Dr. Yoshiro NakaMats is said by many to be Japan’s most prolific inventor. Take an in-depth look at his astonishing background in what is his most revealing interview ever.

Interview with Inventor Dr. Yoshiro NakaMats

Dr. Yoshiro NakaMats is said by many to be Japan’s most prolific inventor. His documented patents include some of the most significant inventions of our time including 16 patents related to the floppy disk which he sold to IBM, and many other inventions including retractable landing gear, the digital watch, the digital display and in total 3,368 inventions. Dr. NakaMats sat down with Tokyo Journal for an in-depth look at his astonishing background in what is his most revealing interview ever.

Globalizing Haiku

Over the past 25 years or so, the Japanese art and literature form haiku has grown in popularity from its humble beginnings as an appendage to tanka poetry.

As a student of haiku, I have studied the styles of the four great masters Matsuo Basho, Yosa Buson, Kobayashi Issa and Masaoka Shiki.

But in attempting to write haiku in English in the 5-7-5 syllable format, I have found it difficult to find the sense of balance associated with the traditional poems.

IT’S spring and there’s a scent of change in the air. For the first time in history, His Imperial Majesty the Emperor welcomed the incumbent president of the Caribbean nation of Haiti. For the first time in over 20 years, the Emperor and the Empress danced in public, and one of Japan’s most acclaimed architects, Toyo Ito, is being celebrated by the world through the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize.

The media worldwide are heralding Japan’s economic awakening. Japan’s stock market is roaring, its overvalued yen finally falling, and the Bank of Japan is spending many trillions of yen. So far, Japan’s rally is based on politics. The economic reality is yet to be proven.

Cautious Optimism
Still, many of Japan’s business people are cautiously expressing optimism “with a large question mark,” as an official in Tokyo’s heavily industrialized Ota ward said to me this week. “Companies have high expectations, but it is unclear when they will feel the effects of Abenomics. Or whether they will experience it at all. There is still much skepticism and uncertainty.”
On the streets of Tokyo few people feel any change yet. Many are apprehensive. “I don’t notice any difference,” a small business owner in Tokyo told me while walking his dogs. “It is just the stock market and large companies. Small companies are struggling. I have no expectations that things will get better. They are just creating another bubble.”
Naturally, Tokyo Journal hopes the skeptics will be proven wrong and Prime Minister Abe’s risky economic experiment will bear fruit.

North Korean War Threats
One experiment we don’t want to bear fruit comes courtesy of our neighbor North Korea. It has once again explored the limits of overly aggressive negotiation techniques. Many foreign media seem to take the reclusive regime’s bellicose rhetoric at face value.

JAPANESE rock rebel Diamond Yukai, who was born Yutaka Tadokoro in 1962, continues to reinvent himself in a music, film, television and writing career that has spanned nearly three decades.

As a teen, his parents, who were civil servants in Saitama, wanted him to conform to the system. They told him he would never succeed as a rock and roller. Diamond Yukai proved them wrong in the mid-eighties by forming Red Warriors, a band that went on to fill stadiums throughout Japan including the legendary Budokan and Seibu, the latter of which seats close to 40,000.

During this time, Diamond Yukai branched into the movie industry, beginning with a starring role in the 1988 movie “Tokyo Pop” directed by Fran Kuzui, creator of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and Fox TV’s hit series “Angel.” He co-starred in “Tokyo Pop” with actress Carrie Hamilton, daugh- ter of the legendary comedienne Carol Burnett. He went on to appear in Sofia Coppola’s “Lost in Translation” in 2004 and numerous Japanese films and television dramas.

Japanese comics are no laughing matter. Manga and anime have grown in global popularity and have captivated a legion of seriously devoted worldwide fans.

Manga & Anime Expos

Anime Expo 2013

ANIME Expo 2013, North America’s largest anime and manga convention, will be held July 4 – 7, 2013 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Expo events include Masquerade, Anime Music Video Contest, Concerts, Battle of the Bands, and the AX Fashion Show. Running 24 hours a day, the convention offers all night video programming, tabletop gaming rooms, late-night dances, and open-mic Karaoke in the late evening/early morning hours. Attendees cosplay and many gatherings for fans of different anime and manga series will be held during the convention. Danny Choo (Culture Japan Director/Presenter) will emcee the event.

