Japan is a country full of contradictions. An American writer once wrote a book called Chrysanthemum and Knife, which illustrates the contradiction in Japanese national characteristics. The Japanese are contradictions between conservatism and fashion, kindness and evil, peace and war, tradition and modernity, infatuation and science. There are the most modern high-rise buildings in Japan and very old temple buildings. Many ancient traditions came from China, but now Japanese have remained intact, while many traditions have been abandoned in China. Japanese study and preservation of Confucianism is more perfect than that of China.
After experiencing rapid development in 1970s and 1980s, some Japanese people did not agree with the pursuit of material life, fashion and modern civilization. Many people in Japanese culture advocate nature, simplicity, simplicity and tradition, abandon material pursuit and pursue personal preference and satisfaction. Some people love CDs. Although digital music is very developed now, they are not interested. Some people like records, watching them turn and listening to the melody is irreplaceable by other music methods. At present, there are still a considerable proportion of flip phones in Japan, and people who use flip phones are not necessarily the elderly. These people just like a simple lifestyle, but they are not very interested in the versatility of smart phones. So traditional Japanese things, things that we think are outdated, continue to prevail, not because of economic reasons, but because of their personalized pursuit. I came into contact with a young Japanese fashion designer who likes the style of small brands very much, so he would rather give up the generous treatment given to him by big companies and still be fascinated by the design of small brands.
The principle that the Japanese always believe in is not to cause trouble to others, so many people are not very close to their relatives and friends. Everyone is a casual acquaintance, so most people only meet their own hobbies in life, and don't go with the flow. This is one of the reasons why many outdated things are still popular in Japan, and the reason why many things in China are quickly eliminated is that people generally have the mentality of keeping up with the joneses. After a new thing appears, if others have their own, they will feel very backward and unsuccessful. In order to buy an Apple mobile phone, I went to sell my kidney, which also caused many things to be short-lived. Nowadays, it is difficult to buy blank tapes, not to mention that there are tape recorders in China.
Due to the differences in cultural traditions, the living habits of different regions and countries vary greatly. Although the noon time is very close, but both East Asian countries, and has been influenced by Confucianism, there are still great differences in cultural customs between the two countries. Many people have no personal understanding and experience of other countries, but only know other countries through hearsay, often unable to understand the phenomena of many countries, and their understanding of some phenomena in other countries is also biased. Therefore, if you want to really understand a region or a country, you must go deep into this place and get in touch with it for a long time before you can really understand it.
Japanese people like to use old technology products, the most direct manifestation is that Japanese people especially like to use flip phones. So what is the reason?
First of all, it has something to do with Japanese folding culture. The popularity of flip phones in Japan is inseparable from the national characteristics of Japan. From clothes, wallets, umbrellas, folding bicycles, we can see that they occupy little space, but they are very practical. In fact, in Southeast Asia, many ethnic groups love flip phones, which may also be related to the way of thinking of East Asians. They like to "beat around the bush" rather than go straight.
Secondly, I pay more attention to privacy. The microphone of the flip phone is very close to the mouth, so that even if the sound is very small, it can be heard by the other party and will not disturb the people around me. When the flip phone receives the information, if the user doesn't have time to read it, others can't see any substantive content on the screen. Compared with off-screen phones, flip phones can protect privacy well. This is also more in line with the Japanese's unobtrusive and implicit personality characteristics.
Finally, the telephone bill in Japan is relatively high. For people who need to commute by tram for a long time, sending messages or emails has become the best way to pass the time. In Japan, almost everyone sends a lot of emails every day. They prefer the typing method of Jiugongge keyboard, which is not only fast and accurate, but also very high. These may be the reasons why the Japanese prefer flip phones.
With the widespread popularity of smartphones such as iPhone. Life in China is becoming more and more convenient. After all, who doesn't love a life where the problems around him can be solved easily?
