Pal Joi

Hadn't been reading Joi Ito's great blog enough lately but took time to do it yesterday and hit on a post I was particularly intriqued by --- about the Japanese hostage situation and their notions of apology and their social default parameter to put the collective before the individual.

The part that got me going, is this leap from Joi's description of the Japanese's natural self-effacing posture as a society and what this means for them in terms of being entrepreneurs. Joi suggests it's not a good thing. I agree.

"An important psychological element is that even though we are individuals, we often represent the group. I have something like 16 or so generations before me on my gravestone and I often feel like a mere blip in the history of my family. Taking risk or tainting my family name is not something that I can freely do without feeling the guilt and responsibility to my ancestors.

It's also interesting to note that most Japanese children's cartoons have story lines where they are a team. Often one of the members get in trouble or drop out of the group and the whole show is about how the group tries to help the drop out get back in tune with the group. It's usually the group saving the single "problem" member. On the other hand, many American cartoons are super-heros who are independent and save the world through taking risk and being different. I know I'm generalizing here, but people who watch a lot of Japanese TV will understand what I'm saying I think.

...

Although I understand what the NYT article is saying and I don't necessarily agree with the way the hostages are being treated and picked on right now, I think that lack of initial apologies and the feeling of Japanese to heroics in Japan is behind the reaction. Having said that, I think this attitude is what is hampering Japan's entrepreneurism as well as Japan's ability to participate as a leader in global affairs. It's a fairly deeply rooted cultural theme that won't change very easily though."

[BTW, Joi is pronounced Joey, just for the record.]