TJ: What has made the Japanese automobile and electronics industries so successful in the U.S.?
TAKENAKA: Japan had its heyday in the decades following World War II. There was a shortage of quality products and the Japanese were very good at making products. They came in and supplied the world. The timing was right in terms of the world’s needs, the environment and Japan’s capabilities. You didn’t have to negotiate hard. You didn’t have to do a lot of sales and marketing. There was a lack of quality products being manufactured and people simply had wants and needs. The Japanese were excellent at manufacturing. Trading? Not so good. Marketing? Not so good. But you didn’t have to do a lot of that back then.

TJ: Is Japan going to continue to be a manufacturing country?
TAKENAKA: I think they have to. You have to focus on your strengths. If you only focus on your weaknesses, you’re going to become weak. The Japanese have an excellent skill set and commitment that suits manufacturing.

Let’s take a look at televisions. The Japanese used to be excellent at manufacturing TVs. But they stopped thinking about what the customer wanted. Konosuke Matsushita once said, “The customer is God.” In the old days, they really believed the customer was God, so they were always trying to figure out, “What does the customer want? What does the customer need?” They would find out so they could make good products that met their needs. Well, as you get more successful (this happened in America, too), you start to get cocky. They are still using the same words, “The customer is God.” Before they really believed it. But now it is only words. This is a common mistake with successful companies. They start imposing what they think their customers need on their customers.

IN October 1999, after only eight months in office, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez made a state visit to Japan. I had the honor of meeting him at The Foreign Correspondent’s Club in Tokyo after he gave a speech that remains engraved in my memory. He shared with the diplomatic corps and journalists his discussion with the Emperor of Japan who had asked him how a country as rich in natural resources as Venezuela can have 80% of its population living under the poverty line. Chavez confessed that while he welcomed the Emperor’s concern, he was not expecting such a question from him.

The Emperor pinpointed the dilemma Chavez faced all his life: a huge disparity between the rich and the poor. How can it be that Venezuela’s vast natural resources could only benefit the elite? How can such a trend be reversed after plaguing his country for so long? How could anybody convince the country’s privileged class that it is in their interests that the fundamental rights of all Venezuelans are respected? Is it acceptable that foreign companies control 95% of the petroleum reserves of his country?

Reprint of August 1983 article

You switch on your TV set any day of the week and there’s Oshima Nagisa conversing about things sociological on a mid-day women’s program or on the panel of a “Whodunit” murder-quiz or, a few days ago, introducing the highlights of Star Wars. He even appears clad in shorts and wielding a butterfly net in a current anti-cockroach TV commercial. Ten years ago, Oshima Nagisa was the darling of dissent, the hirsute enfant terrible of the Japanese cinematic New Wave which he had virtually created in 1960. Whatever Oshima was then, it was and still is impossible to hang a label on him. His radical ideas and politically oriented films placed him in the camp of the leftists, but his Night and Fog in Japan denounced the power-hungry in-fighting and monolithic structure of Japan’s leftist factions. In a country in which everyone voluntarily ascribes to one group or other, Oshima stands alone.

Haiti President Michel Martelly's historical meeting with His Imperial Majesty the Emperor

千里の道も一歩から
However long the journey, one must take the first step
Quelque Long Que Soit Le Chemin, Il Faut Faire le Premier Pas

One of the cornerstones of our stay in Japan was meeting with Their Majesties the Emperor Akihito and the Empress Michiko. We left their presence instilled with a sense of serenity and great wisdom that will remain forever engraved in our memories and our hearts.

RECENTLY, the Government of Haiti adopted a new dynamic business diplomacy through which we intend to promote a new image of the country worldwide. It is within this context that I accepted the invitation of the Japanese government, to pay a diplomatic visit to Japan in December 2012.

Den of Horror
Did ”The Ring” leave you rabid for ”The Ring Two?” Do you hold a grudge because “The Grudge” ( Ju-on) hasn’t released another supernatural sequel? Then Horipro, a Japanese international talent agency more than 50 years in the business, may have just launched a YouTube channel for you! The chilling channel called Hora no soukutsu (Den of Horror) contains 100 Japanese ghost and horror stories, original dramas, shocking videos and a horde of horror-related YouTube links. More is to come. This sinister site will be upgraded from April 2013 to include original content from vocational school students and creative YouTubers. If you don’t speak Japanese, don’t fear. You can translate the captions into English, Chinese and many other languages with the YouTube CC option button. But be warned... do not watch this site alone. Subscribe to Den of Horror, if you dare: