How advanced is Japan?

[Hanneesh]

I havn't been so i don't know but exactly how far ahead, technologically is Japan? I know there not space age but what have they got there that they don't have anywhere else? and i'm talking mobilephones, computers, hand held planner thingies, all that kind of stuff. Gadget wise in the home, workplace or in public.

Name as much stuff as you can but the problem is i live in the uk and that probably doesn't even have stuff thats available in the US.

 

[Mike Cash]

I havn't been so i don't know but exactly how far ahead, technologically is Japan? I know there not space age...

http://www.nasda.go.jp/index_e.html
http://www.aerospaceguide.net/worldspace/japanesespaceprogram.html

 

[KrazyKat]

Name as much stuff as you can but the problem is i live in the uk and that probably doesn't even have stuff thats available in the US.

But we have marmite.ﾂ And cricket!

(for the record I don't actually think much of cricket)

 

[nice gaijin]

I'm not sure what you're trying to say with that link, Mike... it hasn't been updated for three years!

 

[Mike Cash]

I'm not sure what you're trying to say with that link, Mike... it hasn't been updated for three years!

And Japan has disbanded its space program in the interim?

 

[nice gaijin]

I wouldn't think so, but it does seem odd that their website would go so long without another update, unless it moved elsewhere.

 

[RockLee]

It moved to this place : http://www.jaxa.jp/index_e.html

 

[nice gaijin]

thanks rock

 

[Hanneesh]

Hey mr Cash! your almost at 3000 posts!

 

[Mike Cash]

Hey mr Cash! your almost at 3000 posts!

Of which, using the most generous of standards, probably 30 were worth reading.

 

[Mrjones]

Talking about cell phones they are little bit more advanced than most other countries. Depends also where you live, big cities are advanced, but rural areas feel less advanced. Depends on point of view.

 

[Color red]

Well, in terms of the academic publication, japanese outperform in areas of robotics, and industrial engineering. They do also publish many articles in nature, and other prestigious scientific magazines.

 

[salarymanjapan]

An interesting "gadget" I've seen in Japan but not elsewhere so far are the cash registers with automatic counting of the money given by the customer. Convenient for the cashier and faster service too.

 

[Matthew Ota]

Japan is ahead of US in robotics. US is ahead of japan in aerospace.

It is all relative.

I think robotics are more important, though

Matthew Ota
Gardena, CA

 

[Glenski]

Rice cookers are commonplace here. Some are pretty sophisticated.

Cellular phones probably beat out any other country's, with their Internet capabilities, video and still picture photography, TV and radio functions, ability to pay with IR scans, a plethora of (annoying) phone chimes/songs, dictionaries, calculator functions, etc.

Car navigation systems are excellent.

It seems that practically every home has a fax machine built into the phone.

Futon warmers.

Gadgets to compress bedding for ease of storage in cramped apartments.

The omnipresent hot water pots.

Remote car starting devices.

VERY thin digital cameras with huge pixel capacity.

Digital video cameras.

Computer monitors with fantastic quality.

By 2010 all TV transmission will be digital, so TV manufacturers are gearing up for that. Flat screen TVs are widely popular.

Obviously, there are more items, but does such technology really make a country "advanced"? There are many cultural things that detract from that (and I'm not talking about their total failure in getting a rocket up).

 

[EmperorHirohito]

Car navigation systems are excellent.

Over here in the UK we do have Car navigation systems but not without the horror stories like these, in one case a Driver was 3 feet away from driving over the edge of a cliff due to the Sat Nav being slightly out of sync with the GPS signal.
In a very famous case which made our national News broadcasts recently, an Ambulance was directed on a 200 mile plus round trip by its Sat Nav when its driver was just trying to transfer a patient in the back from one hospital to another that was less than 30 miles away.
Think manufacturers just called it teething problems.

 

[Glenski]

Oh, I'm not saying Japan is the only country with car navigation. I just think that perhaps it may be more advanced here, and it's in practically every car recently made.

I forgot to add another little trinket, now that we're on the subject of cars... TV. Mind-boggling to see someone with a TV on the dashboard. Talk about an accident waiting to happen.

 

[EmperorHirohito]

Glenski you could well be correct about cars in Japan having Sat Nav already installed in them when you first buy them, over here its not a standard thing that comes with the car, you have to buy them seperatly and have them installed at cost.

And yes I have heard of cars with Video and TV screens in head rests and various other places, and I totally agree its asking for disaster to happen, all it takes is for the drivers attention to be distracted for a split second and thats it, you crash if you not paying 100% attention to the road in front of you.

