The uniqueness of the Japanese Brain

A friend recently sent me an interview with Tadanobu Tsunoda, a best selling doctor whose books champion the idea that Japanese brains are unique among humans. For Dr. Tsunoda this is not a function of genetics but rather of linguistics, as he believes that learning Japanese at a young age programs the brain to be left brain centric. In books such as The Japanese brain: Uniqueness and university he discusses how this influences behavior and abilities.

Ontologically this theory is part of a concept called Nihonjinron, which postulates Japanese uniqueness based on several factors. According to Wikipedia these include:

• Uniqueness: Japan, its people, culture, ways of thinking, social behavior, language, etc., are unique
• This uniqueness of the Japanese is rooted in the distinctive characteristics of the Japanese race or ethnos
• Ahistorical essentialism: The peculiarities of the Japanese remain unaltered essentially throughout history, and indeed, it is often asserted, are derived from a prehistorical world
• Homogeneity: The Japanese are homogeneous as a people, race, or ethnic community
• Language: The Japanese language contains words and phrases that cannot be adequately translated into other languages, demonstrating the uniqueness of the Japanese race.

In interactions with other cultures this aspect of Japanese thought has been coupled with a second idea that Japan should share these unique insights with other peoples who are not privy to such perspectives. In the previous century Japan’s New Religions such as the Omooto movement and its leader Onisaburo Deguchi believed that Japan’s holy mission was to bring enlightenment to the world through its unique link with the divine.

In matters of culture, the expansionary phase of the first half of the century gave rise to a practice of supplanting local customs in lands occupied by Japan such as Korea, Formosa and Manchuria. Japanese arts, crafts and even names were forced onto the native population in what was described as magnanimous gesture. Interestingly this cultural imperialism continues to be heralded as proof of Japan’s benevolent intentions in occupying foreign lands, as a means of protecting Asian neighbors from the oppression of the West while civilizing and modernizing its inhabitants.

In the past decade Nihonjinron has moved into the field of economics according to Christopher Wood in his book “The End of Japan Inc.”. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Japanese economists travelled to Russia to propose unsuccessfully that the country adopt Japan’s “unique” statist model as a superior alternative to the failed ideas of communism and the expectedly failing ideas of Western Capitalism.

This same perspective appears in technology where Japan continues to unilaterally develop its iMode system despite its incompatibility with accepted global standards, due to a belief in its inherent superiority. The inability of Japanese cell phone manufacturers to break into other markets worldwide is difficult to understand from this view, considering how well they fit the needs of the domestic market.

In this vein I read a piece in the Times last month discussing Google Japan’s secondary status in the country behind Softbank Yahoo. Google Japan’s president considers the situation to be another teaching moment where Japan can impart to an otherwise successful foreign concern how Asian markets should be targeted.

Actually I agree with him though from another perspective. Japan’s inwardly focused culture will provide Google not with a blueprint for widespread adoption but rather a template for handling exceptionalism in other equally self referential environments.

We’re #3 … and we don’t care

Avis Rental Cars used to have a slogan capitalizing on its status as the second ranked company in its industry “We’re #2 and we try harder”. I was reminded of this commercial recently when I read that China will overtake Japan as the second largest economy in the world by next year. This is far sooner than predicted and created the expected celebration in China.

Surprisingly Japanese reacted to this news with apathy and resignation rather than the determination to succeed that characterized Japan’s rise from the destruction of WWII. Why do citizens of Japan no longer care about the loss of their hard won position in the global economy they way that Americans have been anguishing about the possibility of being dethroned in the future ?

One reason I think is the dismal view that Japanese young people have of the future and their low Subjective Wellbeing (SWB) according to studies done over the last ten years. Japanese adults though are also anxious about their future and are uncertain as to how to address the challenges Japan faces. Unlike in the post-war era when the problems were very clear and consisted of how to bring Japan back from total devastation, the country now looks to maintain its prosperous lifestyle in a changing world.

Ezra Vogel’s pioneering work in 1979 “Japan as #1” profiled the country as it entered its greatest period of economic success. That the book’s title now appears ironic and its basic theses such as the flexibility of Japanese workers to changing conditions is suspect shows how much the world has changed for Japan since the economic bubble burst in the early 90’s.

