Just went there last weekend for a few hours looking for a CD-ROM drive for my laptop, and here's what grabbed my attention:
- 24x slim (laptop) CD-ROM drives, barebones, for Y1000 ($8) - 20x slim CD-RW for Y7000 (which is what I bought) - USB fans. No, not to cool your CPU, but to cool YOU. A little desk fan that just draws power from USB. - USB cellphone recharger. Like the fan, it uses USB solely as a power source. USB -> Universal Power Outlet - 4" LCD monitor unit that fits into the space of three 5" drive bays in an AT case. This has me stumped. Coolness factor: 110%, practicality: 0%. - 15" LCD monitor with astounding 800cd brightness (approx $400). - Junk used TV/VCR remote controls for Y800, cell-phone display models for Y300. - Lots of porn
Please, spare us the same old fawning over Japanese management technique and all... I'm reminded of the formerly non-bald Homer Simpson going on and on about "jiko-kanri" as the audience walks out one by one.
What you say about kaizen (which, when stripped of its Peter Drucker / MBA-buzzword sheen, means literally nothing more than "improvement") is true, but the article was not about building reliability into design and manufacturing processes, and it wasn't about why Japanese consumer products are better than those from the rest of the world. It was about markets and consumer preferences, and why certain Japanese-made products aren't available overseas.
Toshiba sells a lot of laptop computers in the US, and you can rest assured that they receive the same level of "kaizen" in their design, marketing, and manufacturing as the domestic models, from which they were in turn developed.
I think the points made in the article were valid, all four of them. None of them are new, I've heard them all before, but they should be pretty self-evident to anyone who's tried to sell consumer goods in Japan (no, I haven't).
>>> Jeez, the stuff I just wrote is far more informative than Slate's rubbish. I wonder if the author has evern BEEN to Japan. >>>
1) No it wasn't. 2) Read the second paragraph of the article.
That's a good point about finding directions in Japan. A cell-phone is EXTREMELY useful when you're meeting someone at a train station where there are literally thousands of other people milling about, which is where you usually meet up with someone in Japan.
When I meet up with my girlfriend, even if we agree at a time and place, about half the time I end up making/receiving a call where the conversation goes:
"Where are you now?"
"By the Starbucks"
"The one across the street?"
"Yeah, I'm crossing, now... oh, there you are."
I hate doing that, it's so silly and wasteful. (And what's worse is she's chronically late, so there's always the "I'm going to be 15 minutes late" call while I'm on the train.)
Although I would normally argue against the stereotype of Japanese conformity and herd-mentality, as I did in this previous post, I have to admit there's something to it when it comes to cellphones. Everyone's gotta have the latest DoCoMo or J-Phone with the 64k color screen and built-in camera, which will no doubt be discarded for a trade-up within six months.
Meanwhile I get by fine with a 18-month old PHS with monochrome screen. When I signed up I asked for the cheapest handset, and it was "0 yen".
Trends are much easier to start (and obviously, die) in Japan because everything is so centered around Tokyo. A densely populated city of 10 million has critical mass that the U.S. doesn't.
Yeesh, people, it has nothing to do with Confucian vs. Christian philosophy and history.
It has everything to do with the fact that Socialist Republic of Vietnam is, like the People's Republic of China, a communist country with an autocratic government.
Communist countries are like that, in case you haven't noticed.
I think you're attributing way too much to the same old worn-out cultural stereotypes.
Come on, it's pretty simple. The country's size, population density, and cost of land make railways ideal for both inner city and inter-region transport, and private automobiles relatively inconvenient.
Japanese would eagerly commute by car if it were worth the cost and time, and in many suburban / rural areas and smaller regional cities that have outgrown the rail systems that serve them, people are starting to do that. People tell me that these days you "need" a car if you live outside of Tokyo (e.g., Saitama, Chiba)
And even the most car-spoiled, fierce individualist American will eagerly give up driving and start using the trains in Tokyo.
Re:Not necessarily personally identifiable
on
Hong Kong's Octopus
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· Score: 1
>> Keep in mind, however, that while your money is sitting on that pre-paid card, its not accruing interest in your bank account. >>
Considering that you probably wouldn't have more than about US$30 on your card at any time, is it even worth caring about?
And fortunately, in Japan, paying for something like a measly $30 train card by ATM/credit card would be considered absurd -- even if it were possible. Everything is cash ; automatic vending machines take Y10,000 (=~ $80) bills.
"Americans are broad-minded people. They'll accept the fact that a person can be an alcoholic, a dope fiend, a wife beater, and even a newspaperman, but if a man doesn't drive, there is something wrong with him."
