Readings on Japanese tech culture

[Guy Incognito]

Hey folks,

Thought there might be a few of you here who might be able help me with this;

I am looking for some reading material about Japanese tech culture...Of the scholarly type, written by authorities on the subject... and preferably more of the introductory or broad ranging nature.

Anyone?

[Kuang_Grade]

While I haven't gotten around to reading it myself (it has been sitting on my shelf since around 2001 or so), but if you are interested in older stuff (ie stuff from the 60s or so, still probably impacts the thinking of some of the larger companies), you might want to check out

We Were Burning: Japanese Entrepreneurs and the Forging of the Electronic Age by Bob Johnstone

[Guy Incognito]

Thanks Kuang, much appreciated... I'll check that out for some background info.

If anyone knows of more recent material please let me know. If anyone knows of an online Journal resource, or even some good, non-trashy, web sites that are J.tech culture related (say a 'wired' equiv in Japanese) that would be useful too...

Found a bunch of stuff today, but if anyone else has done research on the topic it would be great to hear from them... maybe PM me...

[Mulboyne]

"Japanese Cybercultures" was a good read but it was already badly dated in places when it came out five years ago and will be even more so now. Dr Mizuki Ito's book "Personal, Portable, Pedestrian: Mobile Phones in Japanese Life" is more recent but is still two years old. One small advantage to their short shelf-life is that second-hand copies can be quite cheap if you hunt around.

That's one problem with books on Japanese technology written in English. Publishers tend to favour well-researched, academic books and, inevitably, this research will rely on data which is backward looking. Let's say there is a book out this week in February 2008, the author will have started work on the book something like eighteen months ago in 2006 and will be using METI numbers and sales numbers from 2005 or older. Often such a book is a reworking of an academic thesis which means the original conclusions were based on even older data.

Some pop culture titles touch on technology like "Millennial Monsters: Japanese Toys and the Global Imagination", "Mechademia 1: Emerging Worlds of Anime and Manga" and "Robot Ghosts and Wired Dreams: Japanese Science Fiction from Origins to Anime". The tone of some of these can be a bit wearing since they can vary from fanboy excitement to academic gravitas even in the space of one paragraph which can work to the detriment of both.

A better read is "Inside the Robot Kingdom: Japan, Mechatronics and the Coming Robotopia". It is nearly twenty years old now so you won't find any current insights but Frederik Schodt is a good writer and I've seen copies in reasonable condition selling for less than $3 so you don't stand to lose too much.

In general, you can find out more about recent technology developments in Japan by scouring the web. There are plenty of bloggers who try to monitor new developments on the web from technological, social and legal angles and who often translate original Japanese material. You'll probably see a wealth of information but it will usually be lacking in perspective and analysis so you'll have to bring those along yourself.

[Guy Incognito]

Thanks Mulboyne... very helpful!