Samurai go soft
“A SAMURAI would never write software!” barked a senior executive at one of Japan's biggest electronics firms, as drinks flowed at a dinner party. His view is widely held in Japan. Monozukuri (making things) is macho. From sword-forging in feudal times to machines and microchips today, real men toil tirelessly to make things you can see. Services are for sissies.
The people formerly known as the audience
The people formerly known as the audienceSocial-media technologies allow a far wider range of people to take part in gathering, filtering and distributing news THE ANNOUNCEMENT THAT Barack Obama would shortly appear on television came late in the evening on May 1st. “POTUS to address the nation tonight at 10.30pm eastern time,” tweeted Dan Pfeiffer, communications director at the White House. This
Reinventing the newspaper
Reinventing the newspaperNew business models are proliferating as news organisations search for novel sources of revenue ON THE MORNING of September 3rd 1833 a new kind of newspaper went on sale on the streets of New York. With its mix of crime reports and human-interest stories, the Sun was intended to appeal to a mass audience, and its publisher, Benjamin Day, made it cheap: at one penny, it was
A little local difficulty
A little local difficultyAmerican newspapers are in trouble, but in emerging markets the news industry is roaring ahead “WHO KILLED THE newspaper?” That was the question posed on the cover of The Economist in 2006. It was, perhaps, a little premature. But there is no doubt that newspapers in many parts of the world are having a hard time. In America, where they are in the deepest trouble, the pers
Bulletins from the future
Bulletins from the futureThe internet has turned the news industry upside down, making it more participatory, social, diverse and partisan—as it used to be before the arrival of the mass media, says Tom Standage EVEN IF YOU are not a news junkie, you will have noticed that your daily news has undergone a transformation. Television newscasts now include amateur videos, taken from video-sharing webs
Back to the coffee house
Back to the coffee houseThe internet is taking the news industry back to the conversational culture of the era before mass media THREE hundred years ago news travelled by word of mouth or letter, and circulated in taverns and coffee houses in the form of pamphlets, newsletters and broadsides. “The Coffee houses particularly are very commodious for a free Conversation, and for reading at an easie R
1100100 and counting
1100100 and countingThe secret of Big Blue’s longevity has less to do with machines or software than with strong customer relationships THE long passage that connects the two wings of IBM's headquarters in Armonk gives a new meaning to the expression “a walk down memory lane”. From punch cards to magnetic tapes and disk drives to memory chips, every means of storing information since the advent of
Who needs leaders?
Who needs leaders?The aftermath of the March 11th disasters shows that Japan’s strengths lie outside Tokyo, in its regions THE earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident that struck Japan three months ago have revealed something important about the country: a seam of strength and composure in the bedrock of society that has surprised even the Japanese themselves. Not only has this resilience helped
The test of time
The test of timeWhich of today’s technology giants might still be standing tall a century after their founding? IT IS not, by any means, the world's oldest company. There are Japanese hotels dating back to the 8th century, German breweries that hail from the 11th and an Italian bank with roots in the 15th. What is unusual about IBM, which celebrates its 100th birthday next week, is that it has bee
Welcome, buyjin
UNDETERRED by the Japanese earthquake and tsunami in March, foreign investors have kept the faith. They have now been net buyers of Japanese equities for seven consecutive months, the longest streak since records began in the 1980s, ploughing in around $60 billion while domestic institutional investors have been net sellers of some $25 billion. The purchases have propped up a market that had plumm
No one listens to Jürgen Grossmann
No one listens to Jürgen GrossmannThe lone stand of a power boss against his country’s nuclear panic GERMAN tree-huggers have always hated nuclear power. The accident at an earthquake-stricken Japanese nuclear plant in March added to Germany's nukeophobia. The government ordered a three-month moratorium for the nation's seven oldest nuclear plants while two commissions, one on safety, the other on
Another lost year
Another lost yearSome unspoken truths about Japan’s security relationship with America LESS than a month after a new government took office in Japan in September 2009, American officials talked their Japanese counterparts through a longstanding frustration: stalled plans to build a new airbase for American marines on the southern island of Okinawa. According to confidential minutes of the meeting
Casting about for a future
Casting about for a futureThe Japanese economy is recovering faster than expected from disaster. Can broader reform come quickly too? ON MAY 13th Yoshihiro Murai, governor of the tsunami-stricken prefecture of Miyagi, received an angry petition from the bosses of a co-operative that has long controlled some of the richest fishing grounds off the coast of north-eastern Japan. Their slogan: “We won'
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Flat expectations
Dotting the eyes
Middle-aged blues
Bright lights, world city
Alpha geek
An image of the future
On a mission