The Curiosity Chronicles

An experiment…

The blog seems to have caught on in China, and I’ve been commissioned to write a special version for China Business News, addressing some of the themes that I see here. So here is the latest story, presented in both its original Mandarin and English, that is running right now. Huge thanks to my colleague Elyssa He for translating. 

So finally, it’s the famed Year of the Dragon. Believing as I do that all things happen for a reason, I though it might be exciting to explore if this unique astrological moment has any bearing on our collective destiny at this particular moment in time.

万众瞩目的龙年终于到来了。我一直相信，凡事都有前因后果，不妨借这个特别的生肖之年，研究一下我们的共同命运是否也会乘龙之运，遇上转机。

Examining dragons, I came across the following definition: “Occupying the 5th position in the Chinese Zodiac, the Dragon is the mightiest of the signs. Dragons symbolize such character traits as dominance and ambition. Dragons prefer to live by their own rules and if left on their own, are usually successful. They’re driven, unafraid of challenges, and willing to take risks. They’re passionate in all they do and they do things in grand fashion. Dragons prefer leading to being led. Jobs that allow them to express their creativity are good choices. Some good careers include: inventor, manager, computer analyst, lawyer, engineer, architect, broker, and sales person.”

有关龙的属相特质，我看到过这样的说法：“龙在中国传统的十二生肖中排列第五位，是所有生肖中最强大的。属龙的人有着统治和野心等性格特征，喜欢按照自己的规则生活，哪怕是独闯，也往往能取得成功。他们有一股冲劲，不怕挑战，并愿意承担风险。他们做任何事都充满激情、喜欢宏大的场面和规模。龙年生的人喜欢领导他人，而不是被领导。能让他们发挥创造性的工作是不错的选择。此类职业包括：发明家、经理、计算机分析师、律师、工程师、建筑师、经纪人和销售员。”

Reading this, I suddenly realized why dragons feel so familiar to me. Not only am I clearly surrounded by them, working as I do in a dynamic, creative environment, but these attributes also apply to many of our clients, who tend to be bold, curious and risk-taking, as well as the people out in the world that inspire us: people that are passionate, fearless and driven. For the other signs (I am a rabbit, in case you were wondering), keeping up with and supporting the Dragon is a very important thing to do. Wikipedia states: “The Rabbit possesses great powers of compassion and perception and can understand the truth of the Dragon’s heart better than could most other signs,” which probably explains why I spend so much of my time calming the dragons around me –our team of global designers -down and making sure they are being focused and productive.

读到这，我恍然明白了为什么龙给我的感觉如此熟悉。不仅仅是因为我工作在一个充满活力和创意的环境，周围有不少具备龙型特质的同行，而且这些特质还体现在我们接触到的很多客户身上。他们勇敢、好奇心强、不畏风险。当然还有带给我们启发的现实生活中的普通人，他们也同样满怀热情、不怕困难、干劲充沛。对于龙而言，其他生肖（我属兔，如果你想知道的话）的跟随和支持是非常重要的。维基百科给出的解释是：“生肖兔富于同情心和感知力，比其他大多数生肖都能更了解龙的真实内心，”这大概就是为什么我会花那么多的时间来引导我身边那些“龙”（我在全球的设计师团队），确保他们能全情投入、富有成效地工作。

Entrepreneurs are, to me, the dragons of the modern business world. Entrepreneurs without a doubt prefer leading to being led. Entrepreneurs follow their own rhythm, make (and often break) their own rules, and define what success means to them on their own terms. One of my Chinese business heroes, Jack Ma, is not surprisingly, a dragon. Small in stature, humble in tone of voice but firm in his opinions and viewpoints, he has built an empire that is the envy of many around the world, a business with strong beliefs and passionate values, successful both economically and emotionally. Refusing to settle for the status quo, if something does not work or meet the needs of the consumers he values so dearly, he creates his own, often superior version. Having repeatedly challenged China’s lagging state-owned banks for not being flexible enough in the space of internet transaction, in 2004 he developed his own online payment system, Alipay, to help consumers easily buy products on his sites and across the Web. In 2009, he developed a service called Ali-loan, a lending partnership with banks to help small businesses access more loans. “If banks don’t change, we will change banks,” he said at his internal employee conference. In 2011, Mr Ma acted rapidly and fundamentally to investigate the accusations of fake Taobao storefronts to stamp out any tendency towards a pursuit of short-term financial gain at any cost. He fired those directly involved, and in a principled move, he also removed Alibaba’s CEO and COO even though the two executives were not personally implicated in the scam. In the same year, he controversially transferred all of Alipay’s shares into domestic ownership in line with Chinese government regulation in spite of severe criticism for dishonouring the spirit of contract with Yahoo. Thinking like a dragon, creating a dragon business, behaving like a dragon.

