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TV drama captures public angst at 'Made in Japan' decline

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By Linda Sieg

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Japan isn't special. Most of the major industrial countries have already gone thru and finished this monozukuri stage.

"Monozukuri" still exists in Swiss watches, Italian and British sports cars, French couture and American aerospace. But Japan is different from those countries in that it lacks the imagination or initiative to see itself as anything but a producer of consumer gadgets.

10 ( +17 / -7 )

"Monozukuri" still exists in Swiss watches, Italian and British sports cars, French couture and American aerospace. But Japan is different from those countries in that it lacks the imagination or initiative to see itself as anything but a producer of consumer gadgets.

Typical response for many are lead/swayed to believe that the term is reserved for "finished" product.

-9 ( +7 / -16 )

Completely agree with you Jeff. As a further example I recall growing up in the US in the 1970's and early 80's and seeing "Japan Bashing" events at local fairs: pay a dollar and get 3 or 4 swings with a sledgehammer on a Datsun or Toyota. Then we thought it was funny, now I see it as just sad. But Japan needs to get over it, and move on. Too bad they lack the backbone to break the grip of the bureaucrats and expand the service sector.

9 ( +12 / -3 )

I've always have been skeptical about Japan's decision to invest so heavily in China during the 80s and 90s. China has taken a lot of that capital, and know-how which often was required to open up factories in China, to create their own products.

Japan unfortunately helped create their own demise by sharing too much of their technological expertise with China (and S. Korea) for the use of low-priced labor.

-1 ( +6 / -7 )

“Inevitably, it all changed. But they still think they can recapture that.”

That is part of the problem, and one which is going to hurt Japan a lot in the near future. Why would you want to recapture a boom era that led directly to its own bust? The depreciation of the yen helps export in the very short term, but it doesn't help manufacturers that rely on import of raw materials to make products.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Say hello to Myanmar and Cambodia.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

but it doesn't help manufacturers that rely on import of raw materials to make products.

Actually it could, with the inflation that might actually occur the economy might kickstart again, but the Japanese psyche of saving more in times of crisis might go the other way. Govt needs to (a) means test social security or (b) run a campaign encouraging more consumption. And not by offering tax payer subsidies.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

All is not lost. Japan must continue to research and innovate because it's inevitable that the low end product manufacturing will migrate overseas. What's more important is protecting the high end manufacturing. Limiting the damage now has to become a priority.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Automation is really the key here and one product could bring a whole industry back. Look how the iPhone changed all phones and computers (tablets) and the OS. With the internet(s) you have a WorldWide market and quality will always be king.

There are few quality names out there in electronics now. That marketplace has been cheapened so much that it is starting to go the other way to quality. One great product with great consumer feedback can turn a company around.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

It's someone else's turn. No one can be on top forever and this happened to the U.S.' electronics sector in the 1980s. That doesn't mean Japan still can't make a significant impact by retooling industries and being more open to other business models. Need to adjust to the times and be more flexible.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Tony Ew

The term "Monozukuri" changed during the 90's where it was not about the finished product where it was outsourced for assembly like China and Korea. It's more about the "parts" that's inside the finished product that many small/medium sized Japanese companies have a monopoly.

http://www.kirari-tech.metro.tokyo.jp/miryoku_johtou/index.html

http://www.chusho.meti.go.jp/keiei/sapoin/monozukuri300sha/index.htm

Why do you think Korea has a trade deficit with Japan?

1 ( +5 / -4 )

SpeedFeb. 09, 2013 - 08:56AM JST I've always have been skeptical about Japan's decision to invest so heavily in China during the 80s and 90s. China has taken a lot of that capital, and know-how which often was required to open up factories in China, to create their own products. Japan unfortunately helped create their own demise by sharing too much of their technological expertise with China (and S. Korea) for the use of low-priced labor.

