Muddle

Service Culture in Japan & Uniqlo coming to America

jkottke:

For the most recent issue of Fast Company, Jeff Chu profiled Tadashi Yanai, the CEO of Uniqlo, one of the hottest retail companies in the world. The piece is full of interesting business & design wisdom throughout.

Yanai, though, cannot resist the American market. Around the corner from his…

That’s how the do everything in Japan (the two handed receipt/card return). And, you don’t have to tip anyone. But, the customer service thing, yeah, it becomes very fake very fast, and most Japanese folks will tell you this. (See page 17 of this Economist article.) On the flip side of this cultural nuance, many people love French stuff here (because it’s a symbol of prosperity and happiness [bread, wine, cafe lifestyle]), but have pretty serious culture shock when they actually visit France partly for related reasons. (see “trigger 2” of this Wikipedia article on the subject.) I love Uniqlo, though.

theeconomist:

Daily chart: this Chinese new year could bring good fortune to stockmarket investors. Between 1900 and 2011, the nine previous dragon years have seen America’s Dow Jones Industrial Average price index increase by an average of 7.7% in real terms.

Wait…what? How’s that?

The energy efficiency of computing is doubling every 18 months

Researchers at Stanford University found that the electrical efficiency of computing has doubled every 1.6 years since the mid-1940s.

Find out more

The 2011 Big Mac Index is Here!

theeconomist:

Daily chart: global alcohol consumption. In 2005, the world drank 6.5 litres of pure alcohol per person. Moldovans drink more than anyone else, beating the Czechs into second place. 30% of the world’s liquor was brewed at home.

Women’s Economic Opportunity

The stakes of November: It doesn't matter that much

Our minds have been warped by relentless marketing designed to engender false consciousness of stark political brand contrasts. It’s as if Crest is telling us that Colgate leads to socialism and Colgate is telling us that Crest leads to plutocracy and all of us believe half of it.

via Monica.

Rough justice in America: Too many laws, too many prisoners

Justice is harsher in America than in any other rich country. Between 2.3m and 2.4m Americans are behind bars, roughly one in every 100 adults. If those on parole or probation are included, one adult in 31 is under “correctional” supervision. As a proportion of its total population, America incarcerates five times more people than Britain, nine times more than Germany and 12 times more than Japan. Overcrowding is the norm. Federal prisons house 60% more inmates than they were designed for. State lock-ups are only slightly less stuffed.

The system has three big flaws, say criminologists. First, it puts too many people away for too long. Second, it criminalises acts that need not be criminalised. Third, it is unpredictable. Many laws, especially federal ones, are so vaguely written that people cannot easily tell whether they have broken them.