Japan Is Living In A Weird Retro Future
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 16. 03. 2023
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đ Hey! I'm Enrico and on this channel I go behind the scenes of the design, psychology and stories behind tech and making stuff on the internet. I'm a tech Product Manager, builder of things made of pixels.
Japan's crazy history seen from my latest trip. From the Robot hotel and robot cafe and weird Tokyo with weird tech, to the senseless times Japan feels like it's in the 90s when it comes to digital technology. - VÄda a technologie
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one things you didn't mention why japans country fell was because of the ne'o lib'erial policies that my country American employed on them it was not because of the internet and software while yes that was true it was actually the neo lib'eral policies
"Retrofuturistic" is actually a spot on assessment of Japan.
I do think there's more to dig about the reasons on why Japan is like that. Hardware and homogenity is part of the picture, I believe.
Anyhow, good quality work as usual
Thank you! Really recommend this video about this and the wider reasons: czcams.com/video/CVyiOewuTtw/video.html
What does homogenity have to do with it?
@@Lilliathi Generally wealthy countries are importing skilled software developers, strengthening their talent pool. People with different backgrounds have different ideas of what is possible, and their ideas blend together to create things which are more interesting. Being closed off to outside influence causes stagnation and the entrenchment of existing ideas.
@@willsonj
Personality is a far bigger predictor of different ideas than ethnicity. Not the mention the downsides of ethnically diverse societies.
Even in 1900 it was retro-futuristic. The most advanced country on Earth in many ways (surpassing Britain in industrial output by then) but still clinging to tradition in other ways
Nintendo and Sony managed to get a foot in with software, but it is an interesting observation that Japan prioritizes hardware. Nintendo keeps trying to innovate their consoles with unique Hardware gimmicks like the Wii remote and Sony is the first console to go to market with their own VR headset. Also checking out modern Games you will often see that their software design is weaker, user interface is often clunky, graphical fidelity never a priority.
Just take a look at Japanese cars. You will find well engineered stuff there, but don't expect the SatNav to incorporate latest traffic prediction. Extreme opposite to Tesla, who cut all Hardware & replace it by mediocre Software - which I consider unacceptable as well.
Unfortunately that's the way to earn more money as long as customers accept this sort of betrayal.
Software isn't a tangible worthwhile investment to them. I can appreciate why they'd believe that. The usa mostly treats software like our main export. We went all in with it here. Big mistake imo. Software here sucks. Its designed to enslave pppl . Why would japan want that
naah, modern Japanese gaming is still, on average, better than its western counterpart.
Nintendo uses Linux and Sony uses freebsd as their operating systems both based on the POSIX standard developed to standardize Unix like operating systems and Unix was created by AT&T an american company. However Japan did develop their own operating system family called TRON, where the two most important operating systems were ITRON for embedded devices and BTRON for PCs however the US turned to protectionist policy at the time these were introduced to stop them from becoming popular and the rollout of BTRON OS computers to Japanese schools was stopped. ITRON OS was still massively successful as it was the most popular OS sometime in the 2000s as it was used in many embedded devices.
As a singer songwriter who plays live in both Japan and internationally. It was interesting to see how much people would want to support me in Japan by buying my physical merch.
Whereas tipping musicians is quite common in the US, tipping musicians is non existent over there.
I believe the underlying reason of Japan to be basically not interested in software is their massive consumism and the craving to build and accumulate physical things.. that probably stems from being a poor country in the past centuries, something we cannot say about US for example
Didn't think about that!
The U.S. also has a massive consumerist culture, but it's more centered around showing off one's social status through material possessions, rather than the items themselves.
You made a fascinating observation - maybe this is part of why Japanese hardware is so advanced, while their software has not evolved as quickly. It's almost as if software is viewed as a means to an end, a necessary component to make the hardware work, but not a tool in and of itself. Whereas America and most of the world seem to have the opposite perspective: the *hardware is a means to an end,* a platform on which to run software and interact with websites that extend far beyond the boundaries of your computer.
The model of hardware as a means to an end and software as the stage for innovation also makes more sense in the US since it has outsourced the production of a lot of gadgets, while Japan has a higher level of manufacturing excellence than the US. However Intel is top three in terms of chip manufacturing advancement while Japan lags far behind and IBM works as a research semiconductor manufacturing research institute and patent licensor.
