Why Japan's Shrinking Economy Is Stuck in the ‘90s | WSJ
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 มิ.ย. 2024
- Japan is a country of contradictions. From bullet trains to pioneering robotics, it’s often seen as a land of innovation; but it also has a strong attachment to tradition with practices like hanko. Japan used to be the third largest economy in the world but lost the title to Germany last year. So why is the country falling behind?
WSJ’s Peter Landers explains how being fiercely traditional is weighing down Japan’s economy.
Chapters:
0:00 Japan’s contradictions
0:34 Old technology
2:40 Stuck in time
4:34 Slow change
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Japan data confirms first currency intervention since 2022: on.wsj.com/3X9gaex
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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.
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?🤔
Japan's stubbornness to stick to tradition is also the same reason why they are so fascinating to us outsiders
What is fascinating
@@missplainjane3905 That they have managed to maintain their indigenous culture despite globalist efforts to erode it.
@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.
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.
This is was a waste of 5 minutes. 🙄Japan is worse than US because stamps and fax machines? Okay but their citizens enjoy clean streets, excellent public transportation, and don’t worry about being drowned in educational and healthcare debt and not being shot down while going grocery shopping.
It was a question of productivity, and stifling bureaucracy.
Japanese people are awesome, and will remain awesome with more efficient processes if implemented.
Singapore has great productivity and still retains a great culture for comparison.
Usa has culture issues
@@Dan16673true, right wing culture is killing the potential for awesome public transportation and universal healthcare.
@@BluespicygreenJapan by nature, political and cultural POV is right wing
Us it's company not country
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 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.
@@marathiManoosabsolutely agree. I live here currently and while it took some getting used to, I certainly do love it.
In most of Japan, the trains run on time, the service at any establishment, no matter high end or low end, can be counted on to be decent and pleasant, the streets are clean and incredibly safe, you can walk anywhere alone at night without looking over your shoulder, you can take care of most of your errands at the convenience stores that are everywhere, the food is good and affordable at most restaurants, and housing is much more affordable than most cities in the west. I would take this over some measure of “efficiency” and “growth” made up by economists any day. Economists these days are just cheerleaders for the one percent.
Well said.
affordable by your western salaries standards... Japanese people work long hours and overtime to make ends meet and live in cramped spaces. These measures made up by economists unfortunately affect the little man more than the big capitalists.
Rigorous social conservatism isn’t all sunshine & rainbows. They have a nearly %100 criminal conviction rate, more xenophobia than fundy Christians, many businesses are weirdly afraid of objectively useful progress like debit cards & their suicide rates make America seem like an international paragon of mental healthcare
@@vladys5238 actually if you look at measures of housing and general affordability in comparison to wages, no Japanese city is even in the top 20. It’s mostly western cities with more “productive” economies lol.
"Economists these days are just cheerleaders for the one percent"
thats what the western media wants to believe. fact is japan is booming with weak yen and strong tourism
Japan is not booming, where did you get that idea from?
Not really, of anything the yen It’s tanking their wealth
Booming? Have you taken a look at their rapidly declining population? In 15 years, the government will have a serious shortage of taxes to pay off the pension of its retired seniors... not to mention the government itself. It's GDP to Debt ratio is one of the worst. I'm not a Japan hater by any means and I admire Japanese people but their woes are real and people just realize it.
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'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.
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.
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?
The irony of this video looking like it was made 30 years ago…
Totally disagree on the Starbucks example. In US, most Starbucks with far fewer workers means longer waiting time for the customers. This same "efficiency" achieved by lowered service quality can be found in most retail establishments.
yea exactly, Japan provides far higher quality services.
This is why Japan is such a nice place to live, there is a trade-off between profit and quality, in the West things have gone too much in the opposite direction.
Yea he gave a bad example. The Japanese construction sites often requires unnecessary guards, even for smallest construction like refurbishment and even for the least populated area where no body is around.
Yeah super bad example on Starbucks. 😅
it's a bad example but a good point. mikami's about the guards is better. also the traffic directors for parking lots, or having 5 registers at a supermarket open when no one is in line. and these are just the customer facing ones we can see. think how many redundant jobs are there in all those buildings all over the cities.
Makes you realise that if Japan can have such a large and advanced economy with so many fundamental inefficiencies, their best days could really be ahead with all of the low hanging-fruit.
Just need a proper reform movement.
They are doing just fine, unlike a lot of Americans strung out on a sidewalk near you.🤔
Japan and reform are like water and oil
Japan's problem is they believe their economy is advanced while using fax machines.
The first thing they need to do to move forward is to acknowledge their economy is neither advanced nor large.
I don't think so. Their population is aging quickly, their birthrate has decreased to the point of unsustainability, and they are averse to immigration.
