Steve Jobs' love affair with Japan
Late Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs was somewhat well-known for being a Japanese Zen Buddhist, but few knew how deep his infatuation with Japan ran and how it helped shape who he was and the company he created.
An in-depth article published on Friday by Japanese news site Nippon.com illustrates how the country's culture, people and even food influenced Jobs, as seen in both his private and business lives.
Longtime Apple journalist Hayashi Nobuyuki sifted through years of reportage on Jobs and his tumultuous rise within the tech industry to find exactly how Japan affected the former Apple chief.
Nobuyuki writes that it all began when Jobs first discovered Zen Buddhism. After a long period of soul-searching, including a short stint to India, Jobs found the Japanese school of China's ancient religion at a temple close to his home in Los Altos, California. There he met Sōtō Zen monk Kōbun Otogawa, who Jobs saw as a life guide and teacher, eventually inviting him to be the spiritual leader at NeXT in 1985.
Zen continued to have a profound effect on Jobs, manifesting itself in his aesthetic sensibilities and sometimes ascetic lifestyle. Nobuyuki points out that the religion's call for spartanism, coupled with Germany's Bauhaus movement, found its way into the minimalist design of many Apple products. Although Jony Ive is and was the lead designer of the company's most iconic devices, Jobs always had the final say before any design hit the production floor.
Jobs didn't rely on austere external beauty alone and another Japanese influence played a part in creating the technologically progressive internals of products Apple would release. Sony co-founder Akio Morita was a noted friend of Jobs, and the Apple chief said that he was inspired by the excitement behind the Japanese firm's transistor radios and Trinitron TVs.
Another takeaway from Sony was Jobs' signature black mock turtleneck and jeans "uniform" that was inspired by Sony's requirement for an employee dress code. Japanese designer Issey Miyake was commissioned to produce hundreds of the shirts, which Jobs wore for the rest of his life.
Outside of business, Jobs simply enjoyed most everything Japan had to offer. From the culture to the food, he was enamored; often taking trips to the country's old capital of Kyoto to soak-in the surroundings and eat the food
Even though he lived on a vegan diet, Jobs often made exceptions for Japanese fare like sushi and soba noodles. The chef of Café Mac, Apple's cafeteria, was sent to the Tsukiji Soba Academy to learn the art of soba making. Jobs reportedly even created his own concoction called "sashimi soba," or raw fish with buckwheat noodles.
In the U.S., Jobs would frequent Japanese establishments, being a regular at Jinsho, a Silicon Valley sushi-ya and Keigetsu, a sushi and kaiseki restaurant. The eateries ultimately became the spots where he would bring close friends and family to say goodbye before he passed away on Oct. 5, 2011.
Two days following Jobs' death, Keigetsu shuttered its doors, but he had "one more thing," as Nobuyuki uses the phrase coined by the former CEO to introduce new products, in store for his company.
Earlier in the year, when he caught wind of the restaurant's impending closure, Jobs offered manager and chef Toshio Sakuma a job at Apple. Following the tech guru's death, Sakuma began serving Jobs' favorite dishes at the employee cafeteria; a fitting final farewell from Jobs to the company he created.
An in-depth article published on Friday by Japanese news site Nippon.com illustrates how the country's culture, people and even food influenced Jobs, as seen in both his private and business lives.
Longtime Apple journalist Hayashi Nobuyuki sifted through years of reportage on Jobs and his tumultuous rise within the tech industry to find exactly how Japan affected the former Apple chief.
Nobuyuki writes that it all began when Jobs first discovered Zen Buddhism. After a long period of soul-searching, including a short stint to India, Jobs found the Japanese school of China's ancient religion at a temple close to his home in Los Altos, California. There he met Sōtō Zen monk Kōbun Otogawa, who Jobs saw as a life guide and teacher, eventually inviting him to be the spiritual leader at NeXT in 1985.
Zen continued to have a profound effect on Jobs, manifesting itself in his aesthetic sensibilities and sometimes ascetic lifestyle. Nobuyuki points out that the religion's call for spartanism, coupled with Germany's Bauhaus movement, found its way into the minimalist design of many Apple products. Although Jony Ive is and was the lead designer of the company's most iconic devices, Jobs always had the final say before any design hit the production floor.