Thanks for sharing your Impressions. really great work.
I've been in Japan around 1992. This has been one of my most impressive trips.
Even then, I found myself in a Hightech-toilet one day, the escalators told me to watch my step and when entering Shinjuku Station, I was impressed by the access gates handling hundreds of people per minute. At akihabara, I bought a Dat-Walkman from Sony, an Aiwa Discman and an optical cable - then being able to digitally copy music in my backpack. This was miles ahead of what Europe was doing back then.
In contrast to all this I was surprised by the low number of Japanese that were able to speak English and how they were sticking to old traditions in many areas.
Now watching your video 30 years later, I have the feeling that they must have had a sort of time-freeze there. Things don't seem to look much different now compared to the 90ies - only that the robots weren't around then. That's crazy.
What is crazy is how much of the rest of the world as devolved and degenerated via most common metrics, while Japan has stayed pretty much the same during this same time. This achievement will only seem more impressive, as the decades roll on.
japan (and taiwan) are both heavy cash based societies mostly due to past experience with bank collapse and financial crisis. ordering things online is common and food delivery but if you are buying goods in person, or food, cash is preferred.
"i'm from italy i've seen enough churches and castles in my life" loool đđ As croatian where all of our tourism is based around churches and castles I totally understand you.
I'm surprised I was under the impression that Japan was way ahead of us for a long time when it comes to things like digital payments. I might be confusing it in my mind with South Korea in this respect.
I was traveling in China in 2019 and they are very much ahead in payments (even though as a foreigner I couldn't use them. On the flip side I saw china as so advanced in software but so lacking in many other areas where Japan is amazing (transport, cleanliness, organization)
You need to understand Japan first why is like this, (living here)
Japan's slower adoption of certain modern digital technologies can be attributed to factors such as cultural respect for tradition,
a high elderly population, the customary use of "hanko" seals for signing documents, a tendency for risk aversion in business,
the complexity of the Japanese written language (hiragana, katakana, kanji),
and regulatory requirements favoring older communication methods, some companies still using FAX machines!
Enrico you doing such nice researched intelligent videos but this one you missed or is not well represented.
Is fax that bad
CHALLENGE: Whoever films a more shaky and voltage-flickery clip than the one in the intro gets „1,000
Sono solo 7⏠đ
One thing I like about this way of seeing the future is that your data isnât as easily used for all kinds of purposes without your knowledge, especially with credit card bank owners knowing everything you buy, including your onlyfans subscriptions.
i was in osaka a few weeks ago, and in tokyo in 2019, i got around just fine using my cc. also mobile payments work in someplaces too like lawsons. yes the really local spots only take cash but more and more mom and pop shops are starting to accept cc payments. its not like the US where you can automatically pay with credit card, you have to tell them you are going to pay with card or show them on your phone the mobile payment.
Come to Japan, use cash, and if you're lucky, maybe even re-learn the true benefit of using cash -- anonymity. No government oversight. Nobody can turn your cash off, or lock your wallet.
I mean as a European, I can say that speaking out with what you pay is standard procedure. And as a German I can say that learning the way around their gorgeous cash was a really cool experience :)
In Norway it is the opposite the norm is to be able to pay with a debit or creditcard and cash payment might not be possible on vending machines. And for P2P transaction Vipps is used, as well as in small stored.
@@jonasklein7260
I thought germany love using cash
@@kasranov
You visited
Cache payment was really huge some 5 years ago but now electronic payment is everywhere in Japan. Dozens of types of electronic payments actually.
Went to Japan last month cherry blossoms. A convenient system learning about their tech but language barrier is still a hassle, just have to get to the destination using my google maps haha. Buying something when I have a Suica card itâs so handy and I still use credit card with ease when buying in Akihabara and Don Quijote.
Good vid. I went to japan and agree with the software, especially in restaurants, they were like websites from the 90s lol. Itâs weird if you think about their obsession with design and writing, they shouldâve led the software revolution
Dude! So awesome, love your channel and I'll be visiting Japan after having wanting go there for 20 years by now! Couldn't get a better timing with this video đđ
Fantastic video! I have been in Japan at the beginning of the year and made similar observations. It was very interesting to now learn more about the reasoning behind this. Keep up the great work, Iâm a big fan of your content!
super interesting! never thought about the technological part of Japan this way.
