Who is the most intelligent, the Americans, or the Japanese?

Answer 1

For starters, it is "Who *ARE* the most intelligent..." in your Question.

And for enders....I am not even going to touch on any questions of absolute intelligence because aside from that being difficult as all get-out to even *define* in a consistent manner across cultures, the truth is, yes, you shouldn't generalize or stereotype across cultures so broadly, we have both geniuses and imbeciles who are Too Stupid To Live (tm) in both nations (if my limited exposure to Japan and Japanese people is any indication).

But. Having said all that. I really DO think that most typically, if you go by the *modal* or most commonplace figures, you will find that the Japanese are by and large *better educated* than we are. Quite simply, they have a better education system. From what I hear, they aren't as *afraid* of making their kids WORK at school with drills and homework as we are in the States....they have the best attributes from *OUR* old-school education system after all, *without* the agrairian society leftovers that make us an embarrassment to the world (too much summer vacation, no Saturday schooling, too much *false* controversy over the "roles" science and sex/health education play in the classroom, and an elitist "physical education" system that truly is letting the Non-Jock Majority go to waste).

Not to mention...the culture is different. Aside from a presumption of a Farming Society being absent (and really, do we need to hold on to this for the benefit of some *three percent* of our own population?), Japan, or at least its *urban* side of it, seems to favor a culture of intellect....

Meaning, if you are smart, well-read, or well-educated, and/or a geek, in Japan, it is on average *something to be expected* and generally seen as a good thing.

In America, being smart (or well educated) gets you attacked, harrassed, bullied, teased, and generally tormented until/unless you dumb yourself down to "fit in" and survive. Basically, the lesson being taught here is not about Being Smart....it is about KissingAss. Pardon me if that is hard to read, you know how Yahoo is.

But yes, intelligence simply is NOT valued at all in America, not anywhere to the degree that pure old *sucking up* is.

So yes, I believe it can be said that in Japan (or in Austrailia, or in the UK, or pretty much in *any* other developed nation of the world), people are *typically* better educated than we are and the culture *allows* them to be in the habit of *using their heads* more than ours does.

And it is a shame too....but this is what happens with a SuperStar based culture, this is what happens when you let the Elites, and your Richest One Percent, ruin *all* they touch.

Answer 2

This is a somewhat interesting question. There was a study done about 10 years ago that attempted to measure the scholastic aptitude of elementary school children in Minnesota, Japan, and Taiwan. The results were essentially identical in all three groups. However, the Minnesota kids perhaps had a slight verbal advantage, while the Asian children (both groups) had a slight advantage in Math. However, the two cultures are vastly different. Our American culture tends to encourage diversity and individuality and "being different" whereas the Japanese culture tends to encourage being the same and conforming to standards. Thus, the American culture encourages innovation, while the Japanese culture encourages efficiency. Thus our two cultures compliment each other very well, partly explaining why Japan is our largest trading partner, (not counting Canada, which is essentially domestic trade, in my opinion).

Answer 3

While it's true that you shouldn't generalise but I think if you got a group of test subjects from the average american population and another group of average japanese and subjected them to general knowledge questions and intelligence questions, no doubt that the japanese would win with flying colours.
Sorry, I don't want to look racist but it is true that the culture in Japan expects people from a very young age to to their best and nothing but the best and the same goes for school performance, hence they have better educated and more intelligent adults.

Answer 4

Generally I'm against this kind of generalisation, but in my experience, as a European with a bit of esperience with both groups
I found Japanese mostly curteous, well informed and modest.
If these are signs of intelligence they beat US Americans hands down.

Answer 5

if you listen to radio 4 it was scary a programme they had a week ago about the amount of money the Japanese spend on arm it is growing to the same amount as America spends. the Japanese obviously realise if they want power and wealth together they have to spend a lot of money especially with china growing so quickly. having lots of war ships and planes is a measure of intelligence on its own, would you not think.

Answer 6

The Japanese. Look at the country post-war. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were devastated when the US dropped atomic bombs on both cities, but the Japs rebuilt both cities and went on to become a major player on the world stage, certainly from an economic point of view. Credit where it's due, that is only to be admired in my opinion.

Answer 7

Intellengence is a trait of the human being.. no matter where the individual is born .to say which COUNTRY is the most intellegent is regressing back to HITLERS time when he declared the Germans as the most intellengent(tall blue eyed and blond and white) and then set up "programs" to eliminate all others that where not in his ''intellengence catogory "....with respect your type of question only leads to division on the larger scale....have a good look at your answers.....

Answer 8

Overall, the Japanese probably have an average IQ a couple points higher than U.S. But, that tells you nothing about any particular individual. It's just an average of all the scores.

Answer 9

The Japanese of course,the Americans will never be intelligent,because everytime they try to be,they ****-up every time,that's why we have wars going on.

Answer 10

The Japanese... No doubt