No. Japan didn't share their technological expertise, and if you understood how Japanese supply chain management works you'd understand why you're dead wrong. The Chinese and South Koreans didn't learn anything they couldn't learn by buying a finished car and reverse engineering it. This is what Hyundai did shamelessly, I have a friend who's a German Master Mechanic and I bought a Hyundai back in about 2000. On opening it up for a service he commented dryly, "Audi carburator, Mercedes engine block, Toyota distributor...", etc. He identified every single engine part as being based off (or a direct copy of) the design of another manufacturer.

The point I'm making is that Japan and other countries didn't share ANY technology. Their learning process was inevitable, and the outsourcing was unavoidable as the parent companies would have closed their doors if they'd tried to keep doing it the old way all in Japan.

The failure of Japanese companies is perfectly summed up in this TV show, the obsession with "Made in Japan", rather than evolving to fit a world that ISN'T the 1990's. Old managers, resistance to new ideas, and nationalism that blinds them to international cooperation. At the end of the day most of the "big names" in Japan will probably die off like the dinosaurs, but the smaller companies that have been cooperating internationally from the start because they were low on the Japanese supply chain and needed to look outside Japan... these will be the new big names.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

I will summarize the whole thing with one word: "Paradigm". Everything and everybody has its or his/her own paradigm. Today you have a successful ramen shop. Tomorrow somebody builds a bigger one across the street with more options in the menu, more freebies, big parking, etc. And next thing you know, you are bankrupt. Sorry, it is about originality and competitiveness. Something that either Japan never had, or if it did, it is waning away.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

1980s, a Japanese guy visiting a Southeast Asian country told his native friend he needed to find a phone booth for some emergency call. The friend pulled out a cellphone from his pocket, , said use this. After the call, the Japanese guy declared to the group: Amazing! It's just like your are carrying a phone booth on your back wherever you go!! That's because when everybody was using the new wonder toy, Japanese government banned it's importation, waiting for its scientists to come up with it's own. That's how Japan isolated itself from others, instead of joining the global manufacturing or development wagon and let itself naturally fit into its share of role.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

I miss made in Japan products.

They are always much better than any Chinese made and I wondered why I can rarely see anything now. :(

4 ( +7 / -3 )

Everything will be resolved during World War 3 which is rapidly approaching.Japan really made great leaps after WW2,The Korean War and the Vietnam War.Economies need wars.I would imagine the sides to be Japan,USA.India and NATO against China,Pakistan a united Korea and possibly Russia.All the signs are already there.

-2 ( +4 / -6 )

The dramatic angst is a bit late in coming. It should have started when Apple came out with the Mac in 1984, though creative fiction about it would have been hard, even if the Japanese knew what was coming off. Maybe the Internet would have been a better spur. It could have made for a tragicomic drama about the Japanese trying to set up their own Silicon Valley.

What we are seeing is terror in the face of the nature of things under capitalism. Industrial centers shift. Old industries die out. Look at steel. Japan steel was once superior to American steel because of advanced processes and machinery. But then those knew things grew old. We are seeing it in the process now. Japan is going through what the UK, the US and other countries have or are going through.

There are still vibrant industries left in Japan--essentially civilian industries.

China still cannot match Japan in quality control. When I see Made in Japan on a product I assume good quality. When I see Made in China I assume the opposite.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

When I see Made in Japan on a product I assume good quality. When I see Made in China I assume the opposite.

Postwar "Made in Japan" products were cheap and shoddy, much like Chinese products are viewed today. It took a few decades for Japan to improve upon quality, as it will take China to do the same.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Making key components for Boeing 787, a global business collaboration, is a good business model toward good direction--forget your grand NATIONAL AVIATION PRODUCTION STRATEGY, in that can't make your own airplane is a shame. (You don't even have decent airports for flying tests). Hope the lithium-ion battery setback does not hurt too much.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Japan isn't special. Most of the major industrial countries have already gone thru and finished this monozukuri stage.

