In Praise of Japan's Failure to Keep Up

Japan’s reluctance to adopt and promote new technology is presented as both a weakness and a possible source of independence. The account begins with a London mayor’s visit to Tokyo, where Boris Johnson praised Britain’s contactless transit payments as a breakthrough. Japan had developed the underlying technology years earlier, yet it remained little used at home because people preferred cash; it gained wider acceptance only after taking off overseas. The episode captures a broader pattern: Japanese innovation can be advanced but overlooked, while outsiders assume their own systems are the world’s first or best. The essay frames pressure to join a Silicon Valley-led technological order as a demand to treat constant adaptation as inevitable.

Japan’s difficulty, the author argues, lies less in producing technology than in turning research into internationally successful businesses. Universities and startups underinvest in public relations, storytelling and overseas business development, treating them as marginal beside technical specifications. Commerce also moves slowly: prolonged deliberation and consensus-building can obstruct execution and adoption. Yet the essay does not simply urge Japan to imitate faster-moving competitors. Its cashless-payment example suggests that refusing to embrace every innovation immediately can preserve room to judge what technology is for, rather than accepting progress as an unquestionable good. Japan’s quietness and caution leave it at a disadvantage in global markets, but may also offer an alternative to a future in which powerful technology companies dictate the terms of everyday life.