What is your view
As an American, I'd much rather have something like high speed rail than say... airbnb. (Have no idea why that was used as an example)
Airbnb is common also in japan, but I get what you're going for. Japanese really focus on politiness and convenience. If a polite action can't be done with machines, they will do it in person. That's the reason they have automatic back doors in every taxi.
You've got some really interesting thought behind this video, and you also make attractive, clever, captivating videos - thank you!
Really Nice Video... I always wanted to go to Japan one day. ohh and nice Outro btw
Cheers from Brazil! Great video as always!
Glad you enjoyed it!
This is one of the reasons why I was shocked that Sega threw in the towel in the console wars and stopped making any game hardware after that to focus on software. I can't see Sony doing anything like that.
I'm guessing that perhaps one motivation behind having digital payments in the US is to secure our wealth from crime. Is it a fair conclusion to draw that since there is so little crime in Japan, there isn't as much need to secure the currency with digital payments?
Digital payment is just way more convenient. Especially with your phone. I guess nobody really think about security, they think about not needing cash and a wallet.
@@metramaks
Also not
Grabbing the popcorn to watch this MASTERPIECE! đż A big hug Enrico đ
I really like your content, but personally I'm pretty fed up with sponsor segments randomly popping up at the middle of a video I'm otherwise immersed in. I generally always watch sponsor segments at the end of a video I enjoy coz I don't mind supporting channels like that, but ads that break the flow of the content is just worse than TV. This is a topic I'm particularly interested in too.
I'm curious of companies are now paying extra to have their shit in the middle of the video or if they require it to proceed with the sponsor at all.
About Japan, it's really strange how it seems like most of their main issues are literally just them being okay with having those issues persist in the name of culture, tradition, or simply not caring very much. I'd be interesting in knowing about any businesses there that were created specifically to address some of those systemic issues.
I don't have much of a problem with that. If not interested, it's easy to advance 60 seconds, which is the typical length of these segments. CZcams's ads are much more annoying.
Great video mate
Meanwhile in another timeline: è„żéšăŻ1950ćčŽä»Łéąšăźć„ćŠăȘæȘæ„ă«çăăŠăă
The outro was worth every minute you worked on it and don't let anybody tell you any different
Interersting video. Would love to learn more about Japan. Only suggestion I'd add for this video is that it's sometimes hard to get what you're saying in the first two minutes due to the music. I know you filmed this while travelling which is probably the reason for the audio quality but just thought I'd point that out.
Yeah, always done indoors footage and I don't have a proper travel mic. If I go for more of these videos, it's the first thing I will invest in
great video
The robot cafes look quite cool. Also my attention was grabbed way too hard by both bandori and railgun showing in the background at the same time at one point in the video.
Super cool and interesting video!
Semirandom thought: **Cars don't fly because human drivers suck.** (Human drivers are dangerous, even, if you think about it...) (And imagine falling, not flying, cars...)
I've felt this way about Japan for a long time.
You been there
@@missplainjane3905 Yes!
@@user-yx2nl6le4l
When and which places you visited ?
I feel like Japanese culture emphasizes fixing/improving what you already have rather than thinking outside the box
so glad the cash thing wasn't just me!
Wdym
Nice video, but you could have pointed out that Japanese web/software design is different and people are used to much more dense (and for us not nicely made or confusing) layouts. so that could be another reason why you thought it was bad
Yeah that's probably a whole video in itself. Realized this the first time I went to China the apps are crazy
i always love your saying :)
Maybe I was just lucky, but during my trip to Tokyo in september last year, I was able to pay for most things either with my debit card or with a suica card (in both cases through apple pay). There were some exceptions, like for example some vending machines, coin laundry places, one coffee shop in harajuku and one gyoza restaurant near my hotel, but for the most part apple pay worked pretty much everywhere else for me.
For most of the stuff ?
Nice outro animation
0:17 which camera?
KORG creates the worst software for its synthesizers. It fails more times than it works. At work, we have a $2,500 Yamaha mixer with NO Bluetooth-if we want to connect a phone or computer to play content it must be hardwired.
I understand that in some situations, a hardwired signal is preferred, but there is no option for Bluetooth.
