How Japan Leads The World With Their Catalogue of Intellectual Ideas ?

Japan has the world’s third-largest economy, having achieved remarkable growth in the second half of the 20th Century after the devastation of the Second World War.

Its role in the international community is considerable. It is a major aid donor and a source of global capital and credit.

More than three-quarters of the population live in sprawling cities on the coastal fringes of Japan’s four mountainous, heavily-wooded islands.

Japan’s rapid post-war expansion – propelled by highly successful car and consumer electronics industries – ran out of steam by the 1990s under a mounting debt burden that successive governments have failed to address.

Japan’s relations with its neighbors are still heavily influenced by the legacy of Japanese actions before and during the Second World War. Japan has found it difficult to accept and atone for its treatment of the citizens of the countries it occupied.

Japanese innovations that changed the world

Shinkansen

At 6 am on October 1, 1964 two bullet trains (dangan ressha) left simultaneously from Tokyo and Shin-Osaka stations, marking the inauguration of the 0 Series Shinkansen. Launched nine days before the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony, these trains reached speeds of up to 130 miles per hour (210 kph), making it possible to get from the capital to Osaka in around four hours, almost three hours shorter than the conventional limited express. Today that journey can be done in two and a half hours on the Nozomi bullet train with a top speed of close to 200 miles per hour. (320 kph). 

Blue LED

In 2014, Shuji Nakamura, an American citizen born and raised in Japan, along with two Japanese scientists, Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano, won the Nobel Prize in physics for the invention of blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Their accomplishment in 1992 solved a long-standing issue that proved extremely challenging for scientists. Though green and red LEDs had been around for many years, without the blue diodes, it wouldn’t have been possible to produce the white light we see in LED-based computer and TV screens today. Lighting is now more energy-efficient and cost-effective.

Dr. NakaMats’ Inventions

Dr. NakaMats is most famous for the floppy disk. According to the enigmatic scientist, he came up with the idea in 1947 after getting annoyed with the scratching sound of his record while listening to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. IBM, who licensed 14 patents from NakaMats, disputes this claim, saying its own team of engineers developed it in 1969. The Ig Nobel prize winner is also known for the kerosene pump, pyon-pyon jumping shoes, and Love Jet, a spray designed to heighten sexual stimulation.

Impressive Japanese creations over the past 75 years that just missed out on the list include the QR code system, pocket calculators, sat-nav, the digital single-lens reflex camera, camera phones, selfie sticks, VHS, CDs, DVDs, canned coffee, and instant noodles — to name just a few.

Understanding and Explanation of Japanese Education

Japanese educational system provides children with certain quality education across the board and maintains high enrollment rates. Japanese students consistently rank highly among OECD students in terms of quality and performance in reading literacy, mathematics, and science.

Some special features of Japanese-Style Education are

• Holistic education approach with solid academic ability, rich humanity and a healthy body throughout the entire school life including not only lessons but also extracurricular activities.
• Quality teachers who are continuously upgrading their teaching skills through systematic teacher trainings and in-house trainings with lesson studies.
• Colleges of technology, KOSEN, develop engineers so they will have practical and sophisticated skills.