Ken Uchikura Newsletter Vol. 198 You Have to be Different
Sep
14
You Have to be Different
In Japanese society, we learn that it’s right to think normally, blend in with our surroundings, and be inconspicuous. Therefore, they consider unusual and uncommon thoughts wrong. If you do something different from everyone else, people will label you as a “weirdo” or they will say you’re “without common sense”. In short, to live in Japanese society, you’re expected to speak or act like those around you. There’s an old Japanese saying: “The nail that sticks out gets hammered down”. It demonstrates the belief that punishment will come for anyone who goes beyond the bounds.
This environment in Japan is not conducive to creating new things or inventions. However, because there are many hardworking people that follow this ideology, various fields have already developed technologies to improve what already exists.
I entered the workforce at the end of Japan’s economic growth period, when Japan was at the top of the world’s manufacturing industry. It was wonderfully vibrant as the economy boomed, and people were busy. Frequently, I traveled on the Shinkansen standing, up between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka. I remember working six days a week. Many Japanese people visited Hawaii and other tourist destinations, and I often saw signs in Japanese. Of the 50 most valuable companies in the world at that time, more than 30 were Japanese companies. Today, Toyota is the only Japanese company whose name remains in the ranking.
This was the conventional wisdom at the time. Manufacturing moved from Japan to China due to labor cost issues, most IT-related industries went overseas, and cell phone technology also exists predominantly overseas. This is probably because we’ve only been working within the same bounds of everyone else and failed to catch up with the trends of the times. That being said, Japan doesn’t have the blue-collar labor force to promote manufacturing right now. Food comes from overseas, and they import it to Japan. And they also import many building materials and machinery. The fact is they make many Japanese brand products overseas.
However, importing products from abroad involves transportation costs. Transportation also requires energy, and some things are better procured nearby from an environmental standpoint. The idea of not relying on foreign countries and making efforts to increase domestic self-sufficiency would probably sound insane to Japan today. However, if you look at other countries around the world, countries, the U.S. included, are beginning to think about increasing self-sufficiency. If the current norm is wrong, I’d like to see Japan’s ability to improve it. I’m also doing business in the U.S., and I intend to explore ways that go beyond the current framework. It is wonderful that there’s an environment that recognizes companies that do this. Even small companies like mine. Perhaps this is the American dream.
Kenichi Uchikura
President / CEO
Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.
ken.uchikura＠pspinc.com
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