But do friends know? Although our neighbor Japan is known as the black technology country in Asia. But Japanese people seldom use smart phones. On the contrary, it also uses functional phones such as flip-slide keyboard phones and so on. So Japanese people don't use smart phones because their country's black technology is fake. There are other things going on. I'm going to analyze it for you today. First of all, I need to explain that there are quite a few Japanese who use iphone.
However, many people still use feature phones. These people are not poor, nor are they deliberately retro, but because they are used to it. In Japan, the sales of flip phones are much more than those of smartphones such as IPHONE. Japanese people like nine-grid keyboards and full-keyboard mobile phones. This kind of mobile phone can make them type very smoothly. And the efficiency is very high, and even some Japanese people can play around in their pockets and so on.
In addition, Japan is relatively closed in the fields of industrial products and consumer electronics. Formed a special system. Therefore, it is difficult for foreign smartphone brands to open sales in Japan. But if you go to Japan to sell flip phones. And there is a set of sales methods suitable for the Japanese, which may make a lot of money. In addition, Japanese mobile phone designers believe that flip phones will remain popular in Japan. Therefore, hardware upgrades are generally carried out on the basis of flip phones.
It may be very LOW for everyone to see that the Japanese are still using the clamshell machine. But in fact, people's mobile phone configuration may not be lower than ours. Finally, the Japanese especially like to use infrared emission and NFC near-field emission functions. Their daily shopping, eating and other activities will rely on NFC function. These functions seem to have been eliminated on smartphones. But Japan has a lot of room for development. How do friends think Japan is wonderful in mobile phones when they see it here?
Family members immigrated to Japan. In fact, there are many young people's smart phones in Japan, and most of them have entertainment and social needs. Some elites also use smart phones to extend outdoor work, but the function machine must be one person's. Because of the unique system, the function machine is very convenient to use in Japan, and the daily payment, travel, social and living services are perfect, no worse than smart phones. On the contrary, the function phone you use is more worry-free than the smart phone, and choosing a mobile phone in Japan is different from that in China. China pays attention to appearance and configuration, but Japan pays attention to mobile phones and their services and fees, not just the mobile phone itself. Most young people have two mobile phones, one with function and one with intelligence, which are used to deal with the needs of life, work and social entertainment respectively. Don't think that Japan is a functional machine, but we are all the same. The worship of efficiency in Japanese bones is also the essential attribute of functional machines. The so-called minimalism, in the simplest way, has achieved the most direct result of faith, but also has a strong regional color. Japan is short of local resources, with a small land and a large population. We should also consider the minimum investment everywhere and maximize the benefits as soon as possible. Besides, the brand share of Japanese smartphones is probably 1 iPhone, 2Sony, 3moto and other brands.
Why do the Japanese still use those old technology products, such as flip phones and fax machines? In the eyes of many people, some Japanese behaviors are really incredible, but they are popular there. I'm afraid that a leopard cannot change his spots, which means that there are some differences between the way of thinking and reality.
Smart phones have developed to the present. It is reasonable that developed countries like Japan should not stick to those old products and technologies, but actively embrace new technologies and new products. However, what you see on the streets of Japan is that there are still many people using flip phones, and many young people are also in this state. Why is this?
In fact, after decades of rapid development, Japan's science and technology can be said to have reached a considerable height. For example, its excellent cameras, video cameras, various electronic products, material technology and so on. But if you think about it carefully, you may find that what Japan is afraid of is that there are few real innovations, but mainly lies in continuing to improve a certain technology on the original basis and developing it to the extreme.
From here, it may be that the Japanese are more conservative, starting from scratch to difficulty, but at the extreme, it is still quite good. Therefore, it is relatively difficult for them to accept new things, and it is relatively easy to improve technology or products on the original basis.
People who have been in Japanese companies or Japan may have some experience of this. Japanese people have formed a way of thinking, and doing anything, especially new things, is quite conservative or tangled. A plan, a suggestion, even if it is an improvement on the original basis, is constantly entangled, constantly asking why, constantly considering the consequences, constantly deducing the countermeasures for what happened in the middle, and sometimes even talking about "ecstasy" or unreasonable thinking.