Jobs didn't rely on austere external beauty alone and another Japanese influence played a part in creating the technologically progressive internals of products Apple would release. Sony co-founder Akio Morita was a noted friend of Jobs, and the Apple chief said that he was inspired by the excitement behind the Japanese firm's transistor radios and Trinitron TVs.
Another takeaway from Sony was Jobs' signature black mock turtleneck and jeans "uniform" that was inspired by Sony's requirement for an employee dress code. Japanese designer Issey Miyake was commissioned to produce hundreds of the shirts, which Jobs wore for the rest of his life.
Outside of business, Jobs simply enjoyed most everything Japan had to offer. From the culture to the food, he was enamored; often taking trips to the country's old capital of Kyoto to soak-in the surroundings and eat the food
Even though he lived on a vegan diet, Jobs often made exceptions for Japanese fare like sushi and soba noodles. The chef of Café Mac, Apple's cafeteria, was sent to the Tsukiji Soba Academy to learn the art of soba making. Jobs reportedly even created his own concoction called "sashimi soba," or raw fish with buckwheat noodles.
In the U.S., Jobs would frequent Japanese establishments, being a regular at Jinsho, a Silicon Valley sushi-ya and Keigetsu, a sushi and kaiseki restaurant. The eateries ultimately became the spots where he would bring close friends and family to say goodbye before he passed away on Oct. 5, 2011.
Two days following Jobs' death, Keigetsu shuttered its doors, but he had "one more thing," as Nobuyuki uses the phrase coined by the former CEO to introduce new products, in store for his company.
Earlier in the year, when he caught wind of the restaurant's impending closure, Jobs offered manager and chef Toshio Sakuma a job at Apple. Following the tech guru's death, Sakuma began serving Jobs' favorite dishes at the employee cafeteria; a fitting final farewell from Jobs to the company he created.
Comments
I shudder to think how the Android people here will twist this.
I find it altogether humorous that Android people insist on hanging around Apple news sites in the first place.
Like moths to a flame.
I won't be pc and I ll say that Japan has many accomplishments and cultural significancies to admire, but it also harbours some of the most sadistic, twisted, and uniform mentalities.
Wow! Where have you been visiting? Maybe you should go home when the trains stop running...
But I agree... they aren't exactly New England pilgrims, are they
I won't be pc and I ll say that Japan has many accomplishments and cultural significancies to admire, but it also harbours some of the most sadistic, twisted, and uniform mentalities.
As does any culture on the face of this planet covered with humans.
Let's try and focus on the positives before the thread turns into another them vs us argument involving countries instead of operating systems...
Wasn't the Powerbook 100 designed by Sony?
Yep, alongside the AIDG.
I won't be pc and I ll say that Japan has many accomplishments and cultural significancies to admire, but it also harbours some of the most sadistic, twisted, and uniform mentalities.
Quite a statement.
I lived in Osaka and Tokyo for more than 3 years and didn't experience anything like what you described. Sound's like Steve didn't either.
Where in Japan, exactly, did you personally encounter individuals with these "sadistic" and "twisted" mentalities?
Soba noodles are an exception to a vegan diet?
I shudder to think how the Android people here will twist this.
Sushi is to Apple as pizza is to Android. See if anyone gets this ...
Quite a statement.
I lived in Osaka and Tokyo for more than 3 years and didn't experience anything like what you described. Sound's like Steve didn't either.
Where in Japan, exactly, did you personally encounter individuals with these "sadistic" and "twisted" mentalities?
I'm guessing that he's speaking historically, in particular the World War II atrocities committed against American POWs (including the Bataan Death March), the capturing of millions of young Korean girls to become sex slaves for Japanese soldiers, the Japanese cruelty in running occupied China, etc. Definitely all very twisted and sadistic.
I'm not making a jingoistic value judgment, nor comparing them to any other culture - we had our massacres of Native Americans, among other things. The Japanese of that time, though, seemed to be especially sadistic.
I'm guessing that he's speaking historically, in particular the World War II atrocities committed against American POWs (including the Bataan Death March), the capturing of millions of young Korean girls to become sex slaves for Japanese soldiers, the Japanese cruelty in running occupied China, etc. Definitely all very twisted and sadistic.
