Returning to M. Dersot's letter, in which he touches on three different issues: (1) when products are released in Japan and overseas; (2) the (in)effective use of (computer) products in Japan; and (3) the questionable effectiveness of some of these products. Only the first issue directly relates to my article; the others deal with related issues.

Starting with the issue of the dates of release. He has mentioned several examples that I indicated when I said "..., usually, at least six months ahead ..." While not wanting to detract from his observation, I must point out that this is a fairly complicated issue governed by, among other factors, market potentials (as he points out), patent potential, MITI dictates, production schedules, product costs and company strategies. For example, Japanese companies often make a push into foreign markets to corner the market, knowing that the home market is protected. On the other hand, products are often tested out on the home market before being released to the outside world. Sony's Walkman is a well documented case in point.

Coming to the specific examples that were raised. I confess that I am not, at this point in time, up on the details. However, my interest piqued, I did look into the Sharp/Apple issue. It appears that Sharp is running Apple's [English] OS on Sharp hardware [Nikkei Byte, September 1993, pp 96-98]. The product is, as pointed out by M. Dersot, being marketed overseas. The stated reasons for not selling the Japanese version are: (1) OCR software for the complex Kanji characters hasn't yet been developed; and (2) Wireless transmission of Japanese characters is still being worked on. There is, of course, the unstated reason that unless a Japanese OS is in place, the product is absolutely not worth releasing on the home market! (I'd guess that less than 1% of the Japanese would use a machine running only an English OS.) Given that the developing a Japanese environment will take longer, I am not surprised at the marketing decision. It takes more work to handle the special needs of the Japanese market. In addition to this angle, there is also the issue that Japanese product literature is largely inaccessible to foreigners. For example, I had to get a colleague to track down this Nikkei Byte article and translate it for me. As such, I find it easier to track information in English, from the US, than in Japanese. Perhaps the reader also has similar limitations?

Moving on to the (poor) use of computers in Japan. This is a fairly well known point. The failure of MITI's highly touted national project on the next generation of computers and software only highlights it. Another example, closer home, relates to the use of modems to work from home. I am probably one of only a hand full of folks in the government research labs in Tsukuba Science City who regularly dials into work from home. This in a city which is home to several thousand researchers working on Japan's advanced projects! We've discussed this in the past with my colleagues. Our understanding is that it is due to social and practical reasons. Social in that one is expected to be at work, to be working. (If one is at home, one must be bumming off. But if one is playing computer games at work, or socializing with ones colleagues, one is said to be working!) Practical in that there is not enough space at home to permanently set up a computer and a work desk in a corner from which one can peacefully work. Furthermore, the Japanese price structure is such that computer products (and most other products) cost much more in Japan than the do outside. Given that, for example, fax machines are all over the work place, and that computers cost more, it is impractical to consider buying fax modems and stuff. Unless one understands life from the Japanese perspective, many things appear to be warped in Japan!

As I had alluded to in my article (when talking about efficiency), there are many myths about Japan that have vaporized in our minds. Mr. Dersot, rightly in my opinion, points out one such myth when he comments on the poor performance of many Japanese products/technologies. We were also surprised to discover this. And that people do not complain if it performs poorly. We believe that this has to do with a national brainwashing that is deep seated and with the cultural trait of "accommodating" others. The first has resulted in a nation where the nation is wealthy, but the people are not as wealthy [I plan to discuss this aspect at a later date - Prasad]. The second implies that one does not kick up a ruckus if one is displeased with something.

If I am to extrapolate, M. Dersot will soon advocate using coal to do ones fish! After all, wasn't that the predecessor to gas? More seriously, upon receipt of this letter, I did an admittedly unscientific survey of my colleagues. The results indicate that preferences are personal. For example, they seem to be quite happy with rice cooked in fuzzy cookers. They also admitted that they weren't sure of clear improvements in the performance of fuzzy washing machines. But I was informed that "hitting one button" is far simpler than figuring out several buttons. In that case, has not the purpose (of making it easier to use these machines) been served? I leave that to the readers to decide. I'd like to point out that its not so apparent that these fuzzies are on their way out -- I understand that "neuro-fuzzies" have begun to show up. We might not find a quality difference. But the folks here do like to tinker around. And bells and whistles are definitely sought after.

Mr. Dersot's comments on Japanese washers and dryers were right on the money. The Japanese machines are bad. We do not use our dryer, as it barely dries our clothes!

Finally, I'd like to conclude saying that I still stand by my basic observation that the Japanese have put more technology, albeit simple technology, into daily life than I have seen in the US. And this, I feel, is simply because folks here like their gadgets.

Teletimes is available by FTP from sumex-aim.stanford.edu in the info- mac/per directory. I would like to find a relatively large FTP site for DOS and Windows users where I could archive the text version. If anyone reading this knows of a site, please let us know.