Actually Japan has a long tradition (brought over from China) of insects as children's pets. Ask any Japanese man over the age of thirty what he remembers about childhood, and he'll tell you about gathering beetles and cicadas and taking them home to keep as pets...usually followed by lamenting the fact that the nearby woods where he caught those insects have now been turned into a parking lot.
The rhinoceros beetle has always been the most prized, and these days you can find them sold at inner-city pet shops for up to $100. The stag beetle (with the giant pincers) and a type of cricket with a bell-like call are also popular.
I suppose that cramped housing and low maintenance do in fact help make insects a little more practical than a big old St. Bernard.
>>>
Even those who do manage to make their disposable camera into a real camera will never be seriously considered by the companies distributing the camera because they will not significantly impact profits in any way.
>>>
...where "seriously considered" would mean "sued through greedy corporate lawyers or trade associations for violations of morally bankrupt intellectual property laws".
>>>
Are you trying to tell me that there aren't American soldiers who would do this if asked?
>>>
I really don't know, that's why I floated the scenario. I've never heard of the U.S. planning or executing a deliberate suicide mission. (And I don't mean "jump on a grenade to save your comrades", I mean planned from the start as such.)
In fact I've never heard of any nation/culture in modern times besides Imperial Japan and Islamic terrorists doing such a thing.
>>>
Let me go back and quote from my original post: "Making these terrorists out to be somehow braver than Americans is simply false."
>>>
I don't care to speculate on whether the terrorists were brave or cowardly. There's little question, though, that they were brutally effective.
Re:After all, sheep will be sheep
on
More On Tragedy
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· Score: 1
That's not what dmccarty is talking about.
If you were unarmed with no means of resistance, and a terrorist with a gun to your head announced to the world that unless his imprisoned fellow terrorist is freed he would pull the trigger, would you say, "I refuse to accede to your demands. Go ahead and kill me."?
Slashdot Mirror
Just went there last weekend for a few hours looking for a CD-ROM drive for my laptop, and here's what grabbed my attention:
- 24x slim (laptop) CD-ROM drives, barebones, for Y1000 ($8)
- 20x slim CD-RW for Y7000 (which is what I bought)
- USB fans. No, not to cool your CPU, but to cool YOU. A little desk fan that just draws power from USB.
- USB cellphone recharger. Like the fan, it uses USB solely as a power source. USB -> Universal Power Outlet
- 4" LCD monitor unit that fits into the space of three 5" drive bays in an AT case. This has me stumped. Coolness factor: 110%, practicality: 0%.
- 15" LCD monitor with astounding 800cd brightness (approx $400).
- Junk used TV/VCR remote controls for Y800, cell-phone display models for Y300.
- Lots of porn
Please, spare us the same old fawning over Japanese management technique and all ... I'm reminded of the formerly non-bald Homer Simpson going on and on about "jiko-kanri" as the audience walks out one by one.
What you say about kaizen (which, when stripped of its Peter Drucker / MBA-buzzword sheen, means literally nothing more than "improvement") is true, but the article was not about building reliability into design and manufacturing processes, and it wasn't about why Japanese consumer products are better than those from the rest of the world. It was about markets and consumer preferences, and why certain Japanese-made products aren't available overseas.
Toshiba sells a lot of laptop computers in the US, and you can rest assured that they receive the same level of "kaizen" in their design, marketing, and manufacturing as the domestic models, from which they were in turn developed.
I think the points made in the article were valid, all four of them. None of them are new, I've heard them all before, but they should be pretty self-evident to anyone who's tried to sell consumer goods in Japan (no, I haven't).
>>>
Jeez, the stuff I just wrote is far more informative than Slate's rubbish. I wonder if the author has evern BEEN to Japan.
>>>
1) No it wasn't.
2) Read the second paragraph of the article.
>>>
(Though people often reserve some space in their house for useless old crap from grandparents...
>>>
Or the useless old grandparents themselves! (Either in living form or as an urn full of bones and ashes.)
That's a good point about finding directions in Japan. A cell-phone is EXTREMELY useful when you're meeting someone at a train station where there are literally thousands of other people milling about, which is where you usually meet up with someone in Japan.
When I meet up with my girlfriend, even if we agree at a time and place, about half the time I end up making/receiving a call where the conversation goes:
"Where are you now?" ... oh, there you are."
"By the Starbucks"
"The one across the street?"
"Yeah, I'm crossing, now
I hate doing that, it's so silly and wasteful. (And what's worse is she's chronically late, so there's always the "I'm going to be 15 minutes late" call while I'm on the train.)
Although I would normally argue against the stereotype of Japanese conformity and herd-mentality, as I did in this previous post, I have to admit there's something to it when it comes to cellphones. Everyone's gotta have the latest DoCoMo or J-Phone with the 64k color screen and built-in camera, which will no doubt be discarded for a trade-up within six months.