So in our opinion, the Japanese are conservative and stubborn, including young people. Therefore, there are still many markets for traditional mobile phones or fax machines, which is part of the reflection that some of their ways of thinking are difficult to accept new things.
On the other hand, Japanese individuals hide themselves very tightly and are unwilling to open their hearts to others, let alone be asked for any private information. As a result, their so-called personal secrets have become an important factor hindering some of their behaviors. Like all kinds of software in smart phones, they store all kinds of information. Smart phones are loud and can speak in a low voice without sticking to their mouths like clamshell, which is why they dare not use some new products.
Moreover, the Japanese frugality spirit has also reached its extreme in some people. Unwilling to replace items or products that have existed for decades is also common. For example, software products, there are still many products developed 30 or 40 years ago in Japan that are still in use, and their business has changed, but they have been modified anyway.
Of course, every country and nation has its own long-term national characteristics, rules of doing things and ways of thinking. Its behavior is also influenced by these factors. So Japan's actions in these areas are actually determined by their way of thinking.
Japan is a highly developed capitalist country. Its resources are scarce, and it is extremely dependent on imports. The highly developed manufacturing industry is an important pillar of its national economy. Japan has a strong research and development capability and a large number of multinational companies and scientific research institutions. At one time, the annual scientific research expenditure accounted for about 3. 1% of the national GDP, ranking first in developed countries.
First, let's see if the Japanese still like to use flip phones. This is largely because of their folding culture.
Japanese people like small, unknown and practical products, and not only in Japan, but also in Southeast Asia, many people like flip phones, which has something to do with our way of thinking, because our Asian thinking is really different from that of westerners, and our thinking likes beating around the bush, while westerners are straight.
How to choose a mobile phone in Japan? Because they are more concerned about mobile phones and the operators to which they belong. For example, we will choose some mobile phones according to whether we use China Mobile, China Unicom or China Telecom.
Moreover, they advocate efficiency, so this is also an attribute of the clamshell machine, which is relatively efficient and simple. In a Japanese drama I watched before, his name was unnatural death. Another scene impressed me deeply, that is, the role of Satoshi Ishihara was in danger. The mobile phone he took out was a flip phone, and then he called for help. The doctor asked him why he didn't bring his smartphone. He said that smart phones are used for entertainment, while flip phones are used for work, so the efficiency will be much higher.
Let's see if the Japanese still like to use fax machines. Because fax machine is a common tool for Japanese enterprises to transmit data in the last decade, but now technology is developed and Japan's technology level is not bad, but it is really hard to understand using such an old fax machine. But why do the Japanese insist on using fax machines instead of mailboxes? In fact, it is not unreasonable. It turns out that almost all enterprises in Japan can see fax machines everywhere in their offices, which is much more convenient than logging in by email. And there are many fax machines that can make calls, and there are many questions they don't understand. Call them back directly and you will understand them. High efficiency has always been advocated by the Japanese.
In addition to habits, there is also this reason, and that is safety. Sending documents by email is in danger of being invaded, and the security of fax machine is much higher, so it is very reassuring to send business secrets by fax machine in the company. It seems that some Japanese unconscious behavior habits are weird, but they still have their reasons.
Why are the Japanese still using those old technology products? Because small businesses "rule" Japanese business. "And these small and medium-sized enterprises are usually conservative, and large enterprises also reject new technologies.
Even the "digitalization" process of large companies is not satisfactory. An employee of a well-known Blu-ray chip technology company who asked not to be named said that the company developed Cybozu software to send and receive emails and used it as a tool for internal communication. "This is a plain text software, and the server space is very small, and the storage space will soon be full, so we delete or move old emails almost every month." He complained.
The employee also said that the supervisor encouraged the employee to record the data to be sent to the cooperative company on CD-ROM for mailing, and attached a "handwritten" data transmission form. If an employee suggests updating the software, the supervisor will definitely refuse. "For the upper level, the way to stop the problem is to stop installing new software."
