Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/10/14
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]From: Bernard <5521.g23@g23.relcom.ru> Sent: Thursday, October 14, 1999 10:30 Subject: Re: [Leica] The new Konica hexar RF; take a look > Interesting trivia! Japanese photographers wear eyeglasses. The incidence of refractive vision errors in the Japanese is higher than in many other ethnic groups. If I remember correctly, myopia is especially common. Also, the Japanese have the longest life expectancies of anyone in the world, so it is more likely that they will reach an age at which they will need glasses, irrespective of any predisposition to refractive errors. It should be noted, however, that refractive errors are so common among human beings as to almost be considered normal physiology, particularly in middle-aged populations and beyond (but there are many children wearing glasses, too). > Wouldn't that rather point at a good old Japanese > tradition: playing copycat? The Japanese do not copy so much as they improve upon existing designs. As I understand it, the structure of Japanese business society does not favor completely off-the-wall innovations (the risk of trying out something completely unrelated to anything else is often very great), but it encourages incremental innovations in proven designs (which are more likely to yield productive results). As Japan has increased in affluence, however, it has become more and more common to see completely new designs materialize. The "copycat" era ended several decades ago, as far as I can tell. Furthermore, incremental innovations in Japan move so quickly that they pretty much equal the improvements brought about by developing completely new products in other countries. -- Anthony