我认为，企业家是现代商业界的龙。企业家无疑更喜欢扮演领导角色，而不是被领导。他们追随自己的节奏，制定（而且常常打破）自己的规则，对于成功的意义，他们有一套自己的解释和看法。马云是我心目中的一位中国商业英雄，果不其然，他也属龙。身材瘦小的他，即便谈吐谦逊，也掩盖不住他坚定的主见。他一手打造了一个令全世界许多人忌羡不已的“帝国”，一家秉持着强大的信念和热忱的企业，它的成功不仅是商业层面上的，还有精神层面上的。马云拒绝安于现状，如果不能满足对他来说最为重要的消费者的需求，他就自主开创一套新的模式，而这套模式往往更为先进。在多次指出国有银行在网络交易上的迟滞与僵化后，马云在2004年推出了自主研发的在线支付系统支付宝，方便消费者在其网站及整个网络上购买产品。2009年，他又开发了一项名为阿里贷款的服务，采用与银行合作的方式，为小企业提供融资服务。他曾在公司内部的员工大会上说：“如果银行不改变，我们就去改变银行。”2011年，马云迅速彻查涉嫌欺诈的阿里巴巴商户，坚决驱逐为追求短期盈利而不择手段的商家。他开除了事件的直接参与者，并直接导致阿里巴巴当时的首席执行官和首席运营官去职，虽然这两位并没有亲身参与欺诈。同年，马云在一片争议和指责声中，不顾违背与雅虎的契约精神，将阿里巴巴的所有股份转为全内资架构，以符合中国的政策规定。可谓格局如龙之举目千里，事业如龙之气势磅礴，行事如龙之雷厉风行。

This is an important moment for the dragons inside all of us to come to the forefront of business, as the collective desire for new ideas, new ways of working and new ways to communicate those ideas becomes ever more important. Chinese business in 2012 needs to become more entrepreneurial as well as significant, fearless as well as responsible, grand as well as original. In other words, become more dragon-like; use this astrological moment in time to create a new future for yourselves - embrace risk, failure and learning, challenge traditional ways of working and behaving, create new products, services and ways to engage your consumers. We are lucky in that our clients in China (MNC’s, local and international) are definitely looking for this and collectively going on the journey of learning, discovering, creating and implementing new ideas together is equally exciting and challenging.

随着人们求新的共同意愿日益强烈，是时候释放出我们每个人心中的那条“龙”，让其腾云驾雾在商业的最前沿。2012年的中国企业既需要强健的企业家精神，也需要追求自身的产业和社会意义；既要勇敢无畏，也要担负应有的责任；既要追求宏大效应，也要追求原创精神。也就是说，传承更多龙的特质，不避风险，直面失败，不断学习，敢于向传统的工作和行为方式发出挑战，创造出新的产品、服务和消费者互动方式，在龙年为自己谱写崭新的未来。值得庆幸的是，这种精神也正是我们在中国的客户（本土及国际型的跨国公司）所追求的。共同学习、探索、创造和实施创意的过程本身同样令人兴奋且充满挑战。

Whatever sign they are -  a snake, a monkey or a rooster - it is important to us that our clients bring out their inner dragon – their boldest, bravest and most entrepreneurial side – and help that drive their passion, ambition and ultimately their business. Dragons don’t abide by the rules but create their own; here at IDEO we live by the phrase “Don’t ask for permission. Ask for forgiveness,” which drives our own entrepreneurial culture forward. I am not for a second suggesting that everyone comes into work and breaks rules without care of consequence, but this is clearly astrologically designated as a year for bold moves and bravery. Jack Ma is leading the way, my hope is that many others follow.