@@josehawking5293 they're not doing "fine" they are in so much debt they are on the brink of collapse
Unlike in Japan, the conditions behind high productivity allow workers to be laid off quickly. Land prices are too high, and rental rooms are too expensive for them to afford. They cannot get proper medical care, and if they fall ill, they are immediately fired and end up at the bottom of society. I don't want advice from a country where former workers are roaming the streets like zombies in droves.
It's all relative. French Bourdeaux Wine, Mexican Tequila, Japanese Sushi Knives, look to the traditional artisans that hold up these world renouned industries and they have no equals. When pride is measured in a tradition of perfection, instead of the fatness of wallet, outsiders see distress, but locals feel rich with satisfaction. Culture may not make much money but it is what makes you famous. In some ways, Japanese culture is like Nike, the brand is worth more than the sum of it's physical assets. If you were to compare countries as brands in the way it shapes the minds of people around the world, Japan is in the top 3. Imagine whipping out a hand carved white marble stamp when signing papers, or dabbing a MontBlanc fountain pen in a bottle of ink, we call that snobby, but the guy doing it feels pretty good.
Being occupied by foreign troops means Japan is very limited in terms of political and economic power.
Someone hasn't been to Germany 😂
"Be like us" is not a compelling argument americans. Please provide actual data points. "Americans does this" means nothing.
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
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?
Make TOYOTA Great Again 😎 Scotty Kilmer
Suicide rates are higher in the United States.
Working hours are also higher in the U.S.
Mental illness rates are also higher in the U.S.
I remember when back in the 90s Japan was going to take over the world economy.
Japan’s inefficient practices come from their post war excess population. But those people are retiring, smaller population following.
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.
🗾
We still use faxes in the united states just not as frequently , the primary reason being that ultimately Email isn't that secure, and for communications that are meant fundamentally to be private, Fax machines are the better bet. Like you'd fax your Doctors office information, sometimes. And when they need to send your informaiton from one office to another in the medical industry they'd likely use Fax as they can't quite trust the security of Email. The West likes to make jokes about Fax machines being Obsolete but the reality is they're still used here, and will be whenever Email isn't sufficient.
why it is not safe? Are you using Chinese mail account and network?
If not, US always claim their email account and network is the safest in the world.
😅😅😅
@@mujur9101 For one thing in terms of tech at the level of personal computers tech evolves at a rate much faster than nature itself does and by exponents it improves so with that in mind "Tech time" is not like human time and in technical years the invention of email makes it just as ancient as fax because after just 2 years computers tend to double in speed these days and for many years it was every 18 months per moore's law which held up until relatively recently so once you go past 5 years everything older than that is Ancient in tech years and similiarly so like after that it's all legacy AF and usually expected to be what you'd find in a landfill and Email is "Ancient" the same way Fax is already, and thus hackers have had far more time to dicover vulrenabilites in the underlying system and I recall a certain kind of engineering where email that passes between domain names taking a rather lengthjy route that involves multiple hops to it's final destination such that it doesn't take a purely linear path from sender to recipient under the hood but boiunces a round a lot before it arrives at it's final destination at any point of course a person could man in the middle it should they want to. Which is why you're well advised to use PGP to send email if you really need privacy - but training someone how to use that is cumbersome compared to a fax.
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
1:50 *showing chinese tourists dressed in kimonos as it they were Japanese* LOL
Did you guys have AI edit this video?!? It is so ridiculous. The narrator says the line, "a country rich in culture, but resistant to change" while footage of a rickshaw, and women wearing kimonos are shown? Give me a break. People in Japan don't travel around using rickshaws: they are a novelty geared towards tourists. And kimonos are worn for special occasions, or by performers, restaurant hosts, etc. Women in Japan don't just throw on a kimono and go to the grocery store. And kimonos and rickshaws and temples, etc. are not signs that the country is 'resistant to change.' They are signs that the people of Japan celebrate and choose to perpetuate their traditions, which is not a bad thing. And doing so does not mean the country cannot move forward. After all: these traditions and customs have been present continuously, even during Japan's technological heydey in the 1980s.
All correct. But don't forget the Americans forcing Japan to double the value of the Yen in 1985, leading them towards their crazy real estate and stock market bubbles of the late 1980s.
Tbf I'm not sure how that relates to some of the issues like this which Japan now has
@@SASMADBRUV7 That's why Japan's Ministry of Finance and media to support interest-rate increase, tax hike, a stronger yen and deflation. It is often said that there are many traitors in Japan's Ministry of Finance and in politicians.
The Japanese bubble was there regardless of the Plaza Accord, and their government continued pumping money into the economy for years even when the bubble was bursting.