Kop, the founder of Japan Cross-cultural Consultant, an international company that provides training and consulting services for Japanese enterprises, said that if this behavior is typical among Japanese enterprises, it is enough to explain the productivity crisis of Japanese enterprises.
An employee of an international logistics company said, "The information department is extremely conservative, and hates connecting the company's computers with the outside world, fearing that data will be stolen and hacked, and the Japanese are reluctant to use anything new in the office."
Don't let machines replace manpower.
Another reason why Japanese companies oppose automation may be that automation will replace manpower, which is not in line with the concept of long-term workers. Therefore, although it looks like akg, enterprises don't use machines where they can use manpower.
The BBC points out that among 34 OECD countries, Japan ranks last in non-manufacturing productivity, only half that of the United States.
Conclusion Although Japan's economy has declined for 20 years, the old foundation of Japan's economy still exists and its development has stagnated for decades. According to normal thinking, the national income has not increased, and it should be getting poorer and poorer. However, Japan has one income that ranks first in the world, and that is the income from Japanese overseas investment. Since Japan became an economically developed country in 1960s, it has invested a lot of money in overseas assets and companies. Therefore, in the case of high return on overseas investment, the future recovery of the Japanese economy should be worth looking forward to.
Japan has experienced a stagnation period of about 20 years. You can take a look at this, which perfectly records "Japan's lost decade".
Although it is called the "lost decade", it has actually exceeded 15 years or even longer.
Part of the reason for the loss in this decade is that Japan has implemented a very strict enterprise protection policy in order to protect enterprises from external competition. This protection makes companies operating in Japan have no incentive to promote modernization.
If enterprises have no motivation to modernize, they will not do it. The driving force for enterprises to keep moving forward comes from the pressure of competition.
My favorite example happened in India.
The car you see is "Ambassador Hindustan". This car was designed in England in 1954. 1958, hindustan automobile company bought this design and started mass production.
India uses extremely high protectionist barriers to prevent international competition. No one can make and sell cars in India, and the government has driven them all away.
The car in the photo was only produced and sold in India before 20 14. For 55 years, there has been little change. Because there is no competition, there is no possibility that customers will be pried away by their peers, so there is no reason for improvement and perfection.
The same thing happened in Japan. Since the 1980s, the Japanese market has been in an overprotective state. This is why Japan has been using these old products since the 1980s.
Japan didn't stop producing tapes until 20 10. And I haven't seen anyone listen to tapes since I went to high school in the 1990s.
It was not until 20 16 that Japan stopped producing video recorders. I only watched the video once when I was helping my parents clean the garage in 2000.
Let me give another example of banking. The Japanese government strictly controls the Bank of Japan. You can talk about the pros and cons, but there are some things you may not understand.
Your bank card can only be used at one ATM, and this ATM must be in the same area as you and your bank. If you drive to another city, the card won't work, and it won't work after 6 pm. It's like you have a bank account in Los Angeles, but in San Diego, your card won't work.
Why is this happening? Because there is no competition. If American PNC Bank can open a branch in Japan, the first thing they should do is to provide 24-hour all-weather service nationwide. This will force all banks to either upgrade their services or watch their customers leave.
(Note: The above is not true. I read that article in the new york Times. It seems out of date or misspelled. Well, they can do it ...)
In a word, this is why I don't approve of using protectionist policies to stop competition. The solution to international competition is still competition.
Japan has experienced a stagnation period of about 20 years, and there is a documentary about this period called "The Lost Decade".
Although it is called the "lost decade", it has actually exceeded 15 years or even longer.
Part of the reason for the loss in this decade is that Japan has implemented a very strict enterprise protection policy in order to protect enterprises from external competition. This protection makes companies operating in Japan have no incentive to promote modernization.
If enterprises have no motivation to modernize, they will not do it. The driving force for enterprises to keep moving forward comes from the pressure of competition.
My favorite example happened in India.
The car you see is "Ambassador Hindustan". This car was designed in England in 1954. 1958, hindustan automobile company bought this design and started mass production.
