I don't know if it's why they didn't create the iPod but there are some noticeable differences in the music industry in Japan
It is (was?) almost impossible to find Japanese music online in legitimate ways. What I means, search for almost any western song and it will be on youtube either by the band itself, their publisher, or VEVO. Search for nearly any Japanese song and you won't find them on youtube, at least not officially. You might find a music video but it will often be edited in the middle with some interruption to basically make it not what you actually want (the full song).
I don't know why this is. I assume the Japanese music industry believes they'll make no money if the full music videos are available online. (note: this might be changing but it was true for many songs a year ago).
Example: The theme to Demon Slayer: LiSA - Gurenge (紅蓮華), searching brings up "officially" a short edited version, a practice version, and a live version but not the hit full song version.
Another example: Spice by Tokyo Karankoron the official music video cuts out after 1:30 and effectively says "buy it"
For whatever reason that's very different than the west.
Other random examples of differences:
* CD stores still exist in Japan (although they are clearly getting fewer in number)
* The Mini Disc was huge in 1997-2004ish. Normal models ran for > 200hrs on a single charge something no mp3 players I know of have ever come close to.
For some reason I don't know, the Japanese entertainment industry is quite against globalization. I don't know if it's the fear of losing control over their product (through digital copies) or an archaic mindset. They have a lot of products that are demanded all over the world and they are letting those opportunities to go to waste. Only very recently I have seen some movement in this regard, like the portal created by Shueisha Inc. to publish mangas online.
> Example: The them to Demon Slayer: LiSA - Gurenge (紅蓮華), searching brings up "officially" a short edited version, a practice version, and a live version but not the full song version.
Sony are the archetypal media savvy consumer products company in Japan, but they completely blew it with their rigid vertically integrated strategy. They tried to control the media production end with Sony Pictures and Sony Music, controlled the media format with Mini Disc and control the end user device with the players and Hi-Fi systems.
The problem with this is the other media companies - movie studios and record companies - saw them as competition. That means they wouldn't touch any of Sony's media formats or distribution platforms with a barge pole. This massive strategic foot gun has crippled their medial initiatives for decades. The media companies are nice businesses, I shed no tears for Sony, but they could never do what Apple did and cut ground breaking deals with all the major labels and studios.
Strong aversion to anything digital. Even nowadays the number of ebooks in Japanese is ridiculously small compared to how easy it is to find most books online in English (through Amazon or other book stores). And that's despite Japan owning the Kobo platform (through Rakuten).
> Example: The theme to Demon Slayer: LiSA - Gurenge (紅蓮華), searching brings up "officially" a short edited version, a practice version, and a live version but not the hit full song version.
The article begins by setting up language/display barrier but looking at MiniDisc players of that era (which did in fact have displays and often a second one on a remote) all of them used English menus. And judging by sales the Japanese consumers were fine with that.
Also, in 2001 Sony introduced USB connectors on their portable MD lineup so they didn't miss the train by much (by Japanese standards).
There are some interesting ideas in here, but I feel like the author left out a lot of the story and many other possibilities.
1. The author basically says that, due to fonts, Japan focused more on “applications” computing rather than system computing up through the 80s. I mostly agree with this.
2. The author then completely leaves out the 90s and jumps to the 2001 release of the iPod. Excuse me?
3. In the late 80s and early 90s, the computing tech became robust enough to handle Japanese fonts somewhere between well enough to almost perfectly. For example, I fondly remember my Wordtank from the early 90s made by Canon that helped my Japanese studying tremendously. Note that some models had variable memory (e.g., marking something for review) and expansion slots. My Apple PowerBook from the early 90s handled Japanese almost perfectly. Japanese word processors (ワープロ) also seemed to have some basic system level functionality (I rarely used one, but many friends did).
4. The above suggests that systems were available and functional in the early 90s.
While some open systems like the Mac OS were not made in Japan, open systems existed, so why didn’t they become more widely used in Japan?
To me, that is the key question.
I think at least one other possible explanation is that Japan’s societal structure didn’t (at least at that time) really leave very much space for people to be able to make a living via these open systems [1], as such, these systems were not broadly in demand.
Another possible explanation is that the first “lost decade” (the 90s) saw very little space for innovation.
I’m sure other viable explanation are possible.
Side note — this is incorrect:
“For comparison, let’s look at a few common Japanese characters (these are ranked as the 35th, 64th, and 104th most commonly used characters, respectively):
議 選 調”
I wonder where they got this info from. Maybe they were thinking of the list of kanji that students start learning in secondary school?
[1] Note that some people actually did make a living these open systems, but they tended to be connected much more intellectually, professionally, and economically with folks outside of Japan. TWICS internet was publicly available in 1993, and that helped tremendously imho.
My parents had a super rare NEC X68030 HD compact in mid-nineties.
It came with files of the previous owner intact.
It took them few month to figure out how to switch the input to English, and learning quite a bit of Japanese in the process.
I have no doubt that "the language theory" the author has is a complete pie in the sky, trying to cue the reader to some "unique oriental deficiencies"
I remember a joke in Homestar Runner[0] in 2006 about Pom Pom making a movie on his phone. At the time it was maybe just barely possible. Some people were watching very limited movies or movie clips on their phones. A few years later, people were doing video calls and streaming to the internet.
So yes, there was a period of time where the iPod and digital cameras and other gadgets were tethered the PC. Picasa was a desktop app for years before google photos; but now everything is on the cloud. I've never connected my current phone to a computer. (I did with my previous one, but that was for app development and debugging).
STRONG BAD: Originally, tellular cellaphones {indicating Pom Pom's phone} were for sending misspelled messages to your friends, telling them where you are in the food court.
POM POM: {makes a few bubbling noises directed at Strong Bad, then resumes his conversation}
STRONG BAD: Pom Pom just bought movie tickets with his cell phone!
POM POM: {looks annoyed and makes more bubbling noises}
STRONG BAD: Oh, he just watched a movie on his cell phone!
POM POM: {looks angry at Strong Bad, makes more bubbling noises}
STRONG BAD: Oh oh oh! Pom Pom just wrote, directed, produced, and distributed a movie with his cell phone!
POM POM: {answers an incoming call and makes a few more bubbling noises}
STRONG BAD: ...and he just got into Sundance! High-five, brother!
The language discussion is pretty navel-gazey and easily falsifiable. There were loads of Japanese-market PCs in the early 90s (stuff like the MSX). Hell, Apple did huge pushes in Japan as well, thanks to its high-res stuff. If the language was maybe a barrier early on, it's pretty hard to argue that it continued to be so.
"Something" was different, of course. And maybe there is an argument for there simply being not very many cheap machines available for the Japanese market.
My pet theory is that the US in particular quickly started doing things like asking students to type up essays on computers to get them printed, and that basically served as the uber-excuse for people to all have computers at home in the US.
If you want more exoticism, people in Japan are less likely to have home offices because they would just go to their real office or whatever. Less likely to play DOOM on your parent's machine or whatever.
The specialized device aside is also super weird cuz it forgets to mention stuff like rental CD markets which make analog-in totally fine as a concept anyways. "Why is this problem not solved in Japan" can often be answered by "this isn't really as much of a problem because of some other incidental technical reason X, and the good-enough thing survives" (just like ACH in the US)
Has the myth that Japan is a uniquely technically advanced society been debunked in culture yet? I see this a bit among laymen but it seems the only Japanese technological advantage today is the manufacturing of factory line robotics and control systems. The large consumer tech companies have been effectively plundered (Sony is a shell of what it was in the 90s) and Toyota and Honda are routinely outcompeted by Tesla and GM in EVs. The rest of consumer tech seems to be coming out of Taiwan, PRC and South Korea now.
Software is treated as a second-class career in most major corporations. There's less cultural prestige with being a software engineer.
I'm not sure that Japan is uniquely advanced, but it certainly is skilled in certain niches. Does any doubt the quality control of most things manufactured in Japan?
Culturally it seems to be content with the old way of doing things in other ways (e.g., using cash (wrapped in envelopes)).
I don't think this and many other myths about Japan have been debunked nearly enough yet. For instance, the "there is zero crime in Japan" myth which I still see and hear repeated almost daily both by Japanophiles and the Japanese themselves.
Actually, I don't think there is any other culture in the world today where the reality differs so much from the myth-based image, and in almost every single aspect.
One reason is that the focus of serious Western journalists has shifted towards China nowadays, and Japan has fallen to the wayside, mirroring its economic slump.
The gap that this created has been filled with the views of American teens and twens who became interested in Japan through its pop culture. And of course, if you are an impressionable young person from a rural part of the US who moves to the center of Tokyo, you'll think you've moved to the future. But on close inspection, the technological prowess in Japan often begins and ends with little speakers and screens blaring a 24h loop of ads.
Most of what is written about Japan nowadays is the work of Japanophiles with very little interest in actual research or comparison. There are only a handful of books about Japan worth reading: "The enigma of Japanese power" by van Wolferen (quite long and dry), and "Japan - A reinterpretation" by Patrick Smith (more to the point and more casually written), as well as "Demons and Dogs" by Kerr.
Japan is not uniquely advanced, but by an objective measure of economic complexity, Japan does have the most advanced economy in the world.
"Complexity" here essentially means that a country exports lots of different goods that other countries rarely export. A country that only exports unrefined petroleum will rank very low in complexity, while a country that exports a roughly even mix of goods across a wide range of different sectors will rank high in complexity. Japan is at the top of that ranking, followed by Switzerland.