不论客户是哪种属相，蛇、猴或鸡，对我们来说，重要的是他们能唤起自己心中的那条“龙”，展现出最为大胆、勇敢和开拓进取的一面，让这条“龙”驱动他们的热情和抱负，并最终成就他们事业的新高峰。拥有龙的特质的人，他们不会甘于墨守成规，而是敢于另辟蹊径。在IDEO，我们提倡“与其事前获得许可，不如事后寻求宽恕”，这种信念驱动着我们自己内部的创业文化不断发展。当然，我不是鼓励每个人在工作中都可以不计后果地违反规定，而是我认为从生肖定义上看，龙年确实本身就有勇往无前的意味。马云是一个榜样，我希望更多人能紧随其后。

With that notion in mind, I am therefore unofficially rechristening the year not just as The Year of The Dragon, but also as the year of the dragon inside us all, The Year of The Entrepreneur.

这么看来，我可以给今年起个非官方的新名字。这一年不仅仅是生肖意义上的龙年，而是唤起我们每个人心中的“龙”的一年——企业家之年。

I’m interested in what I am calling ‘designed absence’ - the removal of excess and a suggestion of the presence of something. Of course in Japan they don’t only have a word for this, but an entire philosophy. Wikipedia describes Ma thus: “Ma (間) is a Japanese word which can be roughly translated as “gap”, “space”, “pause” or “the space between two structural parts.” In Japanese, ma, the word for space, suggests interval. It is best described as a consciousness of place, not in the sense of an enclosed three-dimensional entity, but rather the simultaneous awareness of form and non-form deriving from an intensification of vision.”

Ma is not something that is created by compositional elements; it is the thing that takes place in the imagination of the human who experiences these elements. I love this idea - to me, similar to reading a good book where the power lies not in what the author says, but what they do not: leaving room for your interpretation rather than explicitly stating something.

In his 2001 book The Art of Looking Sideways, Alan Fletcher discusses the importance of exemplifying “space” as a substance: “Space is substance. Cézanne painted and modelled space. Giacometti sculpted by “taking the fat off space”. Mallarmé conceived poems with absences as well as words. Ralph Richardson asserted that acting lay in pauses… Isaac Stern described music as “that little bit between each note - silences which give the form”… The Japanese have a word (ma) for this interval which gives shape to the whole. In the West we have neither word nor term. A serious omission.”

What Of It? As I said before, I have always been more interested in the idea of projecting myself into a context than being told what to think, feel or do, so the concept of Ma resonates with me on that level. Giving the spaces between things equal weight to the things themselves is an interesting concept, not unique to the Japanese, but of course like many things, highly rarified here. In an age where everything we do as designers has to be perfected (and therefore often overworked) to the nth degree, it’s interesting to ponder how to give what we don’t say or do equal weight to what we do. I love the Giacometti definition of sculpture: “Taking the fat off space.” 

I Am Curious about design philosophies and where and how they originated, about the pendulum of excessive and understated design and how to marry the best of both, about the beauty of absence and how it truly does make the heart grow fonder.

I posted this picture of the Tokyo skyline on Instagram a few days ago, complete with the Tokyo Tower in the forefront and the hodgepodge of buildings around it. In response and my colleague Axel wrote: “The only thing missing is Godzilla.” Walking around Tokyo, you can’t help but be struck by its post-war modernist architecture, the funky concrete, tiled and curvy shapes contrasting with the more imperialist, Transformer-like towers of the Docomo building and the Tokyo Tower. All that’s missing is a man in a wonky lizard costume walking all over them and breathing fire. Time to investigate. 

In the late 1950s a small group of young Japanese architects and designers joined forces under the title of “Metabolism.” Their visions for cities of the future inhabited by a mass society were characterized by large scale, flexible, and expandable structures that evoked the processes of organic growth. In their view, the traditional laws of fixed form and function were obsolete. Metabolism arose in post-World War II Japan, and so much of the work produced by the movement is primarily concerned with housing issues. Metabolist designs relied heavily on advanced technology and they often consisted of adaptable plug-in megastructures. Famous projects included the floating city in the sea (Unabara project), Kiyonori Kikutake’s Marine City, Tower City, Ocean City, Wall City, Kisho Kurokawa’s Agricultural City and Helix City. The most famous built example of Metabolism is shown above, Kurokawa’s Nakagin Capsule Tower, built in 1972. Their influence is felt in many parts of modern Japan, and Tokyo is no exception, where curvilinear and cubic Lego-like structures abound to this day.