When I was in Tokyo in 2010, no one one owned an iPhone or other smartphone. My friend who liveS in Tokyo and is Japanese explained that many Japanese do not own a computer-she did, but she explained she was exception. The need to sync smartphones with a computer was a large hurdle for Apple to make inroads into Japan.
Those flip-phones in Tokyo were sophisticated, allowing people to purchase items from vending machine or to pay for things at convenience stores.
I always imagined that Tokyo in 2010 was very similar to a big city in the United States in the 1960s-the futurism of the space race and Kennedyâs New Frontier tempered with rotary phones and large, heavy cars.
What about space
Cashless society is a dystopian nightmare. Perhaps Japan has the right idea to avoid the nightmare that is credit/debit cards.
in Shibuya I strongly recommend a bar called "dogenzaka the church". It's church themed and all the staff looks like nuns
20seconds into the video i can only think of 1 word: gimbal. Now back to the video.
Added to cart
@@enricotartarottidont be pressed by snobs
Japan is great. Grocery store sushi is cheap and high quality. They definitely do some things right. I am American and I have spent about seven months in Japan and additional time in other Asia countries. Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, and others definitely lack software engineers. There are a few phone apps that are OK but generally they are lacking. Even Nintendo is bad at software in some ways (e.g., online functionality and web site) yet great at game design and hardware.
What thing are done right, and which one is the most developed and advanced country in asia ?
i love japan
It was AMAZING!
@@enricotartarotti yeah man, love ur video
That's sad that they missed software boom
So ig japan couldn't let go of them 90s vibes
I learned old style woodworking in Japan, so perhaps my experience is unusual.
Japanese hugely esteem craftsmanship, and things that are painstakingly made. Shinto "religion" elevates this to worship: you can literally summon a spirit to this world by building it a nice home, like a flower arrangement the spirit might like to dwell in. Yes literally. Hobbies that are physical, like model building or embroidery are everywhere. When asked what your hobby is you're expected to have an answer - and ideally pull out samples. You're totally welcome to gush about your hobbies; strange ones that make great conversation are best. The nation even has a universal fall-back handicraft for when you're waiting for the bus or whatever: origami.
I've heard tell that Japanese must be driven by consumerism, since their country produces so much stuff. That doesn't really capture the sentiment though. They're neither gluttonous nor greedy. They just appreciate things that someone put care into. Most Japanese I know would go cottage-core if they could make it work.
The nation should celebrate when free AI can write software better than humans.
Not smarter than humans, how was the learning process ?
Very beautiful video. It's a sad fact that the economy of Japan is not growing.
I'd love to see Japan rise once again in tech!
Perfect country for me i suppose !â€
I'm a not native English speaker, and normally is never a problem but for some reason the "speaking" in this video was a lot harder to understand. I love it but I felt unwelcome
Your problems with electronic payments and websites is more to do with the banking system and language issues.
Anyone who lives in Japan and speaks Japanese (such as myself) can pay for everything with CC or electronic money and used booking websites and other websites flawlessly. But all of this has to be done in Japanese. Japan just does not get enough international tourism to really devote time and energy to making life easier for non-Japanese speaking people.
I travel around Japan regularly and it works so flawlessly that I just carry a CC and a back pack with clothes, and I make no plans beforehand I just work everything out with websites and apps as I go.
In tokyo I was with some other japanese for sometime and I saw them having to result to cash most of the time too. Main point here is not really about the digital payments, but it just seemed to me so interesting ot see the duality vs. so many futuristic things
That's just lazy, isn't it? And it's not as if Japanese people couldn't learn something from seeing English once in a while.
@@saafiiiraa
Would you put in effort to learn the local language. Even just basics ?
How long sir
@@enricotartarotti
What's wrong with cash, and what is your definition of futuristic things ?
How did you learn the art of story telling. I'm so bad at it.
Japan has the right idea sticking to cash and employing just enough technology to make their lives a little more convenient instead of becoming completely reliant on it in every aspect of life. Not to mention the data harvesting dystopia we live in thanks to everything going digital. I live in the US and I wish we were more like Japan tbh, too much technology has not been good for us at all.
Could you give some examples of that
That is not what retro future is, they never stopped or abandoned old designs, retro futurism is like an artificial revival.
Their definition of futuristic, as of today is equivalent of TACKY đđđ
Example
Great video, pls try a better thumbnail đ
Just did!
