What is "Takotsubo" ? It is a Japanese term for a traditional octopus pod (trap) used to catch octopus in Japan. It is often used as analogy for the characteristic of the people who confine themselves in their own cozy little world, in which they are most comfortable and feel no needs to venture outside of their realm; their takotsubo. I am not talking about a typical introvert you see any parts of the world who prefer to be alone.
Japanese "Takotsubo" is small but can be infinitely deep. As takotsubo represents their world of specialty or interest, had it be their profession or just a hobby, they have a strong tendency to go on their quest of endless refinement in their specialty or interest, which take them deeper and deeper into their takotsubo. This is one of the most defining characteristics of Japanese and this is how we have cultivated our culture of endless pursuit for refinement, which is reflected in the quality of everything made in Japan, from a nut and bolt to an automobile. If the source of the famous Japanese quality and innovation are in Takotsubo, why should we bother to reinvent it ?
As we learned in school, Japan had somewhat isolated themselves from rest of the world for over 200 years in Edo era, during which the international trades were restricted ( not banned )to the limited number of nations such as, Portugal, Kore and China. Japan has literally confined herself in her Takotsubo for almost a quoter of century during which our culture and all of its contents were refined to their finest quality. But then came the massive surge of the 2nd Wave world barging into the perfectly content Japanese Takotsubo spreading the western ideology and standards like a virus.
Even though the Japanese people and their society adopted rather well considering the speed and its abruptness of the changes they were forced to face, the virus left some lasting side effects and deformities in our traditional ways both in our thinking and our society as a whole causing the critical degradation of our own Takotsubo. One of the deadly consequences of this degradation of our Takotsubo, coupled with our communication incompetence, was the last war we failed to avoid.
Post war Japanese organizations, regardless of their category, industry and sizes, have inherited the very virus and the resulting deformities. I would like to get into more detail on how the virus and the resulting deformities have affected the modern Japanese takotsubo organizations in the next post.
Japanese "Takotsubo" is small but can be infinitely deep. As takotsubo represents their world of specialty or interest, had it be their profession or just a hobby, they have a strong tendency to go on their quest of endless refinement in their specialty or interest, which take them deeper and deeper into their takotsubo. This is one of the most defining characteristics of Japanese and this is how we have cultivated our culture of endless pursuit for refinement, which is reflected in the quality of everything made in Japan, from a nut and bolt to an automobile. If the source of the famous Japanese quality and innovation are in Takotsubo, why should we bother to reinvent it ?
As we learned in school, Japan had somewhat isolated themselves from rest of the world for over 200 years in Edo era, during which the international trades were restricted ( not banned )to the limited number of nations such as, Portugal, Kore and China. Japan has literally confined herself in her Takotsubo for almost a quoter of century during which our culture and all of its contents were refined to their finest quality. But then came the massive surge of the 2nd Wave world barging into the perfectly content Japanese Takotsubo spreading the western ideology and standards like a virus.
Even though the Japanese people and their society adopted rather well considering the speed and its abruptness of the changes they were forced to face, the virus left some lasting side effects and deformities in our traditional ways both in our thinking and our society as a whole causing the critical degradation of our own Takotsubo. One of the deadly consequences of this degradation of our Takotsubo, coupled with our communication incompetence, was the last war we failed to avoid.
Post war Japanese organizations, regardless of their category, industry and sizes, have inherited the very virus and the resulting deformities. I would like to get into more detail on how the virus and the resulting deformities have affected the modern Japanese takotsubo organizations in the next post.
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