It seems so. I primarily see it played for laughs in media these days, with hyper-advanced toilets or useless robots.
Of course Japanese suppliers are involved in many advanced industries (image sensors, displays, solid-state storage, heavily-integrated packaging, battery cells) but now days they often outsource production too.
The article is from 2008. Anyway I feel like the article makes many leaps which weaken its specific argument:
> the direction that the Japanese electronics industry took makes perfect sense. Everything needed to be designed as stand-alone appliance.
> By the year 2000, most of the technical difficulties facing computers in Japan in the 80s and 90s had been resolved, and home computers were becoming mainstream. Japanese consumers wanted PC connectivity from their appliances, and the iPod offered a well-designed, highly functional package. So Apple created the iPod, and Japanese electronics manufacturers were left to re-evaluate a new world where the home computer is the hub for digital media.
For me, it's really about CD/Mini-disc vs Mp3. Before the Mp3, I remember my friend showed me the mini-disc and I was blown away by it. Crazy better than CD's in terms of size.
But then Mp3's showed up, but I think specifically Napster, Limewire etc drove the crazy crazy adoption of Mp3's. Sony and other portable companies took notice and built Mp3 devices. Japan was slow to adopt the Mp3.
Why was Japan slow to adopt the Mp3? I'm not sure, could be because of the lack of personal computer? Or was it the lack of rampant piracy? My feeling is music hardware was "good enough" for what the market wanted at the time.
Eventually Mp3 became the standard and anyone slow to adopt it was forced to accept and switch over, like Japan.
[EDIT]
Quick search shows that Japan had rampant priacy issues, but simply avoided the Mp3:
> But as of the beginning of 2004, Japanese record companies have
largely avoided an online file-sharing epidemic.[0]
Still not sure why the Mp3's adoption was slow in Japan. Could very well be the lack of personal computer.
Japan had a major real estate crash in 1989, the Nikkei index crashed from 38,000 to 7,500, and never came all the way back.[1] It's only at 27,795 today. For a while in the 1980s, Japan seemed poised to take over the world. But that didn't happen.
The US had a similar crash in 2008, but it wasn't as bad. Although it did seem to result in what's now called "secular stagnation".
I think Japan's products often miss the bigger picture. They often excel at one specific problem, but lack cohesive strategy to tie back into the whole ecosystem. In this post, there was discussion about SD cards and music hence why they needed some kind of PC connectivity. I view that as a symptom of the lack of a bigger strategy. Apple came out with iTunes that was one answer to the music industries problem, and that allowed them to eventually iterate into the iPod with less need to support alternative ways for PC connectivity such as the SD card.
That's a result of mindset and approach. Japanese can't focus on 2 or more problems, neither they can assess influence of one issue against another and see an ecosystem.
It's neither good nor bad - it did allowed them to extremely excel in transportation for example, but terribly fail in any IT related matters simply because this approach won't work in IT.
> The PC-9801 featured a standard resolution of 640×400, which would not be surpassed as a standard in the west until the release of VGA and Macintosh II in 1987.
Small niggle: this isn't quite true. The Amiga 1000, released in 1985, supported a graphics mode at 640 x 400 (NTSC) and 640 x 512 (PAL) standard resolutions that on a standard TV would display interlaced (leading to flickering), but could be displayed without the flicker with a "flicker fixer" and a multisync monitor. The Amiga also supported overscan resolutions so these pixel counts could be exceeded on both the horizontal and vertical axes (I forget by how much though).
As I say, a small niggle, but a niggle nonetheless.
The Japanese corporation Toshiba created the drive formfactor that made it possible, and Apple bought exclusive music player rights to it.
The Nomad etc. maybe didn't actually lose because of lacking wheel as popularly mythologized, its successors were stuck with a bulkier more power hungry laptop drive because Apple owned exclusivity.
Well, the IBM MicroDrive already existed in 2000 with sizes up to 1GB. Apple itself used them for the iPod after a certain year, so the technology for tiny drives weren't that exclusive or hard to get - I think the mindset was really the big factor at play here. Japanese conglomerates definitely didn't get the appeal behind the iPod as much as they didn't understand the iPhone in 2008.
In some ways, the iPod or the iPhone are largely not technical innovations, but political. For the iPod, you had to get the catalog online and digital. For the iPhone, you had to get the data rates in USA low.
In the most important ways. It's a huge difference, and it's something many of The Followers of Jobs don't seem to understand.
It's never just about engineering or nice design or being an asshole. The pieces have to fit together to create the UX, and the box the user carries is just one of the pieces.
Sony seemed to be attempting the opposite - locking their customers into their own tech and content - and unsurprisingly that failed.
One common trope I've heard for the reason why PC gaming never took off in Japan (vs. Korea) is that the PC became home for erotic games so PC gaming was viewed as rather obscene. This explanation however makes more sense.
