"It’s not only about East vs. West" – Diversity throughout Asia from a Japanese Point of View The EYE SQUARE Academy, a series of talks on the topic of User Experience started with Noriko Osaka's talk on "Intercultural Differences in UX" Noriko Osaka represents EYE SQUARE as Director User Experience Asia at our office in Tokyo, Japan and is a representative for UXPA-Asia, the regional chapter of UXPA. In her talk she highlighted intercultural differences in the usage of interactive systems and how to address these differences in global UX research. watch Noriko Osaka's talk here: https://vimeo.com/46419740

1. Intercultural UX
"It's not only about East vs. West"
Diversity throughout Asia from a Japanese Point
of View
2012 - 04 - 19

2. Intercultural UX
Summary
East vs West:
Cognitive Difference
Asia:
Cultural & Contextual Differences
How these affect
design & communications?
2

3. Intercultural UX
Basic Information to explain East and West
West East
Geert Hofstede
Individualism Collectivism
To the point Contextual
3

4. Intercultural UX
Basic Information to explain East and West
What did they look in the aquarium?
West East
Fish Background
4

5. Japan and the Japanese

6. Japan and the Japanese
How are we described?
“Shame Culture”
Ruth Benedict (1887-1948)
American Anthropologist
Wikipedia
“Shrink Culture”
Lee O-young (1934-)
Korean literature professor
http://www.koreanculture.jp/
6

7. Japan and the Japanese
Environmental Characteristics
Small land
378,000km2
70% mountain, 67% Forest
Germany
357,021 km2, 30% Forest
High Population Density
18th Century
6 times more than France
“Space-Saving, Multi-Use”
7

8. Japan and the Japanese
Environmental Characteristics
Heinrich Julius Schliemann
"La Chine et le Japon au temps présent" 1869
“Everyone goes to bed at 9:00. The
straw mattress on which the whole
family spent a day then serves as a
bed, a mattress and a sheet at the
same time.”
Wikipedia
“In Europe, we compete the luxurious
furniture, such as cupboards,
drawers, tables, chairs… with our
neighbors. After coming to Japan, I
realized we can totally do without it.”
Wikipedia 8

9. Japan and the Japanese
Cultural Characteristics / Shame Culture
“Behave yourself,
because the sun is
watching you.”
“Behave yourself,
because no one else
is behaving like you.”
9

10. Japan and The Japanese
Cultural Characteristics / Indirectness
“We are in preparation”
10

11. Japan and The Japanese
Cultural Characteristics / Indirectness
Kyoto’s “Bubuzuke”
myth
Wikipedia
Would you care for a Bubuzuke?
= Could you please go home?
11

12. Japan and The Japanese
Cultural Characteristics / Abstract & Symbolism
Nearly 20,000 family crests to symbolize
family and personality
12

13. Japan and The Japanese
Cultural Characteristics / Shrink & Delicacy
Prof. Lee O-young
“Japanese try to
reproduce
everything in the
small universe.”
“Japanese found
beauty in smallness
and delicacy.”
13

14. Japan and The Japanese
Cultural Characteristics / Shrink
14

15. Japan and The Japanese
Cultural Characteristics / Shrink
Chinese & Korean Poem
“I want to reach the moon”
Japanese Poem
“The moonlight in the garden / water”
15

16. Japan and The Japanese
Cultural Characteristics / Shrink
“Beautiful” in Chinese
美 ＝ 羊＋大
Big Sheep
16

17. Japan and The Japanese
Cultural Characteristics / Shrink
“Ugly” in Japanese:
不細工
Not Detailed
17

18. Japan and The Japanese
Cultural Characteristics / Shrink
Typical compact crafts
http://www.artgene.net/labo/category/cat285/post_169.php
18

19. Japan and The Japanese
Cultural Characteristics / Delicacy
Heinrich Julius Schliemann
“There were many toy shops.
They were cheap, but
finished perfectly and the
device is so sophisticated
that the toy manufacturers in
Nürnberg or Paris will never
be able to compete them.”
19

20. Japan and The Japanese
Cultural Characteristics / Delicacy
Cherry blossoms Peony (King of flowers)
Rose of Sharon
20

21. Japan and The Japanese
Cultural Characteristics / Delicacy
The flowers we love
Pink - Nadeshiko
(Summer)
Wisteria
(Early Summer)
Bush Clover (Autumn)
21

22. Products & Communications

23. Products & Communications
Characteristics of Japanese products
Detailed Delicate
Multi-use Small
Over-spec Over-quality
23

