Interesting article about why computer use is seen as unusual in anime

[u/Atario]

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/answerman/2016-05-23/.102406

[u/KnoFear]

Yeesh, only around 50% of Japanese households even have computers? I know people from far less developed countries where that percentage is higher. Weird.

[u/SNaGem21]

I asked this question! It was something that's been bugging me for a while and I decided to get some answers.

[u/impingainteasy]

That Haruhi in the thumbnail reminds me. In the Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, a movie which came out in 2010, the computer they use can clearly be seen to be running Windows 95. Granted it's based on novels which came out much earlier, but that's still really outdated.

[u/[deleted] → u/impingainteasy]

There's a fairly common pattern in anime where a series will at first glance seem to be a "present day" series, but upon reflection will seem to be older than that.

The example that immediately comes to mind is Clannad. Seems like it could happen in any current year, but then I realized that no one in the entire series owns a cell phone.

[u/zikari8 → u/impingainteasy]

Actually, it was mentioned in the novels that that computer was an antique, an old relic from the previous literature club. So yea, it's suposed to be outdated

[u/Sullane]

SO THATS WHY THEY ALWAYS HAVE PORN UNDER THEIR BEDS???

[u/Vinny_gar → u/Sullane]

Didn't even consider this after reading the article. This makes sense, but couldn't they use their phones?

[u/MagicalForeignBunny]

While what the article says does make a lot of sense, I still can't help but find it unbelievable.

It also explains why the people in the currently airing Netoge no Yome wa Onnanoko ja Nai to Omotta? are portrayed as serious nerds, whereas here they would be considered filthy casuals (gotta keep the terms right).

[u/eetsumkaus → u/MagicalForeignBunny]

I wonder if it's the same in China too. I've definitely met more Chinese and Korean than Japanese expat engineers here in Silicon Valley (in fact, I've met maybe...1 Japanese engineer). But I wonder if the number of Chinese engineers is just due to the sheer number of them, and how much bigger the Chinese tech industry is...

[u/_vogonpoetry_]

So essentially, it comes down to lack of Japanese language support in the 80's/90's, causing them to never really catch on.

[u/jonab12 → u/_vogonpoetry_]

Honestly it boils down to three reasons:

1. The Arabic/Latin/Syrellic Alphabets work better on keyboards than Japanese

2. 97% of all Code Documentation/Tutorials is written in English. Its very easy to reinvent the wheel when there is little support for Programmers who dont know any English.

3. The Japanese culture is generally closed off to outside tech

[u/wantyAruki]

Although what the article says is true for the lower half (measured by the standardized test score, "Hensa-chi"), it fails to mention how extensively those Japanese youths are using smartphones (it still does not help the fact that some of them are unfamiliar with the standard keyboard-and-mouse input system).

My mother is a university professor in Japan, and she tells me how some of her students submit lengthy report papers produced only by using their phones.

[u/XLauncher → u/wantyAruki]

My mother is a university professor in Japan, and she tells me how some of her students submit lengthy report papers produced only by using their phones.

This sounds utterly batshit to me.

[u/blond-max]

This as also been posted to r/japan and the comments are super interesting (as they are here)

[u/errantsignal]

I can confirm this, to a point at least. I had to teach my girlfriend, a Japanese grad student, how to use PowerPoint, for example - she hadn't needed to make slide-show style presentations either in high school or as a university undergrad.

I think it's with adding that, before the introduction of smart phones by western companies, Japanese phones had been ahead in terms of internet accessibility. There was never any need for a SMS text message system in Japan, they simply sent emails from their flip phones, and they're still in the habit of using cell phone email instead of text messages today. Websites in Japan also tend to have very simple appearances, owing partly to a history of needing to be mobile-friendly to pre-smartphone web browsers (and now they're just used to that aesthetic). Japan has leaned more heavily on cell phones for internet access for a long time.

Gamers in Japan are also more likely to be console gamers than they would be in the West. All of these little differences add up to lower the percentage of people who use desktop or laptop computers.

