Post on 13-Jul-2015
JapanizationNow and YesterdayAn Overview by www.schnellinterkulturell.de
JapanizationNow and YesterdayAn Overview by www.schnellinterkulturell.de
JapanizationNow and YesterdayAn Overview by www.schnellinterkulturell.de
So what is it we are talkingabout today?
A word
More precisely a concept
And how this concept…
…shifted within 60
years time
„Well what is a
concept then?“
Hi there! I am thefamous linguist
Ferdinand de Saussure. Let me explain the
concept of a… concept.
Language is made up of signs and every sign has two sides. Like a coin!
A sign looks like this…
Concept (Signified)
Sound-Image (Signifier)
Here is an example…
horse
The funny thing is that signs can change.
Letters or sounds are arbitrary, and not
connected to the concept.
The only requirement is that the difference in the
symbols is understood by the collective
consciousness.
Here is a word for you
Japanization, nounThe act or process of making s.th.
Japanese.
Speaking in terms of today’s topic. We could have
something like…
Japanization
??
??
But enough linguistics for now,
let‘s take a look at this…
Japan‘s GDP 1952 - 2009
0
100000
200000
300000
400000
500000
600000
Nominal GDP (billions of yen)
Real GDP (year 2000 yen)
1991: The Japaneseasset bubble bursts
Golden 60s: Japan risesfrom the ashes of WWII
2000s: The lost decade(s)
A Little Bit of History1950s• After WWII Japan created an economic miracle
A Little Bit of History1960s• Japan enters a Golden Age
A Little Bit of History1960s to 1970s• As result of Vietnam War grassroots movements
spread around the world (Hippies) not so in Japan
A Little Bit of History1980s to 1990s• 1980s to 1990s making of the Japanese bubble
A Little Bit of History1990s• 1991 the bubble bursts
A Little Bit of History1991 to 2000• Result of the real estate bubble…
SONYTOYOTA
A Little Bit of History1991 to 2000• Result of the real estate bubble…
LOSTDECADE
A Little Bit of History2001 to 2011• Lehman shock
• Big earthquake, Tsunami and Fukushima crisis
So what‘s the
connection to
„Japanization“?
The shift of the concept of
„Japanization“ over half a centuryis closely tied to Japan‘s economy
Japanization Yesterday
•Stage I aka The Golden Years
•Stage II aka Cool Japan
•Stage III aka The 2nd lost decade
Stage I
The Golden Years
The Toyota Way“Doing it the Japanese way”
In the West many people were
impressed by Japan’s
rise after WWII
They wrote books about
how to…
…do it the Japanese way (economically)…
…and how to JapanizeWestern management and
economy
Those were theGolden Years
(Stage I)
The Golden Yearslasted…
…into the late 1980s
Stage II
The bubble, economic stagnation
and cultural Japanization
After the real estate bubble burst...
…Japan dipped into a recession
Life-long employment was replaced
with
temporary jobs
Need a job!
Companies like S and
Toyota began facing stiff competition from other
Asian nations
Already high household
savings rosefurther, consumption
sank
…Japan’s economy began to stagnate
During the after bubble era
another shift of conceptoccured
Japanization through
Manga
…and Video Games
…from companies like
…became major exports of
J-Pop-culture
The term Japanizationshifts from…
…Japanese work ethos, production methods, etc., to…
…being and making something Japanese through
Pop-Culture
A fact also Japanese
scholars and even
politicians realized…
…and eventually built upon
COOLJapanis born
The concept of cool Japan was
coined in 2002 as an expression of Japan's emergent status as a
cultural superpower
Adopted by media, academia by
the Japanese government as
well as trade bodies
Japanization 2.0 is a shift towards
culture and soft power
Those were thepost-bubble years
(Stage II)
The most recent shift in
the concept of Japanizationoccured…
Stage III
Post-Lehman and Fukushima and
into Lost Decade II
The economic outlook…
0
100000
200000
300000
400000
500000
600000
Nominal GDP (billions of yen)
Real GDP (year 2000 yen)
1991: The Japaneseasset bubble bursts
Golden 60s: Japan risesfrom the ashes of WWII
2000s: The lost decade(s)
…has not changed very
much since the burst of the 1990s bubble
Japan’s GDP is still stagnating
Politically Japan is getting more
and more introverted and
caught in a never-ending stalemate
Financially Japanese
institutions have not been able to deal with a strengthening ￥
Most recently foreign mediainitiated a new shift in the
concept of Japanization
The Fear of Japanization!
Within a little more than half a century the meaning of
Japanization shifted from…
Stage I
Rising from the Ashes
“lets copy that!”
Stage II
Cultural Japanization
“It’s-a me! Super Mario!”
Stage III
The Fear of Japanization
“What can we do to avoid becoming like
Japan”
That’s it!
Thank you very much!
Need more info? Contact me!
Schnell InterkulturellConsulting | Training| Market Research
Marco Michael Damm
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