Unpromising as the title might strike you, Japanese Design and Development (Gower/Design Council, £32.50, ISBN 0 566 07718 3) is something of a fascinator. Postwar industry in Japan started up from ruin with American help and quickly adapted American methods to its own mentality and energy. Its staggering impact is obvious the world over. This slim book by Nobuki Ohtani et al is enlightening about the Japanese approach to design, often an afterthought in Western industry, and even more so on Japanese management techniques.
More from New Scientist
Explore the latest news, articles and features
Popular articles
Trending New Scientist articles
1
The world's fastest spider tops 3.5 metres per second
2
Where, when and how to watch the 2026 solar eclipse
3
Babies are born with the neural foundations for maths
4
We’ve uncovered a master gene that switches on human development
5
The race to understand how and when Thwaites glacier will collapse
6
Our verdict on The Selfish Gene: An unpopular piece of popular science
7
I’m the first person whose life was saved by CRISPR base editing
8
Humans sleep the least of all apes – is it the secret to our success?
9
The best sci-fi novel in 2026 so far – plus 6 other great reads
10
This physicist is hunting for the biggest black hole in the universe