In stark contrast, The NTT Docomo Yoyogi Building next to Shinjuku station is owned by the NTT Docomo group. Despite the building’s name, it is not the head office for the company, whose headquarters are located in the top floors of the Sannō Park Tower. The building houses some offices, but is mainly used to house technical equipment (switching equipment, etc.) for the company’s cellular telephone service. To commemorate NTT Docomo’s 10th anniversary, a 15-metre-diameter clock was put into operation in November 2002. The installation of this clock made the building the tallest clock tower in the world.

The Tokyo Tower is a communications and observation tower located in Shiba Park, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. At 332.5 meters it is the second tallest artificial structure in Japan, after the soon-to-be-completed Tokyo Sky Tree building. The structure is an Eiffel Tower-inspired lattice tower that is painted white and international orange to comply with air safety regulations. Built in 1958, the tower’s main sources of revenue are tourism and antenna leasing. Over 150 million people have visited the tower since its opening. FootTown, a 4-storey building located directly under the tower, houses museums, restaurants and shops. Departing from here, guests can visit two observation decks. The 2-storey Main Observatory is located at 150 meters while the smaller Special Observatory reaches a height of 250 meters.

What Of It? It goes without saying that one of the main cultural signifiers of a city is its architecture, and Tokyo is no exception. Funnily the proportions of many of the buildings here connote safety, warmth and certain kind of intimacy rather than the grandiose scale of New York, the industrial machine-age hum of Chicago or the baroque splendor of say, Paris. Tokyo to me feels, very, well, human, in terms of its architectural simplicity, humor and calmness. Of course it is precisely this architectural calm that makes it so easy for Godzailla to trample all over it, undaunted as he clearly was by the Metabolists idealism.

I am Curious about architectural vernaculars and how they are born, about cultures of optimism and idealism, and how cities “feel” to those of us that are looking to experience them on that level. And of course, cities that monsters have no fear of walking around, or treading on. 

The Danes don’t own the market on warm coziness, but they do have a great word for it - hygge. However, winter in Japan comes with its own glow - usually from the beautiful warm lights that Japanese inns, restaurants and homes fill themselves with. It may not have the same twinkling candlelit quality that you find in Scandinavia, but Japanese hygge has its own charm. Time to investigate the andon (行灯), the bonbori (雪洞), the chōchin (提灯), and the tōrō (灯篭), all traditional forms of Japanese lighting and transmitters of that unique version of Japanese hospitality.

The andon is a lamp consisting of paper stretched over a frame of bamboo, wood or metal, often decorated with calligraphy or images. The paper protects the flame from the wind. Burning oil in a stone or ceramic holder with a wick of cotton, provides the light. Rapeseed oil was popular in the past. Candles were also used, but their higher price made them less popular. A lower-priced alternative was sardine oil. The andon became popular in the Edo period - early on, it was handheld; it can also be placed on a stand or hung on a wall.

The bonbori is a kind of Japanese paper lamp, often used in the open. It normally has an hexagonal profile and is used during festivals. It can either hang from a wire or stand on a pole. Famous is the Bonbori Festival held annually at Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū in Kamakura, Kanagawa. Artists paint on the about 400 bonbori erected for the occasion on the shrine’s grounds.

The chōchin has a frame of split bamboo wound in a spiral. Paper or silk protect the flame from wind. The spiral structure permits it to be collapsed into the basket at the bottom. The chōchin hangs from a hook at the top. In present-day Japan, plastic chōchin with electric bulbs are produced as novelties, souvenirs, and for matsuri and events. The earliest record of a chōchin dates to 1085, and one appears in a 1536 illustration.The akachōchin, or red lantern, marks an inn, or izakaya.

Originally used in the broad sense to mean any lantern, the word tōrō came to mean a lamp of stone, bronze, iron, wood, or another heavy material. These illuminate the grounds of Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines, Japanese gardens, and other places that include tradition in their decor. The earlier oil and candles have given way to the electric bulb.

