2012 - 04 - 19

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

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Intercultural UX

Summary

East vs West:Cognitive Difference

Asia: Cultural & Contextual Differences

How these affectdesign & communications?

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Intercultural UX

Basic Information to explain East and West

Individualism Collectivism

Geert Hofstede

West East

ContextualTo the point

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Intercultural UX

Basic Information to explain East and West

What did they look in the aquarium?

Fish Background

West East

Japan and the Japanese

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Japan and the Japanese

How are we described?

Ruth Benedict (1887-1948)American Anthropologist

“Shame Culture”

http://www.koreanculture.jp/

“Shrink Culture”Lee O-young (1934-)Korean literature professor

Wikipedia

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Japan and the Japanese

Environmental Characteristics

Small land378,000km2 70% mountain, 67% Forest

“Space-Saving, Multi-Use”

Germany357,021 km2, 30% Forest

High Population Density18th Century6 times more than France

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Japan and the Japanese

Environmental Characteristics

Heinrich Julius Schliemann "La Chine et le Japon au temps présent" 1869

Wikipedia

Wikipedia

“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.”

“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.”

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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.”

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Japan and The Japanese

Cultural Characteristics / Indirectness

“We are in preparation”

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Japan and The Japanese

Cultural Characteristics / Indirectness

Would you care for a Bubuzuke? = Could you please go home?

Wikipedia

Kyoto’s “Bubuzuke” myth

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Japan and The Japanese

Cultural Characteristics / Abstract & Symbolism

Nearly 20,000 family crests to symbolize family and personality

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Japan and The Japanese

Cultural Characteristics / Shrink & Delicacy

Prof. Lee O-young

“Japanese found beauty in smallness and delicacy.”

“Japanese try to reproduce everything in the small universe.”

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Japan and The Japanese

Cultural Characteristics / Shrink

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Japan and The Japanese

Cultural Characteristics / Shrink

Chinese & Korean Poem

“I want to reach the moon”

Japanese Poem

“The moonlight in the garden / water”

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Japan and The Japanese

Cultural Characteristics / Shrink

美“Beautiful” in Chinese

羊＋大＝Big Sheep

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Japan and The Japanese

Cultural Characteristics / Shrink

不細工“Ugly” in Japanese:

Not Detailed

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Japan and The Japanese

Cultural Characteristics / Shrink

Typical compact crafts

http://www.artgene.net/labo/category/cat285/post_169.php

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Japan and The Japanese

Cultural Characteristics / Delicacy

“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.”

Heinrich Julius Schliemann

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Japan and The Japanese

Cultural Characteristics / Delicacy

Peony (King of flowers)Cherry blossoms

Rose of Sharon

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Japan and The Japanese

Cultural Characteristics / Delicacy

Bush Clover (Autumn)

Wisteria(Early Summer)

The flowers we love

Pink - Nadeshiko(Summer)

Products & Communications

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Products & Communications

Characteristics of Japanese products

Detailed

SmallMulti-use

Delicate

Over-spec Over-quality

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Products & Communications

Characteristics of Japanese Products

Handy & Portable Multi-function

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Products & Communications

Characteristics of Japanese products

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Products & Communications

Japan specific products

http://www.cnngo.com/j

http://www.cnngo.com/j

“Habakari”= Reserved

wikipedia

http://www.yodobashi.com/

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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

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Products & Communications

Design preference

Gorgeous Delicate

Asymmetric

Symmetric

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Differences & similarities: Clotaire Rapaille

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Safety

Joy Power

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Products & Communications

Successful promotion examples

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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.”

Cognitive ComparisonEast vs West

Sample

N = 30

N = 15 N = 15

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Hilton – Mirror Website - (identical in Germany and Japan)

Structured, clear Website. Too structured for Japanese?

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After 5 sec.: Germans pay more attention to booking entry

Density:

Red areas mark highest deal of attention.

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After 5 sec.: Booking entry is intensively regarded by Germans

Types of Percepetion:

Red areas mark intensive perception.

Superficial processingMedium processingInvolved processingNo fixation

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After 15 sec.: Japanese explore whole page

Density:Red areas mark highest deal of attention.

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After 15. sec.: Japanese percept all areas equal

Types of Percepetion:

Red areas mark intensive perception.Superficial processing

Medium processingInvolved processingNo fixation

Pragmatic Websites are more successful in Germany

Germany Japan

Yahoo!

Google

Other

Google – 88,5%

Yahoo! – 50,7 %

Conclusions Complexity

For Germany

• Keep websites simple

• Place the most important clear and prominent

Google

Market leader in Germany

For Japan

• Japanese users can be confronted with more contents

Yahoo

Market leader in Japan

Search Engine Yahoo: For Germans too unclear

Statements of german users:

• Too colourful

• Loud colours

• Too much content

• Useless content

Search Engines US vs. China

• Research Study by Enquiro research, Canada 2007

Context Comparison China vs Japan

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Online home appliance shopping

Visual Design / Contents

SuningYodobashi Camera

• More texts• Less product explanations

• More pictures• Detailed product explanations

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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.

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Online home appliance shopping

User‘s behaviors / concerns to make purchase decisions

• Value objective opinions (User reviews)• Value real life experience (Real store)

• Concerns for credibility (genuine product, delivery, after-sale service etc.)• Comparison website use

Similarities

Difference

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Online home appliance shopping

Payment method

• Credit Card• Convenience store• Cash on delivery• Bank • Post office• Points

• Cash on delivery• Online money• Escrow service (Alipay)• Credit Card• Bank • Post office

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Conclusion

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

A Little History of Germany and Japan

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A little history of Germany and Japan

Japan learned a lot from Germany...

• Military System• Police System• Medicine

To build up a modern society, we imported:

Prussia Royal Police Captain: Wilhelm Hahn Monument in Tokyo(1894)Prussia Army University Professor:

Klemens W. J. Meckel

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A little history of Germany and Japan

Japan learned a lot from Germany...

… And Beer!

First imported by Dutch

1870 “Bavarian Beer” brewedFirst 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”

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A little history of Germany and Japan

Meissen and Arita

Friedrich August I (Sachsen)

Johann Friedrich Böttger

Arita Since 1616

Meissen Since 1710

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A little history of Germany and Japan

Germany x Japan = Arita Premium Beer Glass!

Lucky draw!