Japanese Innovation Research Articles

Japanese Financial Innovation

The American financial innovations occurred under the direct impetus of inflation and the accompanying high interest rates, but we should not ignore the existence of special characteristics of American financial institutions behind these innovations.

Japanese innovation in mechatronics technology

Japanese innovation in mechatronics technology

The technology innovation system in Japan

In recent years, many pieces of the Japanese puzzle have been identified and described as lessons for Western businessmen to learn. But the pieces are part of an interlocking system and to understand the role of each piece, it's necessary to see the whole. In the Japanese technology innovation system there are many parts—companies, universities, research institutes, government—and the way they are put together is the subject of this article by Joseph MacDowall. He points out some very unique characteristics about the way the system works. But he also points out some characteristics that are very much Western in origin. This article is based on the personal observations of the author, made during indepth discussions he held during site visits to over 20 industrial plants or to their research and development laboratories, 25 government research institutes, and at least eight Japanese universities. During the four years he lived in Japan, Mr. MacDowall participated in discussions on the subjects of research, technology, work life, and Japanese culture.

Solid state: Rethinking the 256-kb RAM: Creativity in the factory may be more important than innovation in product design

Discusses the future market for 256 kb RAMs and decides that American creativity in the factory may be more important than Japanese innovation in product design.

Educational Remnants of Military Occupation: The Japanese in Indonesia

Three months after Pearl Harbor was bombed, the Japanese forces in Southeast Asia culminated their assault on the Netherlands Indies by forcing the surrender of the Dutch army center in West Java. This event on March 9, 1942, closed an almost continuous 350-year period of Dutch domination in the archipelago and opened a three-and-one-half-year era of Japanese military occupation. During this 1942-1945 era, Japanese authorities wrought a variety of significant changes in the islands' educational system. When World War II ended, Japan's forces returned to their homeland, but many of their influences lingered on. Today, more than two decades since the Japanese retired from Indonesia, we can assess the long-term effect on education of wartime occupation and can estimate why certain Japanese educational innovations have since disappeared from the islands' schools whereas others remain intact. Our discussion is divided into three parts. The first describes changes effected by the Japanese between 1942 and mid-1945. The second briefly outlines some major socio-political events that occurred between 1945 and 1965. The third presents the 1965 remnants of the wartime educational innovations and proposes four factors which most significantly determine the long-term fate of educational changes made during short-term military occupation.