What Of It? Coupled with omoiyari - the sense of empathic, predictive hospitality that is unique to Japan, the warm light of inns, ryokans, restaurants and Japanese homes is really quite beautiful. I ate shabu-shabu last night in a regular Tokyo restaurant and the soothing light, warm tones and simple furniture combined to create an embracing sense of hygge that was unique in its Japanese-ness. Add in of course the fact that many of these forms of illumination have been around for centuries, and you see why these cultural traditions, like many others in Japan, have endured over time. 

I Am Curious about how disparate cultures communicate the same desire for familial warmth, hospitality and security, how these traditions are passed through time and how something as simple as a way to transmit a welcoming light can vary from place to place.

Every time I come to Japan I notice a change in my own behavior. To state up front, I am English and was brought up by my Scottish mother to have very good manners, but over the years, I have become a bit sloppy, perhaps occasionally dashing out of the elevator before those before me or not holding the door for someone, but when I am here, I immediately tidy up after myself, fold my clothes, never leave the towels scattered on the floor or half-eaten scraps of room service on a tray stashed outside my hotel room. Here in Japan, I respond to the overall elevated politeness by being extra-polite myself. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the connection between a country’s dominant cultural behaviors and its economic prosperity.

The Japanese word Omoiyari in simple terms means: “having a thoughtful and sympathetic regard for others.” Sugiyama Lebra, author of the book “Japanese Patterns of Behavior” defines Omoiyari as “the ability and willingness to feel what others are feeling, to vicariously experience the pleasure or pain that they are undergoing, and to help them satisfy their wishes…without being told verbally.”

Sociologists like Kikuchi Akio have pointed out that although Omoiyari-based behavior and activity are seen across cultures, Japanese people are the ones who put the highest value on Omoiyari all over the world. In his 2006 paper titled “The Concept of Omoiyari (Altruistic Sensitivity) in Japanese Relational Communication”, Kazuya Hara of Meikan University, Japan writes, “To have a sense of omoiyari and to behave with omoiyari are regarded as ideal communication in Japanese society”. He quotes a survey by the Ministry of Education in Japan cited in the Yomiuri-shimbun in 1994, according to which elementary and junior high school teachers in Japan answered that they put the highest value on Omoiyari in moral education. Additionally, he quotes that in a survey on child-birth in Japan by the Yomiuri-shimbun in 2005, 86.7% of the parents expected their children to be a child with Omoiyari. 

In his article: “Omoiyari - A Japanese Lesson, Tshering Cigay Dorji states: “Anticipating the other’s needs and desires without being explicitly told is referred to as “kuuki o yomu” in Japanese. It means ‘reading the atmosphere’. Reading the atmosphere is considered very important in a Japanese social setting. A person who cannot read the atmosphere in a given situation is called “KY” derived from the phrase “kuuki yomenai” meaning ‘unable to read the atmosphere’. The term “KY” is said to have been first used by high school girls in their cell phone mails and has recently come into popular usage.  Generally, Japanese are very sensitive people. I think this is because they read the atmosphere. For instance, if they visit your house and they sense that you are kind of busy, they very gracefully take their leave of you before it becomes uncomfortable for both the host and visitor.” 

What Of It? I’m going to quickly state the obvious here - it’s pretty clear to most of us that having good manners is, on a simple, human empathic level, a life skill worth cultivating and having. What I am more interested in is the effect that his has more broadly on a culture - I am not Japanese but I am convinced that there has to be some positive economic effect of a nation simply being, well nice to itself. Whilst queuing quietly, allowing people to speak rather than interrupting, being punctual and bowing in respect seem like charming, otherworldy customs, the cumulative effect of doing them all the time has to reap positive rewards. Many countries in the the world are looking at new ways to measure themselves - we have Bhtuan’s famed GNH (Gross National Happiness) system that many are trying in some way to emulate, as well as various “soft power” metrics - innovation, prosperity, peacefulness, etc, but I wonder if the concept of a Global Omoiyari Index needs to be more widely upheld - the simple economic value of being polite.

I Am Curious about cultural traditions and the values that they instill, how those can be transferred elsewhere and what we can learn from them, about simple and human expressions that one one hand seem simple, on the other, deeply meaningful.