Asia-Pacific Computer Illiteracy in Japan

[bullethead]

We may see problems with Japan's economy crop up as the pandemic drags on:

Low-tech Japan challenged in working from home amid pandemic

TOKYO (AP) — When the Japanese government declared an emergency to curb the spread of the coronavirus earlier this month and asked people to work from home, crowds rushed to electronics stores.

apnews.com

Many Japanese lack the basic tools needed to work from home. Contrary to the ultramodern image of Japan Inc. with its robots, design finesse and gadgetry galore, in many respects the country is technologically challenged.

But the bigger obstacle is Japanese corporate culture, experts say. Offices still often rely on faxes instead of email. Many homes lack high-speed internet connections, and documents often must be stamped in-person with carved seals called “hanko,” which serve as signatures. So many Japanese really cannot work remotely, at least not all the time.

...

A lack of up-to-date IT systems means Japan lags in nurturing flexible work practices, office rules, management methods and even attitudes toward remote work. It’s one factor contributing to relatively low labor productivity.

“Telework requires that managers trust and delegate much more decision-making to employees because it takes too much time in email or Skype to check with the boss,” said Benes, who heads the Board Director Training Institute of Japan, a non-profit that offers management and governance training.

Basically, social distancing doesn't work at all in major Japanese cities, because their fucked up business practices don't lend themselves to telecommuting and most businesses are decades behind the times in terms of what tech they're running (not a surprise if you've done a little digging into Japanese businesses). Also, since Japan relies a lot on WiFi hotspots instead of hardline connections, you can bet that even if businesses were more willing to do telecommuting, their internet would go to shit even worse than Europe's has.

 

[Tzeentchean Perspective]

We may see problems with Japan's economy crop up as the pandemic drags on:

Low-tech Japan challenged in working from home amid pandemic

TOKYO (AP) — When the Japanese government declared an emergency to curb the spread of the coronavirus earlier this month and asked people to work from home, crowds rushed to electronics stores.

apnews.com

Basically, social distancing doesn't work at all in major Japanese cities, because their fucked up business practices don't lend themselves to telecommuting and most businesses are decades behind the times in terms of what tech they're running (not a surprise if you've done a little digging into Japanese businesses). Also, since Japan relies a lot on WiFi hotspots instead of hardline connections, you can bet that even if businesses were more willing to do telecommuting, their internet would go to shit even worse than Europe's has.

But the bigger obstacle is Japanese corporate culture, experts say. Offices still often rely on faxes instead of email. Many homes lack high-speed internet connections, and documents often must be stamped in-person with carved seals called “hanko,” which serve as signatures. So many Japanese really cannot work remotely, at least not all the time.

So much for sleek, futuristic, cyberpunk Japan.

 

[Terthna]

We may see problems with Japan's economy crop up as the pandemic drags on:

Low-tech Japan challenged in working from home amid pandemic

TOKYO (AP) — When the Japanese government declared an emergency to curb the spread of the coronavirus earlier this month and asked people to work from home, crowds rushed to electronics stores.

apnews.com

Basically, social distancing doesn't work at all in major Japanese cities, because their fucked up business practices don't lend themselves to telecommuting and most businesses are decades behind the times in terms of what tech they're running (not a surprise if you've done a little digging into Japanese businesses). Also, since Japan relies a lot on WiFi hotspots instead of hardline connections, you can bet that even if businesses were more willing to do telecommuting, their internet would go to shit even worse than Europe's has.

Answerman - Why Is It Unusual For Japanese People To Use Computers?

"Oh, you also use computers?" is a common phrase you might hear in anime; why is "using a computer" is still sometimes treated as a hobby in anime?

www.animenewsnetwork.com

Japan is surprisingly computer illiterate, and thus not a lot of people have the computers necessary to telecommute. Their entire "high-tech" reputation is mostly a facade; perpetrated by a highly-skilled, but vanishingly small and overworked minority of the population.

 

[PsihoKekec]

Basically it boils down that companies are forced to use the tech their bosses are familiar with and if their bosses came into workplace when fax machines were cutting edge and never bothered to upgrade their knowledge...
I recall reading some time ago that chief of department of cyber security in Abe's government didn't know how to use computers and that was fine with them.

 

[PsihoKekec]

Which explains their attachment to consoles instead of the PC Master Race. I think the problem is with their unquestionable obedience to the elders, a common trait in Asia. Now Japanese have proven to be able to overcome this problem in technological field when needing to catch up with outsiders, but with their great export boom the pressure to keep up with technology was removed and old thinking patterns tok hold in force. Elders know everything the best and learning something new from the youngsters is seen as the sign of the weakness, (not entirely uniqe problem to this region, just a bit more severe) so senior managers freeze their departments in technology they are familiar with, rather than learn something new, or rely on subordinate for advice on the matter. The keiratsu networks fuhrterly reduce the competition between companies and enable such practices.

 

[CarlManvers2019]

Man, another thing about a country that turned out to be false

First was China being the way to the future, second was Japan being a place of hi-tech advancement

 

[Floridaman]

So much for sleek, futuristic, cyberpunk Japan.

The idea still served a good purpose, to light a fire under America’s ass and force us to as usual go overboard on technology.

 

[MenimenLoop]

So much for sleek, futuristic, cyberpunk Japan.

reality is sometimes disappointing.

 

[Shipmaster Sane]

So much for sleek, futuristic, cyberpunk Japan.

Fucking up needlessly in basic ways despite a high level of technology is probably the most cyberpunk thing you can do.

 

[Lord Sovereign]

Is it me, or does much of what is wrong with modern Japan seem to be the result of their corporate culture? Even their demographics and birth rates have been impacted by their quite frankly daft work ethic.

 

[Cherico]

So much for sleek, futuristic, cyberpunk Japan.

I think its less that and more americans arnt nearly as stupid as we look to outsiders and even ourselves.

 

[bullethead]

Is it me, or does much of what is wrong with modern Japan seem to be the result of their corporate culture? Even their demographics and birth rates have been impacted by their quite frankly daft work ethic.

Yes.

Although to be honest, it's not responsible for every problem with Japanese business. Their media industries' general inability to break into other markets and maintain solid marketshares (video games aside) tends to be related to their refusal to listen to their employees actually in those markets and better able to judge the tastes of their potential consumers.

 

[MrBirthday]

snip

And then you have the idiots I've seen on other forums who insist that this is totally the way things should be, Japan and the Japanese market always know best, etc.

 

[Floridaman]

Is it me, or does much of what is wrong with modern Japan seem to be the result of their corporate culture? Even their demographics and birth rates have been impacted by their quite frankly daft work ethic.

To be fair decades of stagnation killed their innovation, with no economic growth, why innovate.

Stimulus Brings Stagnation: The Case of Japan | Mises Institute

Japan's "lost decade" turned into three decades as the scourge of non-stop monetary and fiscal stimulus brought seemingly endless economic stagnantion.

mises.org

Why is Japan's economy shrinking?

The world’s third largest economy is shrinking – so what’s happened to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Abenomics?

www.weforum.org