I'm not making a jingoistic value judgment, nor comparing them to any other culture - we had our massacres of Native Americans, among other things. The Japanese of that time, though, seemed to be especially sadistic.
Foot binding is another good one. Or he's just watched a few hentai and Ichi the Killer and passed judgement based on that
Foot binding is another good one.
I thought that was a Chinese practice.
Or he's just watched a few hentai
Ah, that might do it.
I'm guessing that he's speaking historically, in particular the World War II atrocities committed against American POWs (including the Bataan Death March), the capturing of millions of young Korean girls to become sex slaves for Japanese soldiers, the Japanese cruelty in running occupied China, etc. Definitely all very twisted and sadistic.
I'm not making a jingoistic value judgment, nor comparing them to any other culture - we had our massacres of Native Americans, among other things. The Japanese of that time, though, seemed to be especially sadistic.
Exactly, it's a cultural thing, Experiments on live human subjects that involved amputations and various fom of physical torture, the harakere, by far the more ruthless in WWII as torturers, slave porn trade atrocities to make the hair raise on anyone...I am not making a value judgment on this, it's just my frank impression. And of course there all sorts of small points divorce laws, reality shows, hentai, their criminals, foot binding, the geisha culture etc.
It seems he picked and chose from their culture rather than accepting it wholesale. I think he just liked anything, Japanese or not, that was minimalist or perfectionist.
I thought that was a Chinese practice.
My bad you are correct. Actually, according to wikipedia, it looks like in 1915 the Japanese banned foot binding practice in Taiwan. Interesting
But he didn't watch Japanese movies and read Japanese comics, which you usually associate with Japan-o-philes.
It seems he picked and chose from their culture rather than accepting it wholesale. I think he just liked anything, Japanese or not, that was minimalist or perfectionist.
Good point, and the zen practise and aesthetic is assuch.
First of all, Shinto is the official Japanese state religion, not Zen Buddhism which is mostly a Western affectation of, get this, white people.
Steve gravitated toward Japanese aesthetics, without bothering committing himself to following the dogma of organized religious orders. More specifically, Steve liked the archaic "chanoyu" ("tea ceremony") aesthetic that has been long abandoned by the Japanese mainstream. Steve was basically embracing a 200+ year old aesthetic which is like being a fan of Western European baroque choral music.
Concerning the butchering of the nearby sushi restaurant that closed: the restaurant's name was Kaygetsu, located at the Sharon Heights Shopping Center in Menlo Park, California. This is a failure on AppleInsider's part to do BASIC RESEARCH THAT A NORMAL JOURNALISTIC ENTITY WOULD HAVE TO PERFORM, research that would have taken 3-5 seconds with an Internet search engine.
More proof that journalism is utterly dead.
This post is so deplorably researched that it's positively embarrassing.
First of all, Shinto is the official Japanese state religion, not Zen Buddhism which is mostly a Wester affectation of, get this, white people.
Steve gravitated toward Japanese aesthetics, without bothering committing himself to following the dogma of organized religious orders. More specifically, Steve liked the archaic "chanoyu" ("tea ceremony") aesthetic that has been long abandoned by Japanese consumers. Steve was basically embracing a 200+ year old aesthetic which is like being a fan of Western European baroque choral music.
Concerning the butchering of the nearby sushi restaurant that closed: the restaurant's name was Kaygetsu, located at the Sharon Heights Shopping Center in Menlo Park, California. This is a failure on AppleInsider's part to do BASIC RESEARCH THAT A NORMAL JOURNALISTIC ENTITY WOULD HAVE TO PERFORM.
More proof that journalism is utterly dead.
Then why are you reading anything here? GO READ SOMETHING THAT MEETS YOUR REAL STANDARD OF WHAT JOURNALISM IS. Oh, you are ...
I simply object to tech writers trying to pass themselves off as journalists.
I JUST WANT TO REITERTATE TO THE PEOPLE READING THIS THAT THE OPERATORS OF THIS SITE DON'T CARE ABOUT ACCURACY.
I just read this site for entertainment purposes. Still, it's a shame when someone tries to pass off fiction as fact.