Managing for Creativity in Japan Talking with Foreign Executives in Japan

Smoking Husks

“The education system is based on rote learning and not asking questions. By the time people pop out of the education system (where the goal is to get the highest marks possible so you can get into one of the good universities) they are intellectually burnt out. They are smoking husks. The exam system just burns everyone out. They become good at acquiring information but creativity is more than that, it is making new connections between different concepts and ideas and things.”