as up as patrick said my name is ted so
it should come as no surprise that I'm
giving you a TED talk but when I really
thought about this it my story actually
begins way before I was born and it it
it starts actually with a hiroshima post
for Japan and my parents they wanted a
better life and they went to America and
they wanted to be integrated with
America so by the time my their second
child came along which was me they said
we want to speak only in English with
him and so I learned English really well
right but I didn't learn a lick of
Japanese so then when the chance came
finally to reconnect with Japan I
thought that would be great and because
every day I was reminded that I was
Japanese and I remember on Kodomo tachi
I remember my soaring feeling and
feeling really proud despite being in
the 98% white neighborhood I remember
just feeling so proud to be Japanese and
so my company said hey you're Japanese I
said I am and they said ok great we have
a great marketing role you can lead
marketing up for us in Japan and so I
said that's great and there was only one
issue though is when I came no Japanese
thought I was Japanese I felt not
included and so I really thought about
this and I said you know what I have a
special superpower and my superpower is
if I just don't talk I can just fade
into the hole and to being just another
Japanese so I remember actually I was
riding the Shinkansen and and then
there's old lady heard all these fluent
English speakers going and talking and
she's like turning around on her in her
seat and she's looking for four who is
that foreigner who's speaking fluent
Japanese I mean fluent English and she
could just see a sea of Japanese and I'm
like I just went silent and then she
just she she went away but but then I
said you know what this doesn't really
work I'm just gonna focus on my work and
so we were managed to turn around a
troubling digital phone company Kansai
and we went from number four to number
two in our marketplace hard work
sincere work and then the corporate
headquarters called and they said you
know what you guys did a great job we
want you to come to our global
competition there's 12 teams and and
there were 10 American teams and a EU
team and my Japanese team we really
tried hard and we actually got the
number one prize so you know what the
Americans we're like yeah high-five
that's great and my Japanese team was
shocked and disappointed they were
shocked and disappointed and what for me
was the career highlight until that time
I was not understanding this I went
completely dark and I said you know what
I have a crisis now because I really
don't understand Japan what is being
Japanese
right and so I asked a bunch of Japanese
friends of mine what is Japanese and
there's a bunch of different ideas that
came out right and and for me this is
more of the surface right this is
something that describes Japanese but
it's not getting to the essence of
Japanese so then I thought it to myself
there must be words that can describe
this right so every language has words
that cannot be translated very well
right the French have won ah right and
the Italians they don't even have a word
they're just like this right right and
so I thought what are those words in
Japanese is there surely not kimono
right that's Japanese and so only
Japanese but it doesn't describe what
Japanese is so then I thought okay so
there's four four words I came up with
which I call the pillars of being
Japanese right so one of them is no coal
means oka okay so Japanese 95 percent of
Japanese came up growing up on a farm
and it's very much planning and we're
very steady hard-working conservative
this is the base root of Japanese and
then you think about the major
revolution that came in and they it's
talked about more about the samurai
spirit of competition and detail and
then thinking about being a tenant of
things and this is very very different
it's very important to realize of course
the Japanese are very compactly they're
very perfectionistic but they're
perfectionistic in order to get a result
of being efficient the Japanese are the
only culture that I know
that are being perfect to be perfect
right there's no other reason it has no
result it just want to be perfect right
but the next the third pillar is song
show so having respect respect for your
elders respect for others and really
respect for nature so it's very much
part of Shinto religion that says that
we're part of nature so this is the
third third pillar and the fourth pillar
is Wow and so prioritizing others
thinking of the other first before
thinking of yourself and thinking inside
and outside and a lot of confusion
exists because a lot of times Americans
like that wasn't very wah but that's
because they were outside the wall and
it only applies for inside the wall
so all these for print pillars you put
them together and it provides a
framework for understanding Japanese and
if we think about all those concepts
they actually all fit into being part of
Japanese so and they all fit perfectly
in this so first of all we have to think
one by one of these and we think about
the song we can think about sone show or
calm pinky each one of these let's think
about one one example that most
foreigners have have seen as they say
you know what Japanese are so
considerate I couldn't believe that they
had 20 minutes that went out of the way
to go and take me to a station that was
great and the same person said but you
know what I had another one that said no
English no English they ran away so what
is behind that if you think like an
American you're thinking is that polite
they don't seem polite some people are
ply and some people are not so that's
not the right way the framework to think
about it the framework is come picky
Shuggie right the Japanese who ran away