 

[Chris K]

didnt see anything day to day living wise in tokyo that stood out as super advanced except maybe some super fancy arcade games, but then again i aint hit a british arcade in years. The inormation screens in the trains was a nice touch. Didnt venture outside of tokyo but I hear japanese trains dont grind to a standstill if theres the wrong kind of leaves on the track.

I think what we need to look at is not the gadgets we have but who actually makes them. We are living in a global economy so its no real suprise that we have all the latest hitech gear wherever we are in the world. But when your tricked up car is full of japanese gadgets I take that as an indicator that Japan is leading the way tech wise.

 

[Dogen Z]

I'd say cheap broadband access is more advanced in Tokyo than almost anywhere else. (But I can only compare with the U.S., mind you.) Also, mobile phones are more advanced than the U.S. I can remember when some U.S. reporters used to ridicule Japanese as being thumb tribes for their mobile phone use but now everyone in the U.S. is trying to catch up.

Eating healthy food such as tofu and fish is more advanced, but this is degrading due to global marketing (think McDonald's and Starbucks).

Perhaps material science is more advanced since a Japanese company is making the composite material for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Fashion may be advanced because many fashion houses come to Tokyo for inspiration.

Anime may be advanced because it seems to be popular worldwide.

Anyway, Japan is not a lagard. It is trying as hard as it can to be in the forefront. Don't you think that's a good thing? Civilization needs to keep trying to forge ahead. Whether its in first place, 2nd place, whatever is not the point. That's only for immature people who like bragging points. I hope you're not one of those.

 

[junjunforever]

Japan is very high-tech in consumer electronics, in that everybody has a nice cell-phones and television sets.

Their companies however, are lagging behind from what i know. For instance, the nearby local restaurant will not accept visa cards and the local manufacturing plant will not use computers to monitor its inventory. Although internet usage is common place, i believe the amount of internet users are still less than those of the developed countries, and internet commerce is less prominent than abroad.

 

[Petaris]

I think it just depends on what it is. Lots of things in Japan are high tech but they, like the US, still have an aging and basically antiquated telecoms system. I am not sure about there electrical grid but I would guess that it is in a similar position as the US grid, out dated and in need of a replacement. But these are issues that are hard to deal with because of the complexity of the upgrades. The planning and the massive implementation. Cell phones have more advanced functions in Japan but run on older network technology then in the US, they are moving to digital TV in 2010, and the US is (supposed to) in 2009. Some of these things don't have anything to do with the availability of the technology but the implementation of it.

As for your comment junjunforever, I am sure you didn't mean to indicate that Japan was not a developed country as there is a lot of proof to the opposite.

 

[Hiroyuki Nagashima]

A premise,
I do not know foreign high technology.
The advanced technology which I use usefully,
"Walking navigation" of a cellular phone
I use it and do a route search of various institutions.
And,
A transfer search of JR AND subway
Because a train and an airplane work precisely,
Even if I travel in Fukuoka from Tokyo,
I can move precisely by search time.
An airplane is often delayed by weather.
When I used the Sinkansen, an error is equal to or less than one minute
Other, "IH cooking heater" of a kitchen
Electric Water heating which used heat of air.
"ECO CUTE"
404
"Radio clock"
"electric assist bicycle"
Electricity does ASSIST of power to row a bicycle.
In Japan with many slopes, it is very convenient.
Performance of battery improves every year.
電動アシスト自転車 ASSIST MEGURO - 環七・柿の木坂陸橋交差点角

 

[Pepe]

I think there is one key feature of Japanese consumer society that allows it to be years ahead of the rest of the world - they are not only happy to adopt new (and unproven) technology, they crave it. Unlike most other nations consumers, they are eager to give some new wizz-bang doohickey a whirl, without demanding that a product go through the massive (and in my eyes unneccessarily drawn out) proving process until an innovation is so 'refined' that a better replacement has already been developed. I believe that this creates an atmosphere which is highly conducive to consumer technology development.

 

[Shibuyaexpat]

I think there is one key feature of Japanese consumer society that allows it to be years ahead of the rest of the world - they are not only happy to adopt new (and unproven) technology, they crave it. Unlike most other nations consumers, they are eager to give some new wizz-bang doohickey a whirl, without demanding that a product go through the massive (and in my eyes unneccessarily drawn out) proving process until an innovation is so 'refined' that a better replacement has already been developed. I believe that this creates an atmosphere which is highly conducive to consumer technology development.

Great point! And to this, I would also add that the Japanese are willing to pay the extra yen for newer technologies.