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Comment by whacked_new | Hacker News Reader

Summary:

Japan is back. ~ A brief guide to Modern Japanese History ~ Japan is back.

And right in the beginning I couldn't help wonder about this: "Sony and Canon, Honda and Panasonic, Fujitsu and Hitachi: throughout the world, Japanese brands are respected and profitable. By contrast, despite the best efforts of personal-computer giant Lenovo and white-goods producer Haier, China has yet to build a single brand that most Americans could name. Japan is back."

Sony and Canon, Honda and Panasonic, Fujitsu and Hitachi were all founded before 1950, while Lenovo is only 23 years old and bought out a chunk of IBM. Scratched my head through the rest of the article. Ok, after the history lesson, I'll take your word that Japan is back. But it seems more like China just got started. And the problems run much, much deeper than just the birth rate.

I was hoping to see something about Japanese startup clusters, haha.

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Submissions about startups or technology? What do you think this is? Startup News?

Well, the economies of faraway countries have indirect effects on the economies here, especially in this day and age where the wallets of countries are all tied to each other.

But for something more concrete, the Japanese mobile sector and robotics sector have more acceptance and dare-I-say-enthusiasm than American(or European--with the exception of the Nordic countries for mobile) ones. That's nothing new, and any scan through the headlines in the last 10 years will tell you that.

But of these two I mentioned, mobile phones would have the better potential of infiltrating US markets--especially those catering to pop culture. For anyone looking to do mobile phones, the Japanese have been pretty innovative with their mobile phone use. Currently, phones and phone networks are somewhat walled inside a country. But if those ever come down, Japan's mobile services are something to watch out for.

Threats most dangerous are the ones you're not paying attention to, and the article is merely mentioning that in a long winded way focused mostly on economics and politics.

When I say Threats, I mean threats to you as a startup, not threats to the country.

Haha, well, more startup relevant than, say, a history lesson by a guy who flaunts vocabulary like salaryman while glossing over modern history and comparing big Japanese corporations of zaibatsu background to China, who is still a new player but already plenty strong.

Yeah, the article is about Japan's comeback and not China, but if you want to talk about Japan's comeback it didn't just start with interest rates. There are a slew of other things people have been talking about and claiming to be the signal of Japan's comeback. Interest rates were discussed on magazines around half a year ago. And how in the world can you miss Toyota in that list? They're in the forefront of the comeback.

So I thought "make way for Japan" was about something other than the Japanese excelling in "traditional industries." Everybody knows what the Japanese are good at. Nothing surprises. The title led me to think Japan has grown startup clusters. That would be a big, big deal.

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