Most of the other major industrial nations are from one Judaeo-Christian (Western) cultural sphere which Derrida described as being logocentric. That means that people from the West tend to think of themselves as being their self narrative (as Derrida puts it "hearing oneself speak"). People who identify with the ideas (or according to Derrida words) in their heads, have a great deal of affinity with word-products, such as software (except games) such as Windows, financial instruments such as all the great financial and insurance products, and legal or formal frameworks such as standards and laws. The Japanese on the other hand, with their animistic culture, identify strongly with the body as imagined and also with other imaginable things, such as manga, anime, cars, and all the monozukuri things. Lacan argues that people go through a "mirror stage" from identifying with image to identifying with their words and name but that movement is predicated on the presumed or simulated existence of an "Other" that objectifies and validates linguistics self expressions. As Mori Arimasa argued, this linguistic third person does not exist in Japan. I don't think that Japan is going to go thru this "stage." The Japanese, and other East Asians are going to remain better at making-things (monozukuri) and Westerns at making linguistic constructions for a while to come.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Frungy, you say Koreans 'shamelessly' copied from everybody, while strongly implying Japan didn't copy anything from anybody, since you claim Japan and the other (advanced)nations did not share any of their technology. Are you saying Japan invented the the automobile, the camera, the television, the telephone, the tape recorder, the rairoad, movies, computers, animation, rocketry, firearms, printing, writing with Chinese characters, oil painting, etc., etc. independently? Or do you perhaps mean that Japan only accepted what was freely given, rather than reverse-engineering existing products? Oh, my mistake -- no nation shared their technology. So could you please explain how Japan managed to adopt wholesale all this foreign technology, and how its methods differed from Korea's and China's? Thank you.

3 ( +9 / -6 )

timtak -- LOL. As an economist noted recently, and I'm paraphrasing here, Japan's economic "miracle", was never a mircle at all, and vastly over-stated. Too much emphahsis was given to a few, very successful companies, like in autos and electronics, while the vast majority of the economy remained woefully inefiicient and way behind the times. And now that other countries, like SK, China, etc, are beating Japan in areas like electronics, the country has stagnated badly. And, as this drama points out, there are no real leaders in the country to envision a way out, since most corporate leaders are average at best there by world standards. So while lovely and somewhat romantic, your theory is pure economic hogwash.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

After the call, the Japanese guy declared to the group: Amazing! It's just like your are carrying a phone booth on your back wherever you go!! That's because when everybody was using the new wonder toy, Japanese government banned it's importation, waiting for its scientists to come up with it's own.

I remember in the early 90s how Japan literally shut the door on Motorola & as you said then Japan scrambled & came up with phs etc & nothing from outside Japan worked in Japan & nothing from Japan worked outside Japan, was bloody awful!

Then there was little bits of progress on use in/out of Japan. And then Blackberries started happening & people cud bring them into Japan & use them & you COULDNT but them here, for ages...............J-Inc fought smartphones for a long time but thankfully they have finally prevailed.

Its sad watching Japan decline but it really only has itself to blame

3 ( +4 / -1 )

"monozukuri" can still come back to Japan, not in the field of Cheap low margin electronic products, but in the field of industrial technologies. Companies like Hitachi for instance are divesting TVs and building heavy duty factory and construction related products, which yield higher margins. Japan can go the way of the US and build more companies like GE and John Deere, or be stuck in a quagmire of electronic companies which are saturated with innovative tech companies like google and low cost competitors like Samsung.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

"Everything will be resolved during World War 3 which is rapidly approaching.Japan really made great leaps after WW2,The Korean War and the Vietnam War.Economies need wars.I would imagine the sides to be Japan,USA.India and NATO against China,Pakistan a united Korea and possibly Russia.All the signs are already there."

Too much video games for you i guess.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I don't see a lot of difference between Japan and Germany. Both countries firmly believe that if you don't build things than you have a shaky economy. The advantage Germany has is the Euro can't be easily manipulated like the Yen. Too bad for Germany they ended up with Greece in the Union.

The issue for these companies is they put billions of dollars into making factories for display panels. They didn't count on the Yen become so high that the Koreans could advance without really any technical or manufacturing breakthroughs. The 2000's investments aren't paying off and it's crushing them.

@slowguy2 Japan started by coping the US and Europe. Eventually they invested a lot in R&D and started pulling ahead in a number of areas. Both in terms of processing and actual technology. Together that meant quality components. To this day Motherboard makers still advertise "Japanese made Capacitors" on the box because of the quality problems that still exist with Chinese made caps.

@nihoncritic That's about right, and generally the same route the US went.

All that being said, just because they are Japanese doesn't mean they are automatically compedent. In my home state Fuji and Siemens both purchased well regarded software development companies to bolster US operations. Fuji ran theirs into the ground by trying to micromanage things from Japan eventually driving away most of the staff, while Siemens went all in with transferring many Europeans and ended up with a strong local presence.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

@GW, exactly. People have such short memories.

I recall a Japanese analyst or maybe govt official at the time justifying blocking Motorola's request for a frequency, saying something like, "The Japanese will never accept cell phones, because unlike foreigners they value deep, face to face communication in business and also among their friends." Ie, having quickly impersonal chats was somehow at odds with Japanese culture.

LOL. I wish I kept a scrapbook.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

I recall a Japanese analyst or maybe govt official at the time justifying blocking Motorola's request for a frequency, saying something like

Come on now. This had nothing to do with Japan's reluctance to cell phone usage. It was U.S. pushing Japan to built infrastructures to implement TACS as opposed HICAP that Japan already had so that Motorola could sell some cell phones that were about to go obsolete.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

japan's economic miracle wasn't so miraculous. japan benefited from a long period of extremely low yen rate? ¥360 = $1 the american occupation/forward staging pumped money into japan during the korean & vietnam wars and beyond during the cold war. the u.s. gave preferential treatment to japan for a number of years by allowing japan to dump products strategically? if i remember correctly you could buy a lot of "made in japan" items cheaper in america than japan. unfair subsidies, predatory pricing destroyed several u.s. industries. tvs & computer memory come to mind. balance of trade/current account? - structural barriers/no access to markets? the japanese joined the WTO and yet still to this day argue the position that the agreed rice quotas are unfair to japan and should be reduced!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

nigelboy, come on now, defending all those bloody nontarriff barriers and invent excuses for them will do Japan no good. They have been tried and tested and have been proved to lead only to the dead end of stagnation. Just like a person, clever manipulation of things usually end up no good.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

As a further example I recall growing up in the US in the 1970's and early 80's and seeing "Japan Bashing" events at local fairs: pay a dollar and get 3 or 4 swings with a sledgehammer on a Datsun or Toyota.

Hahahaha ! Typical entertainment for young US rednecks.

Since a very childhood I know that "Made in Japan" logo tells about High Quality and Perfect Reliability. "Made in China" logo is a symbol of Cheap Counterfeit. Plain and simple.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

nigelboy, come on now, defending all those bloody nontarriff barriers and invent excuses for them will do Japan no good. They have been tried and tested and have been proved to lead only to the dead end of stagnation. Just like a person, clever manipulation of things usually end up no good

When asked of this so-called non tariff barrier, I usually get a non response. When someone actually bites, it ends up where foreign companies are simply lazy and don't want put up costs but cry for a red carpet welcome like Motorola I alluded to above.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Welcome new tariff or nontariff barriers against China and Korea! Isn't Japan kind of too soft nowadays?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Quality speaks for itself. "Made in Japan" is still very highly regarded ( as being of the highest quality), and most likely will be for the unforeseeable future. Flashback to the 60’s, a “Made in Japan” stamp was often thought of as very low quality (and cheap in price). In fact, items from Japan were often stamped with the ambiguous “foreign”. At least from a consumer standpoint, Korean products have gone (and continue to go) through the same process. China is embarking on this (rise-in-quality) journey now. Even the American car industry, rising like a phoenix from the ashes of 2009, seem to making headway in reclaiming its once very strong reputation. We are living in very changing and exiting times. New powerhouse companies from countries all over the world, vying for the whimsical tastes of consumers (*many in emerging markets).