This could be a reason, yet it would be strange because in all other areas of Japanese life, there is almost no stigma attached to erotic content or even hardcore porn. Ride the subway in a big Japanese city, and every other man in there will be openly reading some kind of pornographic material, either as mags or on their phones, with children being able to see the extremely lewd cover page or more.
In every convenience store, the lewd mags are also on full display. In primetime comedy variety shows, the comedians make gross jokes about beating off or "f...ing" all the time. American stand-ups do those jokes too, but surely not on NBC at 7pm.
Even hardcore porn actresses are mainstream "stars" in Japan - they are regular guests on mainstream TV shows or do ads for chain restaurants etc. Accordingly, there is no stigma attached to young women choosing a career in the adult entertainment world. Their parents will be proud of their hard working children.
I was on a flight to Japan once where the Stewardess had to tell a Japanese man sitting next to me to please not read his porn because the "gaijin" people around him could be uncomfortable.
People criticize USA, a lot for racism and discrimination but the reality is that there are not other country in the planet where immigrant can be integrated so fast to the workforce and don't find themselves trapped under a glass ceiling, it probably happens but with less frequency than other countries, other countries are competing with their limited pool of talent that people in power let succeed against the world itself.
Talent can come from everywhere, and USA will continue to dominate the innovation scene for years to come
I'd argue that most of Europe is much better at this than the US. Not only is there freedom of movement within the EU allowing people to work anywhere, but also many states are more progressive than the US and have slightly less of a race divide.
The US gets something right with innovation, but I don't think this is it.
No, seriously, there were a lot of competent MP3 players before the iPod, but Apple did it the was they do it most of the time: wait until a technology is really ready for mass market adoption, and then present their own compelling version of it. In the case of the iPod, it was the integration with iTunes (the software and the store) which made the iPod easier to use than the competition. Of course, it helped that Apple was also a computer maker and had far more software competence than a regular electronics company. Also, Apple was in an unique position to convince the record companies to "play along" with the iTunes store.
Very interesting, also would be curious to know how everyday things evolved today: booking travel, ebanking etc? since here in the west we sometimes see the home computer beeing pushed away by mobile/tablets or the home printer starting to disappear.
Having lived there for a while, some observations:
Travel: major airlines have robust enough mobile sites or apps to make a 100% smartphone experience seamless. Printed tickets can be obtained from ticket kiosks inside any convenience store. Big travel agencies such as JTB or HIS also still play a large role.
E-banking: might be different now, but 2018s Japan still eschewed credit for cash, and rely on passbooks [0] for teller/ATM transactions. Most Japanese people I socialized with regularly carried around $300 USD equivalent in cash.
Transferring money to other individuals or companies is easily done through ATMs.
Bill payments: either auto-withdraw, or paper bills mailed to you and paid for at...convenience stores(called conbini in Japanese)! Just have the cashier scan the QR code and pay in cash! Miss a payment? No worries, the grace period goes for something like 60 days and the balance due will just roll into the next paper bill.
Online shopping: the spot that shows the greatest amount of credit card adoption...but you can also pay for things using gift cards (sold at the nearest conbini) or ...you guessed it, more QR codes and kiosks (at conbinis).
Subscription services: All
major streaming sites sell gift cards for various time amounts. Or you can tie your apple or google pay account to your phone provider and have the charges added to your phone bill (payable via conbini kiosk).
By the time I was leaving there was a greater push for app-centric user experiences but for the most part, life goes on via cash and conbinis. It is very possible to live life with just a smartphone in Japan.
Something also of note is that unlimited SMS is not a thing in Japan and the Line app rules the day for daily communication. Line has been pushing their digital wallet really hard lately, and I had to mute the app due to incessant pleas to make me throw my hard earned cash into Line...
It is sometimes said that usage of PC by young people is decreasing faster here in Japan compared to other countries. Because of most people don't use Qwerty input on smartphone, and there are very few PC usage at school other than IT class. Using PC on class is now in progress (partially thanks to covid), they start buying Chromebooks, but it's long way, because teachers aren't good for PC and too restrictive for students' activity.
Online banking/booking on PC/smartphone is widely available but some people still prefer telephone, real travel agency, ATM, or real banking (or just lazy to sign up).
A very large native consumer audience that (more or less) all speak a single language goes a long way. You can get access to a lot of customers before you need to do anything international.
From California to be more precise. USA is huge and there are a multitude of 'nowheres' like small factory towns that do not participate a lot in this innovation process.
This then ties into something more important that geography. Culture and freedom from physical, psychological and monetary oppression. It is not that people in rest of the world or rest of USA are less smart on average. It is that they live in a system in which some form of oppression exists if someone higher up in the food chain learns of their success and starts beating them down so they never reach greatness as in California. This someone higher up does not even have to be the government or the local mob. Could also be family/relatives and/or cultural standards (better safe than risky, rich is evil, distribute your riches to the poor ASAP etc)
America is exceptional. There’s a good reason why Jobs was Syrian-American and not Syrian-Japanese or even Syrian-French.
