Paradigm Shift
I’ve been away from this post for a few weeks as I’ve simply been too busy working to be thinking about writing about it.
I’d like to take this belated opportunity to share with those of you not already wise to a most convenient word of the Japanese language. This word, like so many other Japanese words, can only roughly be translated, but is deeply rooted in local culture and may be viewed as a kind of requisite for anyone living here. The word is 「しょうがない」, or shou-ga-nai. This roughly translates into “such is life”, or “that’s life”. “Tough shit” may also suffice. The reason I would choose to highlight this particular word at this moment is selfish and simple: while others in Japan are enjoying a well-deserved Golden Week holiday, a string of national holidays which on lucky years amount to about a week off school and work, I continue to grind. World’s smallest violin, I hear it. It wouldn’t have seemed so crap had I known this was to be the case in advance, with time enough to be only briefly pissed off before recovering and changing plans. Alas, the day before my wildly anticipated week of camping in the wilderness far away from the ring of cellphones and alert of emails was to commence with a night hittin it hard with the lads, I was hit with two new projects due the first day back from break. After the briefing, I returned to my desk and hit my head with it before trudging home to get a good night’s rest. I have choices, or course — I could tell my Director what it is that I think he should do with the projects, or I could do what is necessary to keep the job I generally and genuinely enjoy. So, shouganai…
It would be easier to deal if I knew that others in the company would also be at their respective homes working on other projects, a sort of comradely bond. Problem is, I know that my colleagues are all enjoying a week off. Why would I be the only one in my entire office to be assigned two new projects the day before a holiday due the day back? I asked my Director straight up and the response was that both the projects required an alternative solution, a foreigner’s perspective. Now, I know this to be somewhat true as many of our clients have of late been asking for freshness, newness, a global feel to our production. Hence the foreigner. It is rather satisfying to be in such a position. But Golden Week? Shouganai…
The foreigner. I’ve been assigned projects in many languages other than English and Japanese, merely because I’m foreign and may have a better understanding of a foreign language than one of the Japanese staff, even if that foreign language is also foreign to me. Keeps things interesting, I finally get that chance to brush up my Spanish, French and Thai. There is a surprising lack of confidence in many Japanese who feel the outside world is just that — outside, far, far away, like different world entirely. In history, Japan has famously closed it’s island the size of the state of California off from the rest of the world in order to keep out foreign influence and allow the Japanese to be superbly Japanese. This has helped make it possible for the Japanese to hold on to a lot of traditional culture. The juxtaposition of old and new is often astounding and richly surprising, especially as so many other cultures of the world abandon tradition to lighten the load for the sprint toward globalisation. This isolation, however, has also created a very Nationalistic society, beyond the call of duty and on the brink of breaking point in a number of cases.
This time, however, Japan has realised that in order to keep up with the world, changes need to be made. While cultures, corporations and markets merge into giant melting pots, Japan is losing it’s stronghold on technological advancement which once made Sony and Toyota household names the world over. Toyota seems to be doing just fine. Nissan, on the other hand, was losing. Nissan couldn’t sell cars any more. Nissan’s answer: hire a foreign CEO. Carlos Ghosn has helped turn the company around with stylish new models, TV commercials with classic American soundtracks and a more international approach to the auto business. Ghosn has become a household name and local hero in Japan, as the foreigner who fixed a Japanese company. Sony, the company who produced among others the Walkman, the MD and helped put Japan on the map, lost the portable audio market to the iPod. The Sony Playstation, which once knocked Nintendo from the throne of game consoles, risks losing a large chunk of the market to Microsoft’s Xbox this year if the PSP and Playstation 3 fail to perform. Sony has been losing market share where it once made the rules. Sony’s answer: hire a foreign CEO. Howard Stringer will run Sony from his office in NYC, an attempt to direct things literally from outside Japan. Time magazine wrote an interesting article about Sony, Stringer and the current conditions of Japanese big business. Stringer was also pegged as one of the Time 100. All eyes are on him to make a considerable turnaround to the once golden child of Japanese business with his foreign perspective and outside influence and experience.
An interesting time for Japan. The decision has been made. The doors have been lodged open by a big brick called Globalisation. Young Japanese are embracing foreign ideas, keeping them in mind and creating something new. Old Japan, with it’s borders and big wooden doors, may be in for a surprise. Good timing for us foreigners. While I play my computer keyboard to the sound of the world’s smallest violin this week, I feel somewhat humble with the knowlegde that with my foreignness I may be in a position to help change the future of Japan — an open Japan.
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