0 ( +1 / -1 )

@nigelboy

When asked of this so-called non tariff barrier, I usually get a non response.

Ironic. I gave you an extensive reply to the auto NTBs a few months back, including links of long lists of them, but from you I got a "non response" on that one.

You want Motorola? Well, it had partnered with a Japanese company IDO to build its infrasture in Japan. However, NTT, then owned by the Japanese gov't and motorola's direct competitor -- then pressured IDO to invest in it's own incompatible system. Afterward, IDO chose not to live up with its deal with Motorola, restricting Motorola's coverage in Kanto, effectively shutting it out of Japan... through subterfuge and double-dealing. Nice arrangement, eh?

Well, "Galapolos" Japan has since paid the price. It's xenophobic and insular behavior has in the end resulted in Apple, Samsung, Google and other non Japanese companies in dominating one of the world's most strategic industries.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Ironic. I gave you an extensive reply to the auto NTBs a few months back, including links of long lists of them, but from you I got a "non response" on that one.

I don't know what article you are referring to but if it's about Keiretsu and duty on engine types, I believe this was covered before. As for your poor example of GM "Project Driveway", domestic companies have gone through the same red tape with the regulators but it's just that GM cries foul when theirs don't get the "instant" approval. This is very typical within the U.S. auto manufacturers for they displayed their outlandish arrogance in the eco point system as well.

As for Motorola phones and their analog TACS system which cease to exist in 2000, it's again twisting Japan's arm to build communication infrastracture system that was about to go absolete so that they could cell a few phones. Biggest waste in human history if you ask me.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

"Made in China" equals "Poor Quality" that's how many American's feel about it. There are many American companies that moved manufacturing to China. Let's say you buy a Whirlpool washing machine. Yep. Made in China. After a year it breaks. It cost's $400 US dollars to fix, but you can buy a brand new one for $500. So what do you do? You throw away the old one and buy a new one. That's how environmentally "green" Americans are. "Made in Japan" today means "High Quality". You want to buy a power hand tool, most true professionals will buy Japan made Japanese tools. Unfortunately, Japan is screwing up by moving their manufacturing to China. Now consumer items made in China with Japanese names are all poor quality junk. Americans are starting to complain. Look at these articles.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505183_162-28552336-10391735/made-in-china--piece-of-junk/

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/227593/chinese-junk/john-derbyshire

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Made in Japan has lost it's value. I recognized early on the FUBU nature of Japan's products. For Us, By Us just doesn't apply outside Japan.

I'm always on the defense when I rail against Japan. So here's where it comes. There's a room in my company. This room is littered with dead electronics. Most of them broken in ways unimaginable. There must be 10 CD players in there collecting dust. All of them Japanese brands. Some of the damage is ridiculous. One CD player weighs something like a ton of bricks but it has a $5 plastic handle on it. The handles broke because of their own weight.

Instead of buying new ones from a different the company bought more and they all broke.

My SONY PS2 and PS3 both broke multiple times. Repairs cost more than a new unit.

My Japanese friends who buy Japanese laptops preloaded with custom company apps can't understand the countless requests and error messages they get before start up. I'm sorry but I can't understand all this stuff you have to wade through. My laptop from the U.S just starts up and I can do what I want in under 2 minutes.

In summary, Made in Japan is only for Japan. When it comes to product design Japan can't be innovative because the nation itself does not welcome opposing minds.

If everyone is thinking alike then no one is thinking at all. Thus the flaw is exposed that no matter which Japanese company it is, Japan is all homogeneous and therefore can't see beyond themselves and their designs.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

Again I see bloggers pointing the blame at China.

I have to ask this question. How on Earth does anyone think that Chinese manufacturers would pull out all the stops and make so-called "superior Japanes products for a nation that insults them at every turn.

