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Being Japanese Is Not Structural Engineering
Being Japanese Is Not Structural Engineering What a beautiful story about Japanese wood quietly left out I recently read a version of this sentence in an article: Japan has trusted wood for 1,300 years. It’s a good sentence. It’s also doing more work than it should. The Argument, Fairly Stated I recently read an English-language…
Japan Was Good at Diversity. Just Not This Kind.
Japan Was Good at Diversity. Just Not This Kind. I had a lot of otaku friends growing up, long before anyone around me used the word diversity. I was probably the kind of person some of them would normally avoid: loud, visible, and socially comfortable. But when we actually talked, that mattered less than whether…
Japan Has Four Seasons. Have You Heard?
Japan Has Four Seasons. Have You Heard? A Japanese friend once asked me, with genuine curiosity, whether other countries really have four seasons. She had heard, somewhere along the way, that they did not — not the way Japan does, anyway. She had never traveled abroad. She had never had a particular reason to question…
Which Japanese People?
Which Japanese People? There is a version of Japan that circulates in English, and lately I find myself getting stuck on it. It appears in business books, social media posts, cross-cultural training materials, and well-meaning explainer articles. It describes a country where people read the air, avoid direct confrontation, stay late out of loyalty, and…
The Myth of the Japanese Craftsman: Why “Shokunin” Doesn’t Mean What You Think
The Myth of the Japanese Craftsman: Why “Shokunin” Doesn’t Mean What You Think This one is personal. I cannot prove all of it with data. What I can tell you is what I have seen, what I have been taught, and what it made me think. Japan has a reputation for craftsmanship that borders on…
The World Learned Zen From Japan. Then Japan Had to Learn It Back.
The World Learned Zen From Japan. Then Japan Had to Learn It Back. About twenty years ago, the company’s vice president — a man in his late fifties — stopped me in the middle of a workday and pointed to a document sitting on my desk. “Is that document there?” he asked. “Yes,” I said.…
Why Japan Changes So Fast — But Never Seems To
Why Japan Changes So Fast — But Never Seems To Japan doesn’t change. That’s the story. The punctual trains. The centuries-old temples. The rituals around food, around greetings, around the way you hand someone a business card. Japan, the story goes, is a place where things endure. Spend enough time here, though, and a different…
Japan Stays Japan Because It Could
Japan Stays Japan Because It Could There’s a question that comes up a lot when people talk about Japan. Why doesn’t it change faster? Why does it absorb foreign things and then make them Japanese? Why do so many people — Japanese and otherwise — sense that the country operates on its own logic, largely…
Why Japan Has So Many Rules — Even Japanese People Struggle With Them
Why Japan Has So Many Rules — Even Japanese People Struggle With Them If you’ve spent any time in Japan, you’ve probably noticed it. There are rules for everything. How to sort your garbage. How to walk on an escalator. How to pour someone’s drink before your own. How to hand over a business card.…
Japan Has Manga About Everything. Of Course It Does.
Japan Has Manga About Everything. Of Course It Does. Most people outside Japan think of manga as entertainment. Something teenagers read. Something with big eyes and dramatic hair. That’s not wrong. But it’s about a quarter of the picture. Japan has manga about surgery. About tax law. About fermentation. About the philosophy of Socrates. About…
Kanto vs Kansai: Japan’s Favorite Argument (And Why It Misses the Point)
Kanto vs Kansai: Japan’s Favorite Argument (And Why It Misses the Point) Ask a Japanese person where they’re from, and there’s a decent chance the next ten minutes will involve an explanation of why their region is fundamentally different from somewhere else. If they’re from Osaka, Tokyo will come up. If they’re from Tokyo, Osaka…
A Shinto Shrine and a Buddhist Altar in the Same Living Room. Nobody Was Confused.
A Shinto Shrine and a Buddhist Altar in the Same Living Room. Nobody Was Confused. My father was Buddhist, loosely. The kind where you show up for funerals and let the rest slide. My mother was Protestant. We didn’t have a household shrine or a family altar. Growing up, I observed both from a slight…
In 1995, Japanese High Schoolers Were Carrying Louis Vuitton. The Rest of the World Is Just Catching Up.
In 1995, Japanese High Schoolers Were Carrying Louis Vuitton. The Rest of the World Is Just Catching Up. Recently, one of my son’s friends — a ten-year-old boy — told me that what he really wanted for his birthday was his dad’s Louis Vuitton bag. Ten years old. I laughed. Not unkindly — I just…