Huh? Usa didn't do that but they did screw them in the 90s
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this is definitely considerable! think you could suggest any professional/advisors i can get on the phone with? i'm in dire need of proper portfolio allocation
Just research the name Angela Lynn Schilling. You’d find necessary details to work with a correspondence to set up an appointment.
I appreciate it. After searching her name online and reviewing her credentials, I'm quite impressed. I've contacted her as I could use all the help I can get. A call has been scheduled.
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.
Make TOYOTA Tacoma 🗾 Great Again 😎 Scotty Kilmer
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?
The stamp is interesting how Japan uses old technology to avoid foreign hackers
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
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😊
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
Did you guys shoot Log and forget to add a LUT or color correct?
The medical industry in the US still uses fax machines, and won't use email for most things. Of course, health is one of the least efficient industries in the US.
Are you from the medical field
When wsj criticizes you for being not productive, that is a compliment
WSJ "productive" defined is at 1:43 , GDP(USD)/Hours-Worked, so if worked too long then that's lower productivity.
No wonder service is so much better in Japan - if you've got five people getting things done at Starbucks, that means you will actually get treated more than just a number as a customer.
@SomeLazyDr you don't understand what productivity is
Exactly, according to them we should sacrifice our lives just to be productive for Wall Street, no.
@@SASMADBRUV7 I think, I might. from my vantage point, it is revenue per employ.
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 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.
I honestly don't think that it's a bad thing
Why
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.
Culture is important but culture can be expensive.
Blaming govt problems on culture ? The govt and corruption is the problem
@@meteorknight999 Not sure if OP blamed anyone in general. Perhaps OP knows that most problems in society are multifaceted. Take government for example. Most positions in government make a modest salary, but politicians, especially in the US, consistently end up millionaires. Much of this wealth comes from special interest and lobbying via banks, businesses, and military. The problem with corruption, therefore, lies in a system of government where a separation of these different interests doesn't exist. It fundamentally undermines the idea of checks and balances, and the principles of a two-party system, as both parties are effectively owned by the same groups of people, who have control over the internet, mass media, economy, government.. Well, your entire existence in society and everything you know. And should you start asking questions, someone on the internet will immediately step in to correct you or think you're crazy or accuse you spouting conspiracy theories.
what does this even mean?
@@meteorknight999 The govt is not immune to its country's culture. The govt does not operate in a bubble. Culture affects everything in the country.
if you're not spending on culture what's the point
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
I was able to barely watch this but, how did you guys publish this in its raw format? Someone forgot to apply the preset?
It's sad how difficult things have become in the present generation. I was wondering how to utilise some money I had. I used some of it for e-commerce business, but that sank. I'm thinking of how to use what's left to invest, but I don't really know which way to go.
Find stocks with yields that exceed the market and stocks that, at the very least, follow the long-term market trend. However, you should get guidance from a financial advisor if you want to create a successful long-term plan...
Yeah, financial advisors could make a lot of difference, particularly in a market such as this. Stocks are pretty unstable at the moment, but if you do the right math, you should be just fine. Bloomberg and other finance media have been recording cases of folks gaining over 250k just in a matter of weeks/couple months, so I think there are a lot of wealth transfer in this downtime if you know where to look. I have been using an FA since 2019, and I return at least $121k ROI, and this does not include capital gain.
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maybe being the most efficient and productive isnt the most important thing
Only citizens of prosperous rich countries think this way
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?”
Why is this video so grey
the cameraman didn't know how to use his expensive camera, should've use normal camera with normal settings. The video is so grey because it is using a RAW mode in professional camera intended to be processes in computer to adjust colour & contrast manually.
@@exfinen_2919it’s not on the cameraman. He or she shot this correctly in a professional format.
The editor or post production team dropped the ball. They needed to process the footage (log) into a standard color space (rec709)
It's call a propaganda filter 😂
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.
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
@@deedelta9263 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.
@@deedelta9263 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.
Not enough research apparently. Do it again but more carefully and deeply. You missed a lot of core ideas behind Japanese Economy.
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.
@@MiguelDLewis lol you should be the last to talk.
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🙏🏾✝📖
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
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.
They've already industrialized and developed into an advanced economy with little homelessness, poverty, and crime. Their concern is giving their people a high quality of life. Others have more vibrant economies, but what good is growth if all their people don't benefit from it?
That's why Starbucks is lousy in US.
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.
There's an expression in Japanese "Otona no jijoh" (Adult's reasons.) Hanko and fax are definitely some of those. I have like ten hankos. Meaning it's a huge market. About faxes I have a funny anecdote. In one factory that I worked some 15 years ago they still used big A1 size faxes to send and receive blueprints. It came all illegible but still it was mandatory (and of course they got the pdf version via email.) I asked my hancho (boss) what's all about and he said "well, otona no jijoh." It turned out the whole management kept this tradition to get kickbacks from the leasing company.