oh I am not worthy my English is not
good I have to run off right and then
and then the other person who's that you
know I I can really try I'm gonna be as
perfect as I can right so let's think
about each one of these as as we as we
go along the context perience so what
was going on there so in the upper left
you see the Americans were putting on a
show Americans are great at putting on
the show right they have
dance and the singing and all the stuff
and the Japanese were like our English
is no good and although you know what
are we going to do we have not practiced
and we're not dancing and so they said
that if it's calm pick a sugar they
thought okay that doesn't really hit
because it's it's not compete and then
the next one is Sancho it applied but
they were really respectful of the
American teams they're like all those
Americans are our senpai they're doing
so well and when they thought about Sohn
show they're like we can't respect
ourselves but we respected the Americans
more and this doesn't work and the final
one is waa and on while they were
thinking there's 12 teams 10 of a more
American and the year before an EU team
won and they're thinking how could a
Japanese team win this year that's
disrupts the whole spirit of WoW because
in Japan that wouldn't happened that you
wouldn't have two foreign teams win two
years in a row so they were thinking
about it in this this way and it didn't
work again so Wow dropped out the one
thing that that did work is no Co means
oku and yeah we worked hard but that
entered but that's not enough for them
to feel really good about that
and if I could say one thing to that
team at that time is you know what
Americans are judging you by a
completely different standard
they judge on results and our results
were number one by far we get from
number four to number two be proud of
that right and the other thing is
they're looking at your sincerity they
look at you on the stage and they're
saying they're really trying hard their
English is so bad but it's okay you're
trying and and you know what that's this
that's what I want to say to Japanese
who don't feel perfect enough and their
English is bad
don't worry about that just try right
just don't worry about it don't become
tacky about it so the next thing is is
can this explain the four pillars can
explain other more complex topics so for
example we have Bushido so Bushido is
simply perfection a respect
Kentucky and sancho right and if we
think about Tata Maya and hone a this
has a lot of them this is difficult for
a lot of Americans this is the whole
concept of of trying to hold back your
true opinions because you don't want to
insult the person oh that's a really bad
time right or you don't want to say
you're
you want to hold back on it because
you're respecting the other and you're
trying to have a spirit of wha right and
so that this is really good and this is
the Americans have troubles with this a
lot of times because they're they think
they're always speaking ho name but
Americans actually have have this as
well in the culture and you know it's
called it's called the elephant in the
room okay it's the one thing that
everyone knows they can see a big
elephant but nobody wants to say
anything that's called Tata my for
Americans so Americans actually have
this too then you can think about other
concepts like the Ocho Chi and so OSHA
kiyah is simply perfection Allah right
it's all the the perfect movements as
you pass your tea cup from person to
person and you really feel this perfect
harmony and then and then you also have
Hudson modei and Hudson oh they the New
Year celebration is kind of a
combination of all the four pillars
right every year you have your
traditions and I think this is at the
very very center of the four pillars you
have rules and processes and this is
really respected in Japan like no other
culture right rules are protected right
and you know when you think about that
the process becomes Xiuquan we think
about habits and we think about what
does this mean for business to a lot of
this has been asked me hey how do I
change my my company how do we improve
things right and so we can think about
that too so if we think about our
cultural keys sometimes instead of the
farming culture you have to think about
the hunting culture
we have to think about being perfect be
agile be flexible right if we're
thinking about sancho and respect
instead of respecting the past or
respecting your elder respect results in
the future instead of saying wow think
about frontier spirit and actually these
four things they describe American
culture and this is no doubt one reason
why America is so successful in Silicon
Valley and starting new things but Japan
cannot emulate and just copy Americans
that's that's not the right way to
approach it that doesn't work for
Americans trying to be Japanese either
so what it has to do is you have to
think about the Japanese are really
really good at process so just like they
happen in the major revolution
and just like post-war Japan they took
processes from abroad and they were able
to apply that and to improve so Japan
has to think about the same way so in
short you can think I'm American and I'm
Japanese and if you put the two together
it could be a banana which is yellow on
the outside and white on the inside
that's the simple explanation but you
know what I think I'm something far more
I have special ingredients and in
thinking about the special ingredients
which are enough in a special recipe
which is the four pillars I think I've
been able to kind of create a banana
cream pie yeah so something a little bit
different right and so it identity
crisis is resolved um thank you for
listening to my forties that being
Japanese and it's just to talk by Ted
thank you