Essays

生き甲斐 — Finding meaning

• Six Sigma Lean Manufacturing: Kaizen's Role in Excellence

  When Toyota's assembly line workers stop production to fix a minor defect, they're not just solving a problem—they're em

  5 min read

• What Is Toyota Production System: A Complete Guide

  When you think about Japanese productivity and manufacturing excellence, one system stands above all others: the Toyota

  5 min read

• The Continuous Improvement Process: Japanese Methods That Work

  In an era where businesses face relentless pressure to do more with less, the Japanese philosophy of continuous improvem

  4 min read

• What is the Toyota Production System? A Complete Guide

  Understanding the Toyota Production System The Toyota Production System (TPS) stands as one of the most influential mana

  4 min read

• Just-in-Time Manufacturing: Japan's Gift to Global Productivity

  In the aftermath of World War II, when resources were scarce and efficiency was critical, a quiet revolution began on th

  4 min read

• Total Quality Management: Japan's Gift to Global Productivity

  When American statistician W. Edwards Deming traveled to Japan in 1950 to teach quality control methods, neither he nor

  5 min read

• Total Quality Management: Japanese Productivity Excellence

  When Toyota revolutionized manufacturing in the 1950s, they didn't just create better cars—they sparked a global transfo

  5 min read

• Toyota Production System: Master Japanese Productivity

  When Toyota solidified its position as the world's largest auto manufacturer in 2023, accounting for 10.7% of the global

  5 min read

• 5S

  5S is a workplace organization methodology with roots in Japanese manufacturing. Like many Japanese concepts adopted by Western business, it's often i

  5 min read

• Ikigai and the Western Productivity Trap

  The Western interpretation of ikigai has been distorted into a career planning framework. Four overlapping circles—what you love, what you're good a

  5 min read

• Ikigai

  The Western internet discovered ikigai and immediately turned it into a career planning framework—the intersection of what you love, what you're goo

  5 min read

• Kaizen

  Kaizen is often translated as "continuous improvement," but this misses the deeper meaning. The concept isn't about improvement as a project with a be

  5 min read