Agree. I don't think Government of Japan dictates how many employees will man a coffee machine. If there are 5 people, its probably coz Seattle decided there needs to be 5 people.
heck we still use fax at the most modern and top hospitals in the U.S.
@@CheapSushi
Really
Fax is using in German offices too !
@@jimmylam9846 It's very famous. town offices , etc.
God forbid cultural tradition stand in the way of growth for growth’s sake
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.
Really want to know whether not color grading this was intentional for the story or not and just forgotten.
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
As a Japanese, I think it’s difficult to have a balance between tradition and efficiency. Overall I’m really proud of my culture and how safe is.
The US wanted Japan to fail since the 90's when the Yen value was so high for Americans to afford to buy Japanese cars. The US then asked Japan to drop its currency value down to almost nothing. So Americans can afford to buy Toyotas. Since then, the Yen has never gained it value.
That's how America get rid off its competition.
Do America want the EU to fail? The answer is YES.
The wage in the US has increased 150%+, but most Americans are not getting richer. It is because of the high inflation and the wealth transfer from the poor to the rich,
accounting for inflation, wages have kept up in the US. that is not the case everywhere else. the US seems to be the only country in the entire planet where wages grow along with productivity
Most people are richer. You are lying.
@@jorgeavelar98Wrong again. You need to study economics, then you'll be able to keep up on here
@@wallstreettrader1
Median Disposable Per capita income (PPP adjusted)
*US* (2nd): $48,625
*Japan* (24th): $24,855
What did they get wrong?
@@nouvelhomme8990wrong
Why that *HUGE* filter on video ?!?
If it was done to make Japan look antiquated like the video says, it was a very cringe tactic by WSJ
Americans fail to understand that countries are made to serve all its people and not just the business class. I wish we had more than 2 employers working at every Starbucks in the US.
When I have to take a project document to few different departments to get their supervisors to stamp it with their Hanko for approval, how many hours of work is typically required on a daily basis?
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 like the wsj stamp 😂
Being in Japan was an eye opening experience compared to the US and still I am wanting to go back bc of the tradition and the way it was in Japan. We don’t have that in a diverse place like the US. Things still need to be improved in both countries (US and Japan) but the problems are way different ones bigger than the other.
Don't change!
Stay the way you are, Japan. 😳
In the Japanese workplace, if you work efficiently, new jobs will be served to you. Actually, people don't want to work so much, so they work so lazy. That’s why we work inefficiently every single day.
Are you local
This says nothing about the effect of Japan's crashing population. It would be a sad world if the only way to stay on top is to give up who you are.
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.
This sums up the university application system in Japan as well, and a factor into why I chose to go to grad school in Singapore instead. Whereas most university applications can be completed online in a single day, all the Japanese schools required applications to be mailed in.
Good video, please color grade it correctly with more contrast
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!!!
Japan has the best public restrooms I’ve ever been to. I’ll give them that.
Nothing wrong with a population that doesn’t want to adapt consumerism.
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.
Stamps, fax, starbucks. what a great way to analyze a country
I loved Japan's penchant for perfection and precision, i dont mind if its slow and steady!
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
Don't change Japan
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.
Great video. Could you make similar video for Germany compared to the US? Many thanks.
I don't understand why you call Japan's economy inefficient when it is still the top 4 largest economy. It only slid down one place from number three and now it is being criticized. If Japanese economy is inefficient, how do you call the economies of those countries way down there in the number 20's, 50's and below number 100 plus?
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.
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 ?
Using the Hanko isn't going to cause a big drop in productivity. Floppy disks aren't widely used in Japan, similarly the starbucks example is silly. The number of workers per store doesn't seem much different to other countries when you take into account the business of the store. Productivity isn't the only measure of the quality of life in a country. Japanese products and services are better than many other countries in terms of quality, reliability and even price. There's also other factors like safety and cleanliness. Japan likely can make some changes to improve productivity but this video didn't really get to the core of the issue.
Are you there sir
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.
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.
Better than Canada
I was in Tokyo last week and now I'm in Osaka. It's a mix of old and new and it's just beautiful how things work. I've been to a lot of countries and I can say that Japan is incredible. The economy must not be so good now but it's way better of living in western countries.
Idk if it’s better. The work life balance is non existent
@@seneveshemisi6820 yeah I agree. They really work a lot! I think in some aspects it’s better… like clean streets and security.
I love the hanko, and we use them here in Taiwan as well. The difference is that simple written signatures (and even digital ones in some cases) can suffice as well in most official cases.