@@enricotartarotti sometimes youtube is crazy man! i can't imagine the effort put into this yet, just a thumbnail can...
Japan is surprisingly German
How long have you been in japan? I think I hear a lovely little Japanese accent in your voice.
I'm actually italian lol
@@enricotartarotti wow I got that quite wrong lol
Japan is pretty big in software GAMES
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Software, while important, has destroyed our ability to physically innovate which is what will probably cause a dark age.
Any example
Japan had no antibodies to Western culture & technology, they became complete victims of industrial mechanism.
They sang songs about smog, littered their beaches with all kinds of rubbish, and packed their trains like sardines.
Videogames aren't software? For the record, Japan's economy was ransacked by UNCLE SAM,same as Germany [gold reserve US ought look after for them]
This seems incredibly naive to me. I've never had problems paying with my credit card in Japan. How many software tech engineers did you interview as part of your report? To help you better understand all the assumptions that you made without insight. And what reasons do you think software was difficult for them? And are you aware of the long standing vast cultural differences between UI and design preferences?
This is not meant to be an exhaustive study of the country, but my thoughts as a visitor, which led me to look into why things were the way they were. I found several sources from SDEs working in Japan that go through what I explained in the video (e.g. www.disruptingjapan.com/the-forgotten-mistake-that-killed-japans-software-industry/). Not meant to be an exhaustive research by any means!
what , video games don't count?....
The Internet and Software were American Inventions. And all i have to say is, AMERICA! FUCK YEAH!!!
8:08 Goes to a foreign country, expects to see diversity đ
They are one of the LEAST resistant to foreign ideas. But they are xenophobic. You got that wrong.
Can you please elaborate more? I'm curious
one things you didn't mention why japans country fell was because of the ne'o lib'erial policies that my country American employed on them it was not because of the internet and software while yes that was true it was actually the neo lib'eral policies
80ćčŽä»Łă«PS5ăäžć100äžćăźăŠă©ă·ă„ăŹăăăICOCA ăçĄăă ă
please, get a gimbal, I beg of you... my eyes hurt...
Ahah yes now I got one
first
I recommend skipping to the half of the video
"why are you runing?"
Japan missed the software revolution because they don't have enough diversity. Lol.
Not a cause I'd say, and I think in the west this is now too extreme. But to me it's logical that if the cutting edge is somewhere else now, and if people that know the cutting edge don't come into the country and the country doesn't speak the language, that is surely somthing that holds you back
paying cash is good. Unless you are not the brightest and want CBDC.... then we lost worldwide....
We're slaves to software in the usa.. governments exist here simply to ensure software companies survival. I've been to Japan... While playing Yakuza. Can confirm , many vending machines đ
Any revisit
Man use iPhone 14 pro Max your video is shaking like hell
Yes, they have to pay with cash. How bad is that for those companies who want to control all your spendingđ!
You're right! How about going back to trading sheep for salt?
@@enricotartarotti 65 / 5 000
FordĂtĂĄsi talĂĄlatok
FordĂtĂĄsi talĂĄlat
That would be almost as absurd as wearing a hat in a room.
@@enricotartarotti
But it's true that they track on one's spending.
Oh no the walking shot in the start is so NOT Good.
Cannot but agree.đ
What's life without some shakeups?
Well, I didn't mind at all.
How can he be so confidingly judgemental of Japan bein software unfriendly when his own country Italy lags Japan all aspects of technology including software...
Never claimed italy was better đ
italy better tho
they have digitial payments in italy atleast
india ka weeb. ch*tiya anime me ghus ja
How can he be so confidingly judgemental of italy bein software unfriendly when his own country Italy lags italy all aspects of technology including software..
Japan not being diverse isn't a bad thing at all. I wouldn't blame a lack of diversity, I would blame the ethics and morality of their culture. I think it's a good thing they have a lack of diversity. It's helped them retain such good morality and ethics. (No system is perfect of course, you can find fault in anything. But generally I think their culture is great)
_You_ marvel at what AI can do. But you don't speak for the majority.
What is your take
â@@missplainjane3905 It's not a marvel, but a nightmare in urgent need of reigning in. And even if it were made safe, it's mainly just another means of the wealthy increasing their control of everyone else, further profiting at our expense. If it's a powerful asset, the asset owners will be the only net beneficiaries.