INFOMANIACS RULE JAPAN 

(Editor's note: In the beginning computers could only communicate in capital letters. This is one of 20 columns from Dr. Tomorrow's original series, included here to indicate change as well as describe it. Those columns also hold another story, that change is swift and offers both disaster and opportunity.)

IN AN INFORMATION SOCIETY, THOSE WITH THE MOST ACCURATE INFORMATION USUALLY WIN.

IT IS NO LONGER A SECRET. AS THEY LEAD THE WORLD INTO THE 21ST CENTURY, THE JAPANESE HAVE A MORE EDUCATED AND SOPHISTICATED CITIZENRY, UNDERSTAND THAT INFORMATION IS THE "ORE" OF THE FUTURE, AND ARE FAST LEARNING HOW TO MINE IT. THEY ARE ALSO MORE ATTUNED TO GLOBAL COMPETITION.

CANADA IS SPENDING 50 PERCENT MORE PER CAPITA FOR HALF THE EDUCATION STUDENTS ARE GETTING IN JAPAN. EVEN THEN, THE JAPANESE ARE NOT SATISFIED AND ARE CHANGING THE SYSTEM. THE NEXT 16 UNIVERSITIES IN JAPAN WILL BE PRIVATIZED!

HOW CAN THEY MOVE SO QUICKLY? HOW CAN THEY GET MORE INFORMATION? FOR STARTERS, THEY HAVE A FAR HIGHER LITERACY RATE. THE NUMBER OF ILLITERATES IN THE UNITED STATES RUNS CLOSE TO 20 PERCENT; ANOTHER 20 PERCENT ARE FUNCTIONALLY ILLITERATE. IN JAPAN, WITH A MORE COMPLEX LANGUAGE, THE RATE IS ONE PERCENT. TESTS CONDUCTED IN 19 COUNTRIES BY THE U.N. PLACED JAPANESE STUDENTS AT THE TOP. AMERICAN STUDENTS WERE 15TH. TESTS CONDUCTED IN 1982 BY BRITISH PSYCHOLOGIST RICHARD LYNN SHOWED JAPANESE CHILDREN AVERAGING I.Q.S OF 111. HALF THE AMERICAN STUDENTS RATED UNDER100. EVEN MORE EMBARRASING WAS LYNN'S ESTIMATE THAT ONLY TWO PERCENT OF AMERICAN KIDS HAD I.Q'S OF 130 OR MORE. AT LEAST 10 PERCENT OF JAPANESE STUDENTS EXCEEDED THAT LEVEL!

TO AID THAT HIGH LITERACY LEVEL, JAPANESE BOOK PUBLISHERS GRIND OUT 35,000 NEW TITLES A YEAR. THAT IS TWICE AS MANY PER CAPITA AS IN THE U.S. THEY ALSO READ WHAT THEY BUY. BOOK CLUBS HAVE NEVER CAUGHT ON IN JAPAN; IT SEEMS THEY DON'T BUY WHAT THEY DON'T READ. IN NORTH AMERICA HARDLY ANYONE READS JAPANESE AUTHORS, EITHER IN ORIGINAL OR TRANSLATED VERSIONS. MOST BOOKS AVAILABLE IN NORTH AMERICA OR EUROPE ARE ALSO FOR SALE IN JAPAN -- IN ENGLISH OR JAPANESE. THE JAPANESE ARE MORE AWARE OF WHAT IS HAPPENING IN ALL COUNTRIES THAN WE ARE... ESPECIALLY IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND ECONOMICS.

NEWSPAPERS ARE BIG IN JAPAN. ABOUT 93 PERCENT OF ALL JAPANESE REGULARLY READ NEWSPAPERS, MORE PER CAPITA THAN ANY OTHER COUNTRY EXCEPT SWEDEN. CIRCULATION FIGURES IN JAPAN ARE ASTRONOMICAL. ASHAI SHIMBUN SELLS 7.5 MILLION AND MAINICHI SHIMBUN 8.7 MILLION -- PER EDITION!! THEIR COMBINED EDITIONS TOTAL OVER 12 MILLION A DAY EACH !!! THEIR STAFFS TOTAL 8,000 TO 10,000 PER PAPER. THEY HAVE THEIR OWN AIRCRAFT FLEETS TO PROVIDE RAPID COVERAGE OF FAST-BREAKING NEWS EVENTS. THEY BLANKET THE WORLD. JAPAN HAS MORE FULL-TIME CORRESPONDENTS IN PARIS THAN NEWSWEEK HAS IN ALL ITS WORLD BUREAUS.

JAPAN HAS MORE THAN 3,000 MAGAZINES. THEY ARE NOT ALL CLASSIFIED AS "INTELLECTUAL", BUT THERE IS SUCH A WIDE VARIETY THAT A SIZEABLE SEGMENT OF THE JAPANESE PUBLIC IS CONTINUALLY EXPOSED TO SOPHISTICATED INTERPRETATIONS OF VERY COMPLEX PROBLEMS.

THEIR JISO SATELLITE TV TRANSMISSIONS, EMANATING FROM EITHER NEW YORK OR WASHINGTON, PROVIDE MORE IN-DEPTH INFORMATION THAN MOST NORTH AMERICAN TV BROADCASTS.

THE JAPANESE HAVE 1,500 VHF STATIONS AND 10,000 UHF STATIONS. MOST ARE OPERATED BY NHK, JAPAN'S VERSION OF THE BBC. HALF OF NHK'S STATIONS PRODUCE ONLY EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL PROGRAMMING. EVEN STATIONS CLASSIFIED AS "GENERAL INTEREST" DEVOTE LESS THAN 30 PERCENT OF THEIR TIME TO ENTERTAINMENT. THE PRIVATE STATIONS, 470 VHF AND 2,900 UHF THAT ARE MAINLY ENTERTAINMENT-ORIENTED, ARE LICENSED ON THE BASIS THAT THEY DEVOTE 30 PERCENT OF THEIR TIME TO EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL PROGRAMMING.

JAPANESE NEWS ANCHORMEN AND WOMEN DOWNPLAY THEIR POSITION. THEY ALSO CONTROL, UNOBTRUSIVELY FROM THEIR NEWSDESK, THEIR OWN "ROBOT" CAMERAMAN. JAPANESE NEWS PROGRAMS ARE, ACCORDING TO ROBERT C. CHRISTOPHER, FORMER SENIOR EDITOR OF NEWSWEEK AND TIME AND AUTHOR OF "THE JAPANESE MIND", "SUPERIOR IN DEPTH AND THOUGHTFULNESS TO THOSE OFFERED BY THE MAJOR U.S. NETWORKS".

NHK NEWS STAFF DRIVE HARD FOR OBJECTIVITY" (WHILE) "THERE IS MORE AND BETTER BACKGROUNDING THAN U.S. TELEVISION OFFERS", SAYS CHRISTOPHER. MORE? NHK SUPPLIES MOST JAPANESE CLASSROOMS WITH TV SETS AND THEY PUBLISH HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF TEXTBOOKS TO ACCOMPANY THEIR TV EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS.

I COULD FILL THE REST OF THIS DISK WITH MORE STATISTICS RELATED TO THE INFORMATION SOCIETY. HERE IS JUST ONE EXAMPLE: TOKYO HAS MORE PHONES THAN ALL OF AFRICA; THERE ARE MORE TELEPHONES IN JAPAN THAN IN AFRICA, SOUTHEAST ASIA AND RUSSIA COMBINED.

THE JAPANESE KNOW THE VALUE OF UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION.

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