Japanese consumer growth stalled during their lost decade while Clintonomics gave us a boom. Americans are significantly wealthier than their Japanese or Western European counterparts, with the only exception maybe being Norway. A large, prosperous, and open society breeds innovation.
Is this article true though? I use MP3 players and small pocket computer from Casio and Sharp. Are they not connect to the PC? Or are we talking about the wrong history here.
I know their pc standard is different from ours. But iPod is really 2000s things. Many problems solved.
It is just like why no one has iPhone. There are smart phone. Just you want to have the genius to reinvent the game. There are MP3 players before iPod. Just wait for a genius or a company that look for user pain points and solved it.
2 years before the iPod, there was the NOMAD digital audio player designed and sold by Singaporean Creative Technology they had offices in Japan, but they promoted MP3, and even encouraged ripping CDs. Sony et al did not like it, Steve Jobs came to their rescue with his thing.
https://sg.creative.com/corporate/pressroom?id=6225
Sony could possibly have ushered in the MP3 revolution years before MP3 did, using their ATRAC audio compression, but being a record company as well as an electronics company, they were presumably concerned about piracy, something which may have also slowed adoption of MP3 playback.
Sony already had a successful product line in terms of MiniDisc players and also had the Memory Stick Walkman. These devices supported ATRAC and SDMI DRM. Presumably they could have used the same 1.8" Toshiba hard drive as the iPod to make a higher capacity version (as they later did with the Network Walkman, which initially did not support MP3.)
Fast forwarding to the iPod, it was a great way to play stacks of (usually unlicensed) MP3 recordings, and in 2001 "Rip/Mix/Burn" Apple was less worried about piracy because it wasn't a media company.
Subsequent to the original iPod, the initial incarnation of the iTunes store incorporated DRM (apparently at the behest of record companies) which was folded into the iPod as well.
[+] [-] greggman3|4 years ago|reply
It is (was?) almost impossible to find Japanese music online in legitimate ways. What I means, search for almost any western song and it will be on youtube either by the band itself, their publisher, or VEVO. Search for nearly any Japanese song and you won't find them on youtube, at least not officially. You might find a music video but it will often be edited in the middle with some interruption to basically make it not what you actually want (the full song).
I don't know why this is. I assume the Japanese music industry believes they'll make no money if the full music videos are available online. (note: this might be changing but it was true for many songs a year ago).
Example: The theme to Demon Slayer: LiSA - Gurenge (紅蓮華), searching brings up "officially" a short edited version, a practice version, and a live version but not the hit full song version.
Another example: Spice by Tokyo Karankoron the official music video cuts out after 1:30 and effectively says "buy it"
For whatever reason that's very different than the west.
Other random examples of differences:
* CD stores still exist in Japan (although they are clearly getting fewer in number)
* The Mini Disc was huge in 1997-2004ish. Normal models ran for > 200hrs on a single charge something no mp3 players I know of have ever come close to.
[+] [-] aspaviento|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] innocenat|4 years ago|reply
Official Gurenge MV is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZBSjwVWaKQ
Previously, it was available, but is heavily geo-restricted.
Also nowadays almost everything is on streaming: Apple Music, YouTube Music, Spotify, etc. But with everything Japan, it's geo-restricted.
[+] [-] simonh|4 years ago|reply
The problem with this is the other media companies - movie studios and record companies - saw them as competition. That means they wouldn't touch any of Sony's media formats or distribution platforms with a barge pole. This massive strategic foot gun has crippled their medial initiatives for decades. The media companies are nice businesses, I shed no tears for Sony, but they could never do what Apple did and cut ground breaking deals with all the major labels and studios.
[+] [-] ekianjo|4 years ago|reply
Strong aversion to anything digital. Even nowadays the number of ebooks in Japanese is ridiculously small compared to how easy it is to find most books online in English (through Amazon or other book stores). And that's despite Japan owning the Kobo platform (through Rakuten).
[+] [-] Tijdreiziger|4 years ago|reply
The first hit for me is the full version on the 'LiSA Official YouTube' channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IkopJwRDKU
[+] [-] puzzlingcaptcha|4 years ago|reply
Also, in 2001 Sony introduced USB connectors on their portable MD lineup so they didn't miss the train by much (by Japanese standards).
[+] [-] moksly|4 years ago|reply
I’ve never searched for anything like it before, and I’m from Danish.
[+] [-] Razengan|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] csa|4 years ago|reply
1. The author basically says that, due to fonts, Japan focused more on “applications” computing rather than system computing up through the 80s. I mostly agree with this.