The election of Yukio Hatoyama and the Democratic Party was a vote for change in leadership but not a mandate from the people for the difficult decisions needed to resolve Japan’s economic stagnation. In fact this week the new administration backtracked on one of the signature reforms of Prime Minister Koizumi’s regime, the privatization of the Post Office. This much needed reform was championed by Koizumi’s grandfather when he was the head of the Post Office and finally undertaken in his grandson’s administration only to be revoked by the next reform government to take power.

This illustrates the depth of difficulty in moving the country and its people to address the challenges of a resurgent China and a multi-polar economic future.

My Fair Lady

The first Japanese vehicles to capture the imagination of many Americans were the Z cars from Nissan. Beginning with the 240Z in 1970, Nissan brought the performance of expensive European cars to Americans at an affordable price. The cars were a favorite of street racers due to their customizability and performance enhanceability. In contrast to English roadsters like the MGB and the Triumph TRs that had relatively small engines, the Z‘s were muscular sports cars with over 2 Liters of displacement and 140 hp.

Called the Fair Lady Z in Japan, from a Broadway visit by Nissan’s President for a performance of “My Fair Lady”, the cars went under the more prosaic name of Datsun Z here in America. There are varied discussion on the Web about why such names reflecting social trends and popular culture are acceptable in Japan but not in the US. Japanese car makers now seem to prefer vaguely Romanesque names that impart a sense of quality across time and space. Utilitarian vehicles like SUVs and trucks do not follow this convention and sports cars many times use combinations of letter and numbers like RX-8, NSX and MR2 to emphasize the technical nature of the product.

As Japanese companies no longer need to combat the stereotype of the boxy econocar prevalent in the 1970’s, it would be appropriate for them to showcase the Japanese-ness of their products with more creative names.

Considering that European companies such as Lotus name cars to reflect an ambiance like Elan and Europa, it would seem incumbent on Japanese manufacturers to follow suit with monikers based on their cultural landscape. As a public service I offer the following suggestions.

1. Haiku inspired sentiments such as the evanescence of life, the incipience of leaves changing color and the sweetness of melancholy.

2. Mythical and legendary figures such as the romantic hero Minamoto no Yoshitsune and the prototypical ninja Sarutobi Sasuke.

3. Place names famous for their beauty such as Nikko and Miyajima.

Alternate Energy in Japan

I recently wrote about Alternative Energy Vehicles (AEV) being developed by Japanese automobile manufacturers. Following the success of Toyota’s Prius hybrid, the goal is to create plug in vehicles that would be completely electric. If these vehicles become commonplace in Japan they’ll significantly reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emitted from automobiles.

Unfortunately this will also increase the demand for electricity generation from the country’s power plants which predominantly use fossil fuels. Without a concomitant move to alternate energy by Japan’s utilities, the centralization of power generation will not be the revolutionary change it appears to be.

So what is Japan doing now and what are the options for a country which imports 80% of it energy needs ? The first alternative is Nuclear Energy which Japan currently relies on for about a third of its energy needs. Concern about the safety of nuclear plants has increased the scrutiny of new projects but does not seem to be sufficient to prevent a ramp up of nuclear power plants. An English website by Japan’s nuclear industry can be found here.

image from ga3.org

Home to 10% if the world’s volcanoes, Japan could also look to Geothermal Energy to meet the increased demands of its transportation system. Geothermal plants have been in operation for decades but new construction has stalled due to concern over their impact in national parks and onsen communities where the sites are invariably located. According to this site for children Japan is generating

Hydroelectric Power is another natural alternative for a mountainous country like Japan. Unfortunately dams have already been built on almost every conceivable location due to their coincident benefit of providing public works money for rural municipalities and construction companies. The detrimental environmental impact of this effort is still being calculated and it cannot be scaled up to meet future energy needs.

Another potential solution is Solar Energy where Japan has had some success with photovoltaic cells. Unlike in the US where the availability of water for large solar plants is becoming an issue, Japan’s development of photovoltaic cells is only limited by its low energy efficiency and cost performance in comparison to other forms of large scale generation.

Wind Power has been utilized through on and offshore windmills but has a somewhat difficult problem to overcome in that the 10 utilities in Japan do not operate on a common grid. This means that excess power must be stored by the operator raising costs and making the ventures unprofitable to build on a larger scale. Here’s an article from last year that discusses the problem.

As would be expected in Japan, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry coordinates efforts in developing new technologies in this area through an organization called NEDO. They provide very detailed publication such as this one on Energy and Environment Technologies which discusses work on all forms of alternative energy including biomass and wave power.