Japan Dreaming - worth reading and even watching

[David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

From: Statsuno () aol com


To EFJ members,


Here's the background to "Japan Dreaming," which is based on my
nonfiction book, Technopolis Strategy (Prentice-Hall, 1986) and
Created in Japan (HarperCollins, 1990).  The documentary was
directed by Sue Clayton of East West Productions, 50 Endymion Rd., London N4
lEQ (tel: 44-71-341-9905) and funded by Central
Independent Television plc of London (fax: 44-71-580-7780). It
was filmed in Japan during January 1991 and aired in the U.K. on June 17-18,
1991.


The thesis of "Japan Dreaming" is that, despite western stereotypes,
Japanese individuals do indeed have personal dreams and visions about
their lives and the future.  My book explored Japan's search for new methods
and philosophies to stimulate creativity in scientific and
technological research.  It's a difficult challenge, not unlike Japan's
search for quality during the 1950s and 1960s.  However, I discovered
that Japanese companies are experimenting with over 100 creativity
techniques, half western and half Japanese, such as Omron's Omuro
Technology Festival and Honda's brainstorming contests.  My obser-
vations were mostly anecdotal since I was busy working as a senior
semiconductor analyst at Dataquest during the 1980s.  A more
systematic analysis might prove insightful (either as a Ph.D thesis
or book).


To conduct research, I guided Sue Clayton and Laurie Sparnham (who shot The
Last Emperor photos) around Japan to look first-hand at areas
where Japanese were experimenting, such as Miyazaki's linear motor
car test track, Oita's Marinopolis, Kumamoto's Technopolis, Nagasaki's
Holland Village video simulator, Ube's Inland Sea pollution simulation
pond, Tokyo's underground Alice City, Taisei's 3-D CAD architectural
design labs, and other interesting places.  We found everyone very
helpful and proud to show off their technologies.  Besides the rather
visionary nature of some of the technologies, what really struck us was the
optimistic and hopeful feeling about their research -- a big contrast from
the U.S. where many citizens instinctively distrust scientists and
researchers, perhaps because of the heavy military orientation.


Perhaps the biggest realization for me, as a Methodist, was that
Japanese researchers and managers constantly used Buddhist and
eastern philosophies to explain their approach to research.  For
example, at Mazda, they used a famous painting to describe their efforts to
sensory engineering, saying:  "Pointing at the moon is not the moon."
One must experience the object, not analyze or observe it.  At Omron,
the Kyoto Life Science lab manager said:  "Biotechnology research and
mechatronics are one at the same if you take a Zen (wholistic)
perspective.  They both involve developing control systems -- one
biological, one mechanical."


As a westerner, I've always been trained to believe that organization
and structure determine research processes.  But one Japanese
manager said:  "This is a Buddhist nation. If you do not understand
Buddhism, you will not understand what we are doing or talking about."
At Stanford and Harvard business schools, culture is always taught as
an unexplained residual factor, despite the interest in corporate
cultures.  Many Japanese managers I met explained their research
or business philosophies from a personal philosophical perspective.
In fact, many managers said I had been the first western to ever
ask them what they believed and how it related to their work.  In
their minds, western businesspeople seem shallow, short term-oriented people
who do not value non-western philosophies.  Thus, they never
ask and never learn.  That's what Akio Morita meant when he said
in "Made in Japan":  "Many Americans believe the American way is the
only way."


The other area that personally fascinates me is the underlying dreams
and hopes that are cherished by average Japanese people, not the
celebrities or politicians.  To really understand the soul and future of
a nation, you have to understand the hopes of a child, a mother, and
a salaryman.  Otherwise, all the technology in the world lacks
perspective and meaning.  Hopefully, "Japan Dreaming" will open the
debate to this type of soul-searching and mutual discussion between
Japanese and foreigners.


Sheridan Tatsuno, industry liaison (until Oct. 5)
Stanford U.S.-Japan Technology Management Center
  and
president, Dreamscape Productions, Aptos, California
    Email:  statsuno () aol com