2. The author then completely leaves out the 90s and jumps to the 2001 release of the iPod. Excuse me?
3. In the late 80s and early 90s, the computing tech became robust enough to handle Japanese fonts somewhere between well enough to almost perfectly. For example, I fondly remember my Wordtank from the early 90s made by Canon that helped my Japanese studying tremendously. Note that some models had variable memory (e.g., marking something for review) and expansion slots. My Apple PowerBook from the early 90s handled Japanese almost perfectly. Japanese word processors (ワープロ) also seemed to have some basic system level functionality (I rarely used one, but many friends did).
4. The above suggests that systems were available and functional in the early 90s.
While some open systems like the Mac OS were not made in Japan, open systems existed, so why didn’t they become more widely used in Japan?
To me, that is the key question.
I think at least one other possible explanation is that Japan’s societal structure didn’t (at least at that time) really leave very much space for people to be able to make a living via these open systems [1], as such, these systems were not broadly in demand.
Another possible explanation is that the first “lost decade” (the 90s) saw very little space for innovation.
I’m sure other viable explanation are possible.
Side note — this is incorrect:
“For comparison, let’s look at a few common Japanese characters (these are ranked as the 35th, 64th, and 104th most commonly used characters, respectively):
議 選 調”
I wonder where they got this info from. Maybe they were thinking of the list of kanji that students start learning in secondary school?
[1] Note that some people actually did make a living these open systems, but they tended to be connected much more intellectually, professionally, and economically with folks outside of Japan. TWICS internet was publicly available in 1993, and that helped tremendously imho.
[+] [-] eska|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] baybal2|4 years ago|reply
It came with files of the previous owner intact.
It took them few month to figure out how to switch the input to English, and learning quite a bit of Japanese in the process.
I have no doubt that "the language theory" the author has is a complete pie in the sky, trying to cue the reader to some "unique oriental deficiencies"
[+] [-] csours|4 years ago|reply
So yes, there was a period of time where the iPod and digital cameras and other gadgets were tethered the PC. Picasa was a desktop app for years before google photos; but now everything is on the cloud. I've never connected my current phone to a computer. (I did with my previous one, but that was for app development and debugging).
0: http://www.hrwiki.org/wiki/technology
STRONG BAD: Originally, tellular cellaphones {indicating Pom Pom's phone} were for sending misspelled messages to your friends, telling them where you are in the food court.
POM POM: {makes a few bubbling noises directed at Strong Bad, then resumes his conversation}
STRONG BAD: Pom Pom just bought movie tickets with his cell phone!
POM POM: {looks annoyed and makes more bubbling noises}
STRONG BAD: Oh, he just watched a movie on his cell phone!
POM POM: {looks angry at Strong Bad, makes more bubbling noises}
STRONG BAD: Oh oh oh! Pom Pom just wrote, directed, produced, and distributed a movie with his cell phone!
POM POM: {answers an incoming call and makes a few more bubbling noises}
STRONG BAD: ...and he just got into Sundance! High-five, brother!
[+] [-] rtpg|4 years ago|reply
"Something" was different, of course. And maybe there is an argument for there simply being not very many cheap machines available for the Japanese market.
My pet theory is that the US in particular quickly started doing things like asking students to type up essays on computers to get them printed, and that basically served as the uber-excuse for people to all have computers at home in the US.
If you want more exoticism, people in Japan are less likely to have home offices because they would just go to their real office or whatever. Less likely to play DOOM on your parent's machine or whatever.
The specialized device aside is also super weird cuz it forgets to mention stuff like rental CD markets which make analog-in totally fine as a concept anyways. "Why is this problem not solved in Japan" can often be answered by "this isn't really as much of a problem because of some other incidental technical reason X, and the good-enough thing survives" (just like ACH in the US)
[+] [-] rejectedandsad|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] throw0101a|4 years ago|reply
One hypothesis I saw put forward by a Japanese-American vlogger was that Japan basically "does not do software".
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqMSWuSeDPA
Software is treated as a second-class career in most major corporations. There's less cultural prestige with being a software engineer.
I'm not sure that Japan is uniquely advanced, but it certainly is skilled in certain niches. Does any doubt the quality control of most things manufactured in Japan?
Culturally it seems to be content with the old way of doing things in other ways (e.g., using cash (wrapped in envelopes)).
[+] [-] suction|4 years ago|reply
Actually, I don't think there is any other culture in the world today where the reality differs so much from the myth-based image, and in almost every single aspect.
One reason is that the focus of serious Western journalists has shifted towards China nowadays, and Japan has fallen to the wayside, mirroring its economic slump.
The gap that this created has been filled with the views of American teens and twens who became interested in Japan through its pop culture. And of course, if you are an impressionable young person from a rural part of the US who moves to the center of Tokyo, you'll think you've moved to the future. But on close inspection, the technological prowess in Japan often begins and ends with little speakers and screens blaring a 24h loop of ads.
