Josh Blog #2

Since the last post, I’ve done some research by going to Akihabara and seeing the different technologies there and also seeing how people in general interact with technology and what differences exist between Japanese technology and western technology. What I’ve mostly found is that the Japanese people have a very different view of technology in that they are more accepting of new technology and focus more on what the technology can do rather than what it does do. This is a very important distinction to make because western culture focusses a lot on what technology does and is very conservative in terms of exploring what the technology can do. Japan however, being a collectivist society, tries to see what can be done in order to better the community and not just in terms of technology but with everything they do. For example, in the dorms here, there exists a collective understanding that everyone is required to help clean up and beyond that, the people are happy to help. This mindset doesn’t really exist in western society. Instead, western society is based more on everyone taking care of just their own space and anything beyond that is a curtesy but not something that people are generally happy about. How this comes back to technology is that finding new uses for technology and creating new technology is normally seen as something for the greater good because only rarely does it apply to individuals. Thus, Japan seems to be ahead in technology because of their collectivist ideal, but that still isn’t the whole story. On our trip to the Japan Open Air Folk Museum, I got to learn more about the ancient Japanese people including how their society was structured and what their values were. The museum focusses on small fishing villages during shogunate rule in Japan. Since the villages were so close to the ocean, the people had to get very inventive about the materials they used for houses. They also had to be inventive regarding winter because snow could bury the entire first floor of their houses. Some considerations were that the houses were made entirely of wood with interlocking joints because metal would rust and wear down quickly so close to the ocean. The houses’ roofs were also easily replaced and made of a material that was easy to find so that it wasn’t a big deal if a roof collapsed or got worn down. The villages also had a large house where the village master lived. The house was made super sturdy with a second-floor entrance so that the villagers could still get food and warmth during harsh winters when the entire village was buried under snow. This leads me to the conclusion that the Japanese people are inventive not just because they are a collectivist society focussed on bettering everyone, but also because historically it was a matter of survival to find creative solutions to problems and have an entire community come together as one.