24. Products & Communications
Characteristics of Japanese Products
Handy & Portable Multi-function
24

25. Products & Communications
Characteristics of Japanese products
25

26. Products & Communications
Japan specific products
“Habakari”
= Reserved
http://www.cnngo.com/j
http://www.yodobashi.com/
wikipedia
http://www.cnngo.com/j
26

27. Products & Communications
Habitual & environmental conditions: Washing Machine
Japan North America Europe
Frequency Frequent Once a week Once a week
Washing time Short Longer Longest
Water hardness Soft Harder Hardest
Water temperature Low (cold water) Warm Hot
Location Lavatory Basement Kitchen
Recycled water Yes (from bathtub) No No
Size Small Largest Larger
Noise Low High ?
Reference: http://www.nikkei.com
27

28. Products & Communications
Design preference
Symmetric
Gorgeous Delicate
Asymmetric
28

29. Differences & similarities: Clotaire Rapaille
Joy Power
Safet
y
29
29

30. Products & Communications
Successful promotion examples
30

31. Products & Communications
Successful promotion examples
Kamon (Family Crest) Generator
Japanese tend to express
themselves in a form of
analogy:
• “My blood type is A.”
• “If I compare myself to
an animal, I am like a
Koala.”
31

32. Cognitive Comparison
East vs West

33. Sample
N = 30
N = 15 N = 15

34. Hilton – Mirror Website - (identical in Germany and Japan)
Structured, clear Website. Too structured for Japanese?
34

35. After 5 sec.: Germans pay more attention to booking entry
Density:
Red areas mark
highest deal of
attention.
35

36. After 5 sec.: Booking entry is intensively regarded by Germans
Types of
Percepetion:
Red areas
mark intensive
perception.
Superficial processing
Medium processing
Involved processing
No fixation
36

37. After 15 sec.: Japanese explore whole page
Density:
Red areas
mark highest
deal of
attention.
37

38. After 15. sec.: Japanese percept all areas equal
Types of
Percepetion
:
Red areas
mark
intensive
perception.
Superficial processing
Medium processing
Involved processing
No fixation
38

39. Pragmatic Websites are more successful
in Germany
Germany Japan
Yahoo!
Google
Other
Google – Yahoo! – 50,7
88,5% %

40. Conclusions Complexity
For Germany For Japan
• Keep websites simple • Japanese users can be
confronted with more
• Place the most important contents
clear and prominent
Google Yahoo
Market leader in Germany Market leader in Japan

41. Search Engine Yahoo: For Germans too unclear
Statements of german users:
• Too colourful
• Loud colours
• Too much content
• Useless content

42. Search Engines US vs. China
• Research Study by Enquiro research, Canada 2007

43. Context Comparison China vs Japan

44. Online home appliance shopping
Visual Design / Contents
Yodobashi Camera Suning
• More texts • More pictures
• Less product explanations • Detailed product explanations
44

45. Online home appliance shopping
Why the difference?
Kakaku.com
• In China, the most
popular online
information source is
an e-commerce website
• While in Japan, a
comparison website
would be the most
powerful information
source.
45

46. Online home appliance shopping
User‘s behaviors / concerns to make purchase decisions
Similarities
• Value objective opinions (User reviews)
• Value real life experience (Real store)
Difference
• Concerns for credibility (genuine
product, delivery, after-sale service etc.)
• Comparison website use
46

47. Online home appliance shopping
Payment method
• Credit Card • Cash on delivery
• Convenience • Online money
store • Escrow service
• Cash on delivery (Alipay)
• Bank • Credit Card
• Post office • Bank
• Points • Post office
47

48. Conclusion
Asian market is so diverse
• Business environment
• User’s interest / concerns
• User’s preference / taste
48

49. A Little History of Germany and Japan

50. A little history of Germany and Japan
Japan learned a lot from Germany...
To build up a modern society, we imported:
• Military System
• Police System
• Medicine
Prussia Royal Police Captain:
Wilhelm Hahn Monument in Tokyo
Prussia Army University Professor: (1894)
Klemens W. J. Meckel
50

51. A little history of Germany and Japan
Japan learned a lot from Germany...
… And Beer!
First imported by Dutch
1870 “Bavarian Beer” brewed
First beer company was established in
Yokohama by Norwegian American William
Copeland (Learned brewery in Germany)
1888
“Japan Brewery” invited German brewers to
improve their product, then became “Kirin Beer”
51

52. A little history of Germany and Japan
Meissen and Arita
Arita Since 1616 Friedrich August I (Sachsen)
Johann Friedrich Böttger
Meissen Since 1710
52

53. A little history of Germany and Japan
Germany x Japan = Arita Premium Beer Glass!
Lucky draw!
53