Most of what is written about Japan nowadays is the work of Japanophiles with very little interest in actual research or comparison. There are only a handful of books about Japan worth reading: "The enigma of Japanese power" by van Wolferen (quite long and dry), and "Japan - A reinterpretation" by Patrick Smith (more to the point and more casually written), as well as "Demons and Dogs" by Kerr.
[+] [-] DiogenesKynikos|4 years ago|reply
"Complexity" here essentially means that a country exports lots of different goods that other countries rarely export. A country that only exports unrefined petroleum will rank very low in complexity, while a country that exports a roughly even mix of goods across a wide range of different sectors will rank high in complexity. Japan is at the top of that ranking, followed by Switzerland.
1. https://atlas.cid.harvard.edu/countries/114
[+] [-] trynumber9|4 years ago|reply
Of course Japanese suppliers are involved in many advanced industries (image sensors, displays, solid-state storage, heavily-integrated packaging, battery cells) but now days they often outsource production too.
[+] [-] adrianN|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] thaumasiotes|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] irjustin|4 years ago|reply
> the direction that the Japanese electronics industry took makes perfect sense. Everything needed to be designed as stand-alone appliance.
> By the year 2000, most of the technical difficulties facing computers in Japan in the 80s and 90s had been resolved, and home computers were becoming mainstream. Japanese consumers wanted PC connectivity from their appliances, and the iPod offered a well-designed, highly functional package. So Apple created the iPod, and Japanese electronics manufacturers were left to re-evaluate a new world where the home computer is the hub for digital media.
For me, it's really about CD/Mini-disc vs Mp3. Before the Mp3, I remember my friend showed me the mini-disc and I was blown away by it. Crazy better than CD's in terms of size.
But then Mp3's showed up, but I think specifically Napster, Limewire etc drove the crazy crazy adoption of Mp3's. Sony and other portable companies took notice and built Mp3 devices. Japan was slow to adopt the Mp3.
Why was Japan slow to adopt the Mp3? I'm not sure, could be because of the lack of personal computer? Or was it the lack of rampant piracy? My feeling is music hardware was "good enough" for what the market wanted at the time.
Eventually Mp3 became the standard and anyone slow to adopt it was forced to accept and switch over, like Japan.
[EDIT] Quick search shows that Japan had rampant priacy issues, but simply avoided the Mp3:
> But as of the beginning of 2004, Japanese record companies have largely avoided an online file-sharing epidemic.[0]
Still not sure why the Mp3's adoption was slow in Japan. Could very well be the lack of personal computer.
[0] https://anthropology.mit.edu/sites/default/files/documents/c...
[+] [-] Animats|4 years ago|reply
The US had a similar crash in 2008, but it wasn't as bad. Although it did seem to result in what's now called "secular stagnation".
[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/stockdetails/fi-a9j7bh?durat...
[+] [-] dmak|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jesterson|4 years ago|reply
It's neither good nor bad - it did allowed them to extremely excel in transportation for example, but terribly fail in any IT related matters simply because this approach won't work in IT.
[+] [-] bartread|4 years ago|reply
Small niggle: this isn't quite true. The Amiga 1000, released in 1985, supported a graphics mode at 640 x 400 (NTSC) and 640 x 512 (PAL) standard resolutions that on a standard TV would display interlaced (leading to flickering), but could be displayed without the flicker with a "flicker fixer" and a multisync monitor. The Amiga also supported overscan resolutions so these pixel counts could be exceeded on both the horizontal and vertical axes (I forget by how much though).
As I say, a small niggle, but a niggle nonetheless.
[+] [-] rjsw|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cma|4 years ago|reply
The Nomad etc. maybe didn't actually lose because of lacking wheel as popularly mythologized, its successors were stuck with a bulkier more power hungry laptop drive because Apple owned exclusivity.
[+] [-] qalmakka|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Gravityloss|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] TheOtherHobbes|4 years ago|reply
It's never just about engineering or nice design or being an asshole. The pieces have to fit together to create the UX, and the box the user carries is just one of the pieces.
Sony seemed to be attempting the opposite - locking their customers into their own tech and content - and unsurprisingly that failed.
[+] [-] nemothekid|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fomine3|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] suction|4 years ago|reply
In every convenience store, the lewd mags are also on full display. In primetime comedy variety shows, the comedians make gross jokes about beating off or "f...ing" all the time. American stand-ups do those jokes too, but surely not on NBC at 7pm.
Even hardcore porn actresses are mainstream "stars" in Japan - they are regular guests on mainstream TV shows or do ads for chain restaurants etc. Accordingly, there is no stigma attached to young women choosing a career in the adult entertainment world. Their parents will be proud of their hard working children.
I was on a flight to Japan once where the Stewardess had to tell a Japanese man sitting next to me to please not read his porn because the "gaijin" people around him could be uncomfortable.