India uses extremely high protectionist barriers to prevent international competition. No one can make and sell cars in India, and the government has driven them all away.
Before 20 14, the car in the above picture was only produced and sold in India. For 55 years, this car has hardly changed. Because there is no competition, there is no possibility that customers will be pried away by their peers, so there is no reason for improvement and perfection.
The same thing happened in Japan. Since the 1980s, the Japanese market has been in an overprotective state. This is why Japan has been using these old products since the 1980s.
Japan didn't stop producing tapes until 20 10. And I haven't seen anyone listen to tapes since I went to high school in the 1990s.
It was not until 20 16 that Japan stopped producing video recorders. I only watched the video once when I was helping my parents clean the garage in 2000.
Let me give another example of banking. The Japanese government strictly controls the Bank of Japan. You can talk about advantages and disadvantages, but there are some things you may not understand.
Your bank card can only be used at one ATM, and this ATM must be in the same area as you and your bank. If you drive to another city, the card won't work, and it won't work after 6 pm. It's like you have a bank account in Los Angeles, but in San Diego, your card won't work.
Why is this happening? Because there is no competition. If American PNC Bank can open a branch in Japan, the first thing they should do is to provide 24-hour all-weather service nationwide. This will force all banks to either upgrade their services or watch their customers leave.
In a word, this is why I don't approve of using protectionist policies to stop competition. The solution to international competition is still competition.
Seeing this question, I immediately remembered two things I had encountered before.
My best friend's first husband was hired by one of the best Japanese companies in the mechanical lathe industry after graduation, and took his family to Japan a few years ago. Later, it was sent back by the headquarters to domestic investment enterprises as representatives. So, we also have the opportunity to meet and chat. I happened to have a book that needed to be translated into authentic Japanese before I could send it, so I asked my best friend's husband for help.
The document I gave him was a whole A4 manuscript, with two pages of A4 paper on the front cover and back cover, and some notes on the back cover, all of which were properly packed in a large high-quality kraft paper envelope. Then, I specially sent someone to send it to him.
A few days later, my friend sent me the translation results.
To my surprise, the difference between what I received and what I sent is so great that I can't wait to compare myself to this, even if there are cracks around me, I can get in.
It turns out that the person who sent it said that he came to this area from other places and sent something to me for his boss. He came up to me with a folder in his hand, quickly opened it and pulled out a palm-sized page from it. I glanced at the header, copy title, date, signature, etc. And the complete format of the basic text looks very beautiful and neat.
It's just that the paper is too small and a little stingy.
When I saw the Japanese characters on the paper, I knew it was a copy I asked him to translate. This paragraph has neither affected my requirements nor caused a waste of paper and manpower.
After I experienced this incident, I tried to arrange office consumption according to this idea, and it also paid off.
The second thing is that it is quite common in Japan. Even in big companies, when you enter their offices, you always feel very crowded, but the work efficiency that looks like everyone is amazing.
In such an environment, you always feel that your vision reminds you everywhere: save, save, save!
In other words, it is rare to see employees scratching their heads and selling with pens in their mouths.
It can be said that everyone is doing things with their heads down, and it is difficult to see idle people walking around. Although their department. mgr.mgr is an independent accounting unit under its jurisdiction, the person in charge can be equipped with a secretary, but they basically do not recruit young and beautiful girls, and most of them recruit older women as secretaries.
Because, this can achieve low expenditure and high efficiency of human operation.
In a word, I think "saving resources and reducing expenses" is the habit of every Japanese citizen, and it seems that there is no need to continue education. So it is almost understandable that they are still using those old technology products, such as flip phones and fax machines.
Most of the electronic office supplies that appeared in the second half of last century are durable. It is a pity to lose them when updating iterative new products, and their materials are difficult to degrade at room temperature. Throwing it into the environment is obviously a serious environmental pollution. Then, if you try to extend their service life, it will be considered as your best protection for the environment.
The strength of the team is that the villain runs fast and many people run slowly. ...