[jwi]

Mickaël Mawem did spend some time bouldering in Tokyo in the beginning of the year, and after having returned to France he was asked by planetgrimpe about his impressions.

https://planetgrimpe.com/voyage-au-centre-du-japon-micka-mawem-nous-raconte-son-sejour-a-tokyo/

[jwi]

Some interesting points:

If you go into a Japanese bouldering wall one evening and take the top 40 in the venue, I think they all finish in the top 50 of the French Championship.

"You ask yourself why they are so strong? For the simple reason that they are always pushing hard", exclaims Micka. "Over there, the hardest boulders in the gym are worth 8C outside. And people work them over and over again [...]

However, according to Micka, we have nothing to envy our Asian friends when it comes to the quality of the setting. "It's really not great", says the Frenchman, used to the demanding style of our problems in France. "In France, we have the ability to do complex things, really more technical and demanding in terms of movements. They set less complex problems".

[mrjonathanr]

Is there a cultural tendency to focus on excellence in one area from a young age, rather than do lots of ‘sport’ and eventually settle into a particular preference?

[Tom de Gay]

Thanks for sharing this. I was in Tokyo at the same time as him, also climbed at B-Pump a few times (Mickaël says hi…) and came away with a similar impression. The average level of the after-work and Sunday afternoon crowd was very impressive. The women's level was particularly high and the best efforts I saw on the hardest problems were by women.

The style of setting has changed dramatically at B-Pump. 5+ years ago it was mostly clawing up closely spaced rat-crimps. Now it's all burly volume moves and people's shoulders have ballooned accordingly. I climbed there for several sessions and never even half-crimped a hold. Obviously, that's been the general trend in indoor climbing, but the contrast seems quite marked.

The B-Pump wall in Yokohama has a whole panel dedicated to Core holds, which is nice to see.

[Fiend]

"You ask yourself why they are so strong? For the simple reason that they are always pushing hard", exclaims Micka. "Over there, the hardest boulders in the gym are worth 8C outside. And people work them over and over again [...]

Doesn't that contradict the 85% efforts protocol?

Also Mickael was much hotter with the tied back braids 

[jwi]

Is there a cultural tendency to focus on excellence in one area from a young age, rather than do lots of ‘sport’ and eventually settle into a particular preference?

I'm not a great expert, but in my opinion, they do on average value a dedication to perfectionism as a general concept higher than other cultures I know.

This does mostly apply to adult life as far as I understand. But I know little.

[Tom de Gay]

I guess stuff like kaizen is well known, the trains are punctual, etc, etc. If so, you’d expect to see an unusually high general level in comparable sports such as gymnastics. Is that the case?

The counter view might be that it’s mostly demographics. Indoor bouldering has become a mainstream activity in one of the world’s most populous areas. The population is affluent with low levels of obesity. There aren’t that many climbing walls (per capita), but they’re all easily accessible by train. There are plenty of other ways to spend your time, so if you’re not syked you drop out, leaving a self-selecting group of high performers. The group is large because the input was large.

[duncan]

I guess stuff like kaizen is well known, the trains are punctual, etc, etc. If so, you’d expect to see an unusually high general level in comparable sports such as gymnastics. Is that the case?

Japan are a powerhouse in men's gymnastics. The all round gymnastics gold medalists in 2012, 2016 and 2021 were all Japanese. Since WW2, the Japanese and USSR/Russian all-round men's individual and men's teams tie for most gold medals. The women are not as successful historically but are catching up.

The country is also very strong in figure skating. In the last twenty years, Japanese men have won the most individual Olympic medals and the women are second to Russia.

You could tell a similar story in activities like classical music and ballet that also require a dedication to perfectionism.

[duncan]

I guess stuff like kaizen is well known, the trains are punctual, etc, etc. If so, you’d expect to see an unusually high general level in comparable sports such as gymnastics. Is that the case?

Japan are a powerhouse in men's gymnastics. The all round gymnastics gold medalists in 2012, 2016 and 2021 were all Japanese. Since WW2, the Japanese and USSR/Russian all-round men's individual and men's teams tie for most gold medals. The women are not as successful historically but are catching up.

The country is also very strong in figure skating. In the last twenty years, Japanese men have won the largest number of individual Olympic medals and the women are second to Russia.

You could tell a similar story in activities like classical music and ballet that also require a dedication to perfectionism.

[Tom de Gay]

You could tell a similar story in activities like classical music and ballet that also require a dedication to perfectionism.

Also in more quotidian activities such as fruit cultivation, tree pruning, gift wrapping, handwriting…

[seankenny]

But also, they have a population of 125m people and surely one would expect a rich country with a large population to produce high achievers in plenty of fields.

I saw in the news last week that Japanese attempts to make a jet airliner have ended in failure. Perhaps making planes is the wrong sort of perfectionism!

Note that I know bugger all about Japan and I’m quite willing to be wrong, but the basic fact of a large, rich population has to be quite a driver.

[jwi]

I saw in the news last week that Japanese attempts to make a jet airliner have ended in failure. Perhaps making planes is the wrong sort of perfectionism!

Considering that there are only two manufacturer of jet airliners in the world, and one of them would have already failed after building a jet that habitually crashed—if they had not been supported by the richest country in the world, I gather that it is extremely hard to manufacture them.

[seankenny]

Well exactly, which is why “dedication to perfectionism” doesn’t strike me as a good answer for success in almost any field. With the proviso that Duncan knows far, far more about Japan and its culture than I ever will.

[honroid]

"You ask yourself why they are so strong? For the simple reason that they are always pushing hard", exclaims Micka. "Over there, the hardest boulders in the gym are worth 8C outside. And people work them over and over again [...]

Doesn't that contradict the 85% efforts protocol?

Also Mickael was much hotter with the tied back braids 

Depends what your 100% is..