[+] [-] criloz2|4 years ago|reply
Talent can come from everywhere, and USA will continue to dominate the innovation scene for years to come
[+] [-] danpalmer|4 years ago|reply
The US gets something right with innovation, but I don't think this is it.
[+] [-] dang|4 years ago|reply
Why Japan didn’t create the iPod - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1197702 - March 2010 (88 comments)
Why Japan didn’t create the iPod - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=181224 - May 2008 (4 comments)
[+] [-] rob74|4 years ago|reply
No, seriously, there were a lot of competent MP3 players before the iPod, but Apple did it the was they do it most of the time: wait until a technology is really ready for mass market adoption, and then present their own compelling version of it. In the case of the iPod, it was the integration with iTunes (the software and the store) which made the iPod easier to use than the competition. Of course, it helped that Apple was also a computer maker and had far more software competence than a regular electronics company. Also, Apple was in an unique position to convince the record companies to "play along" with the iTunes store.
And then they did it again with the iPhone...
[+] [-] esel2k|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] quartesixte|4 years ago|reply
Travel: major airlines have robust enough mobile sites or apps to make a 100% smartphone experience seamless. Printed tickets can be obtained from ticket kiosks inside any convenience store. Big travel agencies such as JTB or HIS also still play a large role.
E-banking: might be different now, but 2018s Japan still eschewed credit for cash, and rely on passbooks [0] for teller/ATM transactions. Most Japanese people I socialized with regularly carried around $300 USD equivalent in cash.
Transferring money to other individuals or companies is easily done through ATMs.
Bill payments: either auto-withdraw, or paper bills mailed to you and paid for at...convenience stores(called conbini in Japanese)! Just have the cashier scan the QR code and pay in cash! Miss a payment? No worries, the grace period goes for something like 60 days and the balance due will just roll into the next paper bill.
Online shopping: the spot that shows the greatest amount of credit card adoption...but you can also pay for things using gift cards (sold at the nearest conbini) or ...you guessed it, more QR codes and kiosks (at conbinis).
Subscription services: All major streaming sites sell gift cards for various time amounts. Or you can tie your apple or google pay account to your phone provider and have the charges added to your phone bill (payable via conbini kiosk).
By the time I was leaving there was a greater push for app-centric user experiences but for the most part, life goes on via cash and conbinis. It is very possible to live life with just a smartphone in Japan.
Something also of note is that unlimited SMS is not a thing in Japan and the Line app rules the day for daily communication. Line has been pushing their digital wallet really hard lately, and I had to mute the app due to incessant pleas to make me throw my hard earned cash into Line...
[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passbook
[+] [-] fomine3|4 years ago|reply
Online banking/booking on PC/smartphone is widely available but some people still prefer telephone, real travel agency, ATM, or real banking (or just lazy to sign up).
[+] [-] IdiocyInAction|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Sophistifunk|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] axelroze|4 years ago|reply
This then ties into something more important that geography. Culture and freedom from physical, psychological and monetary oppression. It is not that people in rest of the world or rest of USA are less smart on average. It is that they live in a system in which some form of oppression exists if someone higher up in the food chain learns of their success and starts beating them down so they never reach greatness as in California. This someone higher up does not even have to be the government or the local mob. Could also be family/relatives and/or cultural standards (better safe than risky, rich is evil, distribute your riches to the poor ASAP etc)
[+] [-] rejectedandsad|4 years ago|reply
Japanese consumer growth stalled during their lost decade while Clintonomics gave us a boom. Americans are significantly wealthier than their Japanese or Western European counterparts, with the only exception maybe being Norway. A large, prosperous, and open society breeds innovation.
[+] [-] croes|4 years ago|reply
Same with software.
[+] [-] ngcc_hk|4 years ago|reply
I know their pc standard is different from ours. But iPod is really 2000s things. Many problems solved.
It is just like why no one has iPhone. There are smart phone. Just you want to have the genius to reinvent the game. There are MP3 players before iPod. Just wait for a genius or a company that look for user pain points and solved it.
I think that discuss reinventing history.
[+] [-] Teracotage|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] musicale|4 years ago|reply
Sony already had a successful product line in terms of MiniDisc players and also had the Memory Stick Walkman. These devices supported ATRAC and SDMI DRM. Presumably they could have used the same 1.8" Toshiba hard drive as the iPod to make a higher capacity version (as they later did with the Network Walkman, which initially did not support MP3.)
Fast forwarding to the iPod, it was a great way to play stacks of (usually unlicensed) MP3 recordings, and in 2001 "Rip/Mix/Burn" Apple was less worried about piracy because it wasn't a media company.
Subsequent to the original iPod, the initial incarnation of the iTunes store incorporated DRM (apparently at the behest of record companies) which was folded into the iPod as well.