IMO, I think you want Chinese to be your slaves while you enjoy the good life as King of the Hill.

Seriously, if I were in their shoes I'd do the same thing even if it isn't right.

You spit on me, insult me, try to take my land, arrest fishermen trying to bring home a bite to eat from God's green Earth and then ask me to fix the brakes on your car? WE are using those people.

Would any of you go to a restaurant, spit on the staff, throw your feet on the table then ask to be served? Common sense, people

If you want it done right you have to do it yourself. The fact is you can't. It's too expensive. Furthermore you don't have the raw materials needed.

Again, this is not directed at anybody other than to state the obvious. So the next time you find a Gremlin in your Japanese products you need to remember that you spit on a Mog'wai and worked them so hard that they could only eat after midnight.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

"Made in China" doesn't have to mean poor quality. The defination of a quality product is that it meets specifications. And specs are set by the buyers, like Walmart. China is perfectly capable of making high end quality products if someone want to pay for it. But Walmart wants mass volume low end quality products. Even my beloved Levis are now made in China, because Walmart refused to sell them unless they came from China.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

What high end product is made in China? I would like to know. What I like about Japanese products is that they are targeted toward the general consumer. They design and build quality products normally found in high end, high cost items and bring that down to an affordable price for the consumer. Sure Japan can manufacture cheap low quality stuff, but most of that throw away items have been exported to China. Even the Chinese want to buy Japanese products. For example Zojirushi has hot water dispensers and rice cookers made in both China and Japan. The Chinese will actually go to Japan to buy a real "Made in Japan" Zoijirushi product because they know for a fact that the ones produced in China will not last as long or break quickly.. So regardless of what people say, Made in Japan denotes quality and affordability for the consumer. Made in China usually does.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Made in China usually doesn't.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

peanut666Mar. 01, 2013 - 06:00AM JST What high end product is made in China? I would like to know. What I like about Japanese products is that they are targeted toward the general consumer.

I wouldn't take China lightly and it's not that simple. Just like high end U.S. products, most of the R&D is done in U.S., but manufacturered elsewhere. There is alot of foreign companies operating inside China including 20,000 Japanese companies. What is made in China? They manufacturer everything from foreign investments. Apple Iphone, Ipad, flat screen, HP high end printers, Apple computers, auto parts, kitchen cabinets, plumbing and electrical supplies. They are good quality if you know where to look.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

I wouldn't take China lightly and it's not that simple. Just like high end U.S. products, most of the R&D is done in U.S., but manufacturered elsewhere. There is alot of foreign companies operating inside China including 20,000 Japanese companies. What is made in China? They manufacturer everything from foreign investments. Apple Iphone, Ipad, flat screen, HP high end printers, Apple computers, auto parts, kitchen cabinets, plumbing and electrical supplies. They are good quality if you know where to look.

i.e. Assemblers. I think we get that. But as it develops and the wage increase continue, it becomes unattractive for foreign firms hence reflectd in the FDI decrease in China.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

nigelboy Mar. 01, 2013 - 06:58AM JST But as it develops and the wage increase continue, it becomes unattractive for foreign firms hence reflectd in the FDI decrease in China.

Unattractive? Sure it will slow down, but by the year 2030, China will surpass U.S. as the largest GDP in world. No other country can do this.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

World largest GDP? Only because of population size. When foreign firms start to leave due to poor quality control and rising labor costs, China's economy will start to stagnate.

Apple products? Sure there's Foxconn. I don't consider the island nation of Taiwan to be representative of mainland China and that's where Foxconn is headquartered. I'm not sure about this, but I bet the actual manufacturing of finished components are done on Taiwan and most "manufacturing" assembly is done on the mainland to reduce labor costs. Foxconn has already expanded into India, which is a good logical move.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Name one "Made in China" product of high quality that is globally popular. Chinese origin - designed, fabricated, and assembled. There should be something. After all there's over a billion people there.

Oh I know... Shaolin Kung Fu or Wushu.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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