Japanese workers don’t have the time or money to have kids and now it’s going into a demographic collapse.
@@DavidCarloAFermoIn my opinion, culture grows during periods of stagnation. Like in the Edo period.
I remember being a kid in the 80s and 90s and seeing Japan as this technological tour de force..
Which it was, but upon moving here. It's a lot more complex than that. And I believe you captured what it's really like to live here for those who want to take the big step. This is very important information to have.
why don't you make an editorial on why the WSJ is falling behind?🙂
The Japanese have their culture and traditions and also live comfortable modern life. That's more than one can say about most other countries.
copied from China and then copied from western 😂
Japan is an extraordinary nation.
As the first non European country to achieve industrialization by early 20th century, this nation prooved that it was possible to ascend technologicaly as a oriental civilization.
Indirectly Japan was the inspiration behind every non western success story.
Japan is a phoenix.
Rising from the ashes of defeat and disasters.
Land of rising love and beauty.
🗾
Except the Japanese don’t live comfortable, modern lives.
@@Nerinav1985China was the most technologically advanced place on the planet for hundreds of years, did they somehow become non-oriental or European? They inspired everything Japan ever had or acquired.
@@team3am149
So what kind of live
Did the video editor forget to move the saturation slider? It looks like a raw file.
An old man in Dubai once showed me similar wooden hunko stamp with Arabic writing on it. He said in old days people in the region used to use it as an official signature 🤷♀️
stamp was a common practice everywhere. eg: only in 2022 that the US stopped using entry stamps for passports.
Never change your ways and ties to the past Japan
so tired of DW, WSJ and many other western perspectives on how other nations are inefficient or whatever. It's getting old and the boomer perspective is pretty annoying.
it is true though and Japanese howl w pain at the consequences. this is why the japanese will work 70-80 hour suicidal inducing weeks and have lower salaries than western 9-5 workers.
@@me9008
What about other countries
This work from Wall Street Journal really misses the point. Focusing on hanko is ridiculous. Has WSJ given up on pens and pencils as well? Are there no more economists at WSJ?
I honestly don't think that it's a bad thing
Why
Culture is more important than Economics. Just look at the UK to see why.
Kinda tough to get older people to adapt to new tech. And Japan has a huge population of old people.
Germany and Japan actually have much in common here - insisting on still using faxes (ironically had to fax my broadband provider last week), and of refusing to digitise. Online forms have to be printed, signed, then scanned, even in government offices.
It's not unusual for someone to print a form in front of you, put it right back on top to scan.
Love Japan! Amazing country, culture, people and services!
Diffrent country, Diffrent values
The guest says, "The transition from analog to digital never happened." This is a preposterous claim. His example (Sony Walkman) alone is enough to prove otherwise. He just needs to buy the latest Sony PlayStation. The critique is justified, but it does not require absurd exaggerations.
It’s a well-known fact that Japan is a laggard in software and digitalization.
Having working in Japan, I am amazed how much papers and files are still being used as logfiles.
In a good way ?
Japan still uses floppy disks??? I haven't seen one since i dont know 2002?
traditions and the old ways can be good BUT it can also KILL progress...
Japan signed plaza accord trade agreement with America in 1985
Location : World Trade Center (NYC)
Sounds okay to me. Modern Tech is mostly just digital tech and as Solow showed, productivity in the ict is almost non-existent. its why Japan can still cling on to top 5 without embracing to much digital tech.
Not enough research apparently. Do it again but more carefully and deeply. You missed a lot of core ideas behind Japanese Economy.
Great video. Could you make similar video for Germany compared to the US? Many thanks.
Japan is a country that arrived at 1990 at 1970 and has been there ever since.
If Japan is considered a stickler for traditions that renders it somewhat ossified, compare this to Italian scleroticism and rigidity.
Winner of the stupid prizes 🏆🏆
Modems and faxes are still the norm in even the largest companies in Japan, not to say internal documents in paper that require tons of seals from different departments and groups.