technology

At the stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, robots are finally heading in to gather vital data from areas too dangerous for human workers. That's a great step forward, right? Well, you'd think so – unless you're the kind of doltish chowderhead who can only digest such news in the most ridiculous terms possible: the stroking of idiotic national pride.

The April 14 issue of general-interest weekly Shukan Shincho (article not available online) opines:

Japan prides its cutting-edge technology in building robots -- yet it now faces an embarrassing situation where Japan must rely on the U.S. to provide robots to conduct work at the nuclear power plant -- how sad is that?... This embarrassing situation was caused to do blindingly believing that such incident would never occur.

Sad? Embarrassing? The disaster itself is horribly sad, and any errors made in response may be embarrassing – but do those words also describe people wisely using helpful technology to improve the situation? In the befuddled writer's world, we can't praise amazing technology that helps people cope with disaster until we know what's stamped on the passports of the people who created it. If the passports have this political entity's name stamped, then the technology is glorious and wonderful; if they have that political entity's name stamped, then it's all "sad" and "embarrassing".

Am I the only one who wonders when (or whether) humans will ever grow up? 

Here's an unexpected find: The 5 biggest tech myths about Japan. 

To summarize the article's brief but welcome myth busting: Japan does NOT have bizarre vending machines all over, does NOT have robots all over, and is NOT overrun with schoolgirls bearing unusual technology prowess. (I'm ambivalent on two other points: Japan's Internet speeds probably are pretty good by international comparison, and Akihabara does have lots of fun for techies, though I'll happily agree that these are not "OMG Japan is unbelievable" things.)

For more in the same tech myth-debunking vein, see Low-Tech Japan, Debunked: Japan's "Special Relationship with Robots", and technology-tagged articles in general.  

When you see the words "technology" and "Japan" appear together in the media, it's usually in the context of "Wow, Japan is a high-tech wonderland so many years ahead of us!"

Those of us living in Japan see a much more varied and complex picture. Thus, it was nice to come across the BBC's Revealing Japan's low-tech belly, a look at the computer-clumsy, Internet-inexperienced portion of the country that will never use the living room VCR as a clock (because it's been blinking "12:00" for the past nine years). Read more

You know what's so annoying – very mildly annoying, yes, but persistently so – about "cultural contrast" discussions? It's really not so much the more elaborate made-up claims backed by laughably imaginary evidence (the "special relationship with robots" is a good example). Rather, it's the non-stop rain of little claims, the ones that paint everything in sight as a "difference" or a "unique twist" – but then just leave those assertions hanging, without any attempt at backing them up.

Below is a fine example: a piece on the impressive uptake of mini-blogging service Twitter in Japan from the Mainichi Daily in June. (I've been told that it first ran in the Japanese version of the paper, though I haven't been able to locate a Japanese original). It was picked up by news services everywhere; here's the full article, which you may have already seen: Read more

Remember one of the key rules of culturology: "Cultural differences" aren't something you sensibly take note of when and if they pop up. Rather, you simply know that they lurk everywhere unless shown otherwise (and, of course, you don't ever attempt to demonstrate that "otherwise" part). 

There's a new Astro Boy movie coming out, and the director is making the normal interview rounds. Here's the opening question from an interview on the AMC web site: 

Q: What were some of the difficulties in introducing a Japanese manga character to American audiences?

Note that the question isn't "Were there any difficulties?". No, the interviewer takes it as a given that there must have been multiple difficulties stemming in the fact that... uh, the source material and the movie director come from different nations. I guess. Anyway, I award the interviewer a perfect 10 for awesome culturologist form! (With an extra point for use of "manga" instead of "comics"!)

Director David Bowers, however, doesn't seem to be aware of the rules, at least in this interview. Look at his sensible response:

A: It was interesting -- it's such a rich story, and I think its themes are universal. I think American audiences are very used to superheroes, so it's not an enormous stretch for them. The only difficulty was having it be such a beloved character and having to decide what to retain and what to get rid of. 

Translation: "Uh, no difficulties on that front" Well, Bowers may have failed the culturology test (to his credit), but the above raises my expectations for the movie. Maybe I'll even see it some day.

Incidentally, I don't know how much media attention this film will get, but I have zero hope that coverage will completely avoid the inane meme of "Astro Boy demonstrates the special Japanese relationship with robots". Dear reader, should you spot that goofiness in print, send its perpetrator here for an education. 

It's time to visit the strange "Japan’s special relationship with robots" meme again. In a recent post, I wondered whether the meme was dying out; I haven’t heard much of it lately. (Then again, I don’t look for examples, or even spend much time in the sort of cultural-comparison media that would focus on the topic, so I'm not the best one to ask.)

Alas, though, the meme does live on, as demonstrated in a January 29 2009 episode of the Daily Show. Host Jon Stewart interviews Dr P. W. Singer, an authority on a range of topics related to modern warfare, on his new book Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century. Both the topic and the interview were fascinating, with an exchange at the end really catching my attention. Here it is, with my comments interspersed: Read more

If you haven't read Debunked: Japan's "Special Relationship with Robots", please do. All humility aside, that article is a good example of a culturology meme that persists despite overwhelming evidence contrary to its claim (and really no evidence supporting its claim). Read more

I see that Wired magazine has an all-things-Japan correspondent who, unfortunately, is a wee fond of the easy generalizations. Let's take a look.

In Meet Hiroyuki Nishimura, the Bad Boy of the Japanese Internet:

"Japan is a nation where the 3:17 train arrives every day at 3:17 — not 3:16 or 3:18..."

No, life is never that simple. Overall, train punctuality here is great. But in the heavy, big-city morning rushes, the daiya (schedule) goes all to hell. The electronic schedule signboard ceases to show trains' arrival time, simply displaying daiya ga midarete imasu (the schedule is off); trains come as fast as they can manage, not on schedule. It's not just Tokyo. I used to ride Joban line, more in the countryside; that line was habitually off-schedule in mornings, for no good reason that I could see. Read more

What's all this about robots?

Heard this one yet?

"While Westerners harbor cultural fears toward robots, Japanese culture fosters a special relationship with robots, welcoming them into society as equal partners."

Oy vey. It's time to send this goofy myth to the scrapyard, once and for all.

I've got a whole laundry list of culturology (that's "culture-ology") myths to slap down. Among those, you'd think that a myth as trivial as "special cultural view of robots" would have to wait a while to reach its turn in the list, but I'm moving it to the front of the line – both because it pops up so frequently, and because it's so blatantly wrong.

Here's the general form of this particular wackiness:

• Japan has a "love affair" with robots going back to 18th century wind-up dolls.
• Japan's Shinto religion fosters acceptance of "spirits" in objects, including robots; "Western" religion discourages or even prohibits viewing of objects as animate.
• Japanese popular culture has long portrayed robots as friendly helpers; "Western" popular culture portrays them as rebellious or violent machines.
• In Japan, people welcome robots; in "the West", people feel threatened by them and even fear robots "taking over".
• Proof of Japan's love of robots is the popular Tetsuwan Atom (a.k.a. Astro Boy), a friendly robotic hero. Proof of "the West's" fear of robots is Hollywood movies with robot villains, like The Terminator.

(I'm not joking about that last one; it's almost always the centerpiece of panegyrics over the "special relationship"!)

Here's the latest in a long, long, long line of offenders, which sparked me to finally sit down and write. Take a read if you're not up on the topic: Read more