There seems to be some confusion/mis-interpretation about the 5 part.
This is called 五回のなぜ in Japanese ("Go-kai no naze," or Why Five Times) and refers to root cause analysis. Of course the number of times the process need be repeated until the root cause is identified is variable. Five in this case is merely a jingly mnemonic, as Japanese people are so fond of.
Exactly. This is all about getting to root causes.
I learned this working in a manufacturing environment for several years the was implementing the Toyota Production System and all the things that are a part of it like Kaizen, Kanban, etc.
After I left I thought it was too bad that all that good process was locked into the manufacturing world. I've seen it creep in more and more, often under the classification of UX with understanding user flows and actual problems of usability on a site (another area where asking why 5 times is very helpful to get to the root of a user's feedback).
I've also seen what I call "kanban flavored agile" be one of the most effective engineering processes for environments with ever changing requirements who don't need the rigid deadlines of sprint-based planning. When I saw it in manufacturing it was all about "just in time delivery" meaning a factory could easily switch production lines when suppliers missed deliveries (or delivered defective goods) or a machine broke down, etc. Which when you compare to the sorts of things that happen most every day in a typical software organization doesn't sound all that different.
I've always thought the idea behind "5" was to encourage you to ask more than once or twice. I think it's natural to stop after once or twice but you usually get the good stuff further along. Why is the sky blue? The atmosphere. Oh, ok -- I got it. There's a lot more to the story.
I don't really get how that pun works (it's not as though that's a common phrase). It seems more likely that it's chosen just because five is a round number.
If we're just going for homophones it could just as easily be "fifth floor" but that also doesn't make a lot of sense as a pun.
Two contemporary factors that argue for less war making stand out for me. One is technology, already being touched on elsewhere in this thread. Militaries now command destructive power that better approximates what is required to accomplish a goal, enabled by technological improvements (i.e. footage of the JDAM guiding itself through a structure's window during the Gulf conflict).
Another factor is that the age of commercial airliners and the global transport systems has made efficient global migration & trade a reality for decades now. What citizens would accept attacking their brothers and sisters in another country, attacking their trading partners with whom they make their livings? Perhaps this is now the quintessential limiting factor in making war.
Um, combined with societies becoming more sex-positive, we are edging closer to realizing the mantra Make Love, Not War!
> What citizens would accept attacking their brothers and sisters in another country, attacking their trading partners with whom they make their livings?
You might want to take a look at the data of import / exports for countries in Europe before WWII. Being someone biggest trading partner didn't stop anyone's attacks.
> What citizens would accept attacking their brothers and sisters in another country, attacking their trading partners with whom they make their livings?
The bitter truth that Russians have to deal with is that most of the population is so susceptible to being brainwashed, they will gladly turn on their brothers and sisters after a few years of watching state-controlled media.
To add further context, domestic investors are more risk averse relative to the modus operandi in the West. Prevailing Japanese business culture still frowns somewhat upon the primary pursuit of individual financial wealth, and this may be related to the difficulty of performing Western-style exits with big payoffs that attract investors and their funds in the first place. The young are able to better seize upon these opportunities as they are not as inculcated, they are systemically not let on the bus, and in their despondence are more apt to emulate the successes of their Western peers.
Given the high level of creative intelligence in Japan and also certain economic inefficiencies that Prime Minister Abe has acknowledged and is just taking steps to address, I hope these and many other factors give rise to a new breed of high-profile Japanese entrepreneurs with global aspirations. The future of country is in part depending on them.
Perhaps the author can come to an agreement with Spotify to integrate their service under different licensing terms. It might run into money, but that can be cast positively as forcing more clarity for the revenue model.
This is called 五回のなぜ in Japanese ("Go-kai no naze," or Why Five Times) and refers to root cause analysis. Of course the number of times the process need be repeated until the root cause is identified is variable. Five in this case is merely a jingly mnemonic, as Japanese people are so fond of.