There are many interesting aspects about the Japanese arena.
One of the most unforgiving is that users do not understand that their phones are connected to vast networks or that navigation system in their car is powered by a computer with memory, et cetera.
When I first moved to Japan I asked normal people on the street to tell me what they found interesting about their phones -- I was shocked to learn that many Japanese women and men told me that they believed the popular website Mixi was just a screen (画面) that displays when the press buttons! (In Japanese: ミクシーはあたしの携帯に入っている画面だよ！とよく言われた)
One of the other aspects of software vs. hardware is that hardware is relatively easier to debug than most software environments. You will find that easy to debug environments like consoles have many software developers. This is important because the Japanese are very risk-adverse. Making claims on others and keeping everyone/everything in check is a big part of life in Japan.
Finally, programming is considered more of an engineer's profession than a creative profession. Engineering is seen as directly applying nature's laws into practice and as such, the approach is one of: "if you want to say build a bridge then you may choose from these designs that we already know are best"
Programming in Japan follows this cookie-cutter model and although there are very bright, creative engineers and programmers in Japan, the schooling system is very rigid.
I totally agree with you. Another thing reading your comment is that lots of people don't own computers and only use the Internet through phones. This really screws kids out of a chance to mess around with computers. I know a lot people still get their first computers in college, especially women.
That was largely true in the West also until very very recently. One thing that's problematic is that although more people have access to a computer these days, they are treated as access points for MySpace, Facebook, Word and games more than anything else.
When I was growing up a computer was something you programmed just like a television set was something you watched. This was a psychological result of the fact that most machines of the day (including PCs) booted into BASIC if deprived of alternatives. When schools taught computer skills they included some elementary programming (usually in BASIC) in the curriculum. Not so today when majoring in Word and Excel is a perfectly viable academic career path.
So we're screwing our kids out of a chance to mess around with computers also and while the number of people actually using PCs has gone up, they're psychologically more distant from programming than ever it seems, and I'm treated more and more like a superintelligent space alien when I mention I'm a programmer.
One of the most unforgiving is that users do not understand that their phones are connected to vast networks or that navigation system in their car is powered by a computer with memory, et cetera.
When I first moved to Japan I asked normal people on the street to tell me what they found interesting about their phones -- I was shocked to learn that many Japanese women and men told me that they believed the popular website Mixi was just a screen (画面) that displays when the press buttons! (In Japanese: ミクシーはあたしの携帯に入っている画面だよ！とよく言われた)
One of the other aspects of software vs. hardware is that hardware is relatively easier to debug than most software environments. You will find that easy to debug environments like consoles have many software developers. This is important because the Japanese are very risk-adverse. Making claims on others and keeping everyone/everything in check is a big part of life in Japan.
Finally, programming is considered more of an engineer's profession than a creative profession. Engineering is seen as directly applying nature's laws into practice and as such, the approach is one of: "if you want to say build a bridge then you may choose from these designs that we already know are best"
Programming in Japan follows this cookie-cutter model and although there are very bright, creative engineers and programmers in Japan, the schooling system is very rigid.