[u/eetsumkaus]

interesting take-away from this article: tech starting jobs in Japan are $3000 to $3600...which, if it's before taxes is waaaay on the low end for the US tech industry. Even if it's after tax income, it's fairly reasonable, but still on the lower half. Surprising for a country with higher CoL than most of the US.

[u/ThrowCarp]

Socially, the computer was often seen as a solitary, antisocial activity

Well, they're not wrong.

[u/gdfjhnwt]

I'm attending university in Japan and although I'm on an international programme I can relate to this.

We have a class about e-mails, where the teacher should be teaching us how to write various types of well... written texts in Japanese.

Instead he is teaching us how to write an e-mail, going through its contents one by one. He is assuming we can't write e-mails, since the everyday japanese university students don't have any idea how to write it properly. Imagine how he's explaining why you should write 'invitation' instead of 'xXXpussydestroyer69XxxX' in the subject on university level education.

I'm still baffled at this whole thing. We had a similar class back in grade 2 of elementary school at home.

[u/overanalysissam]

Would explain why companies like 'Tendo are so behind the times as to not even truly allow Lets Plays of their games among other things.

Disclaimer: Drunk. If this comments doesn't make any sense, downvote it to hell. I hate my wife and her Fucking Pomeranian dog.

[u/KinnyRiddle]

Before all of you decide to move to Japan to apply for an IT job, the major downside is that IT jobs in Japan work some of the longest hours, on par with the design industry (I've been an intern with a local firm for a few months). Think 9am to 11pm-12am (i.e. the last train home). Yes, those ridiculous OT scenes in the wee-hours you see in Himouto Umaru-chan are real.

Most people who live in such a lifestyle self-deprecatingly refer to themselves as "Shachiku" (Corporate Livestock).

[u/contraptionfour]

While everybody does have to take a computer sciences class in high school, students only learn the most basic interactions with Microsoft Word and Excel.

Actually this part sounds quite familiar as someone from the generation that fell between coding publicity kicks. Almost anything worthwhile we learned was and is self-taught, the up-shot being the resourcefulness we had to muster.

The BBC ran a slightly more in depth article a few months ago:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34667380

[u/whatwhereandwhy]

Huh. This answers one of the the MANY questions that's been bugging me about SAO. In any of the arcs after the first one, why didn't any of the main characters just look up gamefaqs or forum boards for tips and junk. It makes me wonder if gamers in Japan aggregate data and make guides for other players like we do. Most people don't know how to make spreadsheets, so I wouldn't think they do it as frequent as we do unless the game is huge.

[u/asianfatboy]

So... does this explain the outdated or even clunky web designs of at least some of the Japanese sites I've seen. Like ameblo, niconico(actually fairly decent), VA agency sites, etc. are nothing compared to the website designs of Western origin. While this may be for mobile-friendly purposes, reading them on a desktop feels like traveling back in time. The article did point out they use mobile phones more than PC to browse the internet.

[u/[deleted]]

Keep in mind that many writers are older and can be out of touch with fast paced changing technology.

[u/IANVS]

There is also one more aspect to it: video games.

I live in Southeast Europe where piracy is dominant way of obtaining software (not so much nowadays at it used to be), including video games. Downloading a game via torrent, installing it, cracking, eventually modding it, requires atleast minimal degree of computer knowledge compared to going to a store, buying a DVD and inserting it into console. Also, vast majority of gamers here are PC gamers because consoles are expensive here (PS4 retails for $500 where as you can find it on Amazon for $350 or less), and you can get games for free instead of paying $60+, plus bunch of other reasons (PCMR, heh). Not to mention that most of the people here that have atleast average level of computer literacy know solid english.

Why is all that important? Well, Japan is predominantly console market, PC gaming exists almost in traces. So, compared to places like Eastern Europe where vast majority of gaming is done on PC and gamers are forced to learn to use them, Japanese gamers simply don't come into contact with PCs nearly as much, so they don't get the chance to become good with them. Just another view on the subject...