Meanwhile I get by fine with a 18-month old PHS with monochrome screen. When I signed up I asked for the cheapest handset, and it was "0 yen".
Trends are much easier to start (and obviously, die) in Japan because everything is so centered around Tokyo. A densely populated city of 10 million has critical mass that the U.S. doesn't.
I hear that the rock is being represented in court by inanimate carbon rod
Yeesh, people, it has nothing to do with Confucian vs. Christian philosophy and history.
It has everything to do with the fact that Socialist Republic of Vietnam is, like the People's Republic of China, a communist country with an autocratic government.
Communist countries are like that, in case you haven't noticed.
--------
I think you're attributing way too much to the same old worn-out cultural stereotypes.
Come on, it's pretty simple. The country's size, population density, and cost of land make railways ideal for both inner city and inter-region transport, and private automobiles relatively inconvenient.
Japanese would eagerly commute by car if it were worth the cost and time, and in many suburban / rural areas and smaller regional cities that have outgrown the rail systems that serve them, people are starting to do that. People tell me that these days you "need" a car if you live outside of Tokyo (e.g., Saitama, Chiba)
And even the most car-spoiled, fierce individualist American will eagerly give up driving and start using the trains in Tokyo.
>>
Keep in mind, however, that while your money is sitting on that pre-paid card, its not accruing interest in your bank account.
>>
Considering that you probably wouldn't have more than about US$30 on your card at any time, is it even worth caring about?
s/automation/automaton/
It's only the location of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. The guy's just trying to funnel taxes to his home district.
Oh, and he does sound like a freak-o dweeb.
So THIS is what Woz has been working on?!
... and has 30,000 miles on her.
...so you can screw THE FERRARI?!
"Coleman To Sell Portable Fuel Cell Generator"?
What, was he inspired by George Foreman's barbeque grill?
And fortunately, in Japan, paying for something like a measly $30 train card by ATM/credit card would be considered absurd -- even if it were possible. Everything is cash ; automatic vending machines take Y10,000 (=~ $80) bills.
"Americans are broad-minded people. They'll accept the fact that a person can be an alcoholic, a dope fiend, a wife beater, and even a newspaperman, but if a man doesn't drive, there is something wrong with him."
-Art Buchwald
Read the whole essay
Perfect for watching "Spinal Tap" on DVD!
...of the argument the photographer and her supporters are making:
Don't ever throw anything away, because your junk might end up being valuable.
Actually Japan has a long tradition (brought over from China) of insects as children's pets. Ask any Japanese man over the age of thirty what he remembers about childhood, and he'll tell you about gathering beetles and cicadas and taking them home to keep as pets...usually followed by lamenting the fact that the nearby woods where he caught those insects have now been turned into a parking lot.
The rhinoceros beetle has always been the most prized, and these days you can find them sold at inner-city pet shops for up to $100. The stag beetle (with the giant pincers) and a type of cricket with a bell-like call are also popular.
I suppose that cramped housing and low maintenance do in fact help make insects a little more practical than a big old St. Bernard.
>>>
Even those who do manage to make their disposable camera into a real camera will never be seriously considered by the companies distributing the camera because they will not significantly impact profits in any way.
>>>
...where "seriously considered" would mean "sued through greedy corporate lawyers or trade associations for violations of morally bankrupt intellectual property laws".
Yep, this would never work in the U.S.
And while you're at it ... or better yet, before anything else - how about Jacko, the Energizer "Oy!" guy!?
from the article:
"Up until now, the black hats were the Mick Jaggers of the Net..."
So they...
Have big lips?
Keep making womrs even though they're way past their prime?
Do lots of drugs?
Star in, and direct, lousy movies?
>>>
Are you trying to tell me that there aren't American soldiers who would do this if asked?
>>>
I really don't know, that's why I floated the scenario. I've never heard of the U.S. planning or executing a deliberate suicide mission. (And I don't mean "jump on a grenade to save your comrades", I mean planned from the start as such.)
In fact I've never heard of any nation/culture in modern times besides Imperial Japan and Islamic terrorists doing such a thing.
>>>
Let me go back and quote from my original post: "Making these terrorists out to be somehow braver than Americans is simply false."
>>>
I don't care to speculate on whether the terrorists were brave or cowardly. There's little question, though, that they were brutally effective.
That's not what dmccarty is talking about.
If you were unarmed with no means of resistance, and a terrorist with a gun to your head announced to the world that unless his imprisoned fellow terrorist is freed he would pull the trigger, would you say, "I refuse to accede to your demands. Go ahead and kill me."?