Are you more like Captain America, Hulk, and Iron Man \u2014 or more like San Goku, Monkey D. Luffy, and Naruto?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m not trying to make a cheap internet quiz or boost engagement with emoji reactions. I\u2019m talking about culture\u2014social culture, enterprise culture\u2014and something we call \u201ccoopetition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And last week, I came across a fun article by Peter Merholz about evolving your career using Pok\u00e9mon and Charmander\u2026 So why not use pop culture to explain a point of view?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, what\u2019s the difference between American and Japanese superheroes?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s start with how most American superheroes come to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Captain America is the result of a military experiment. And compared to others who received the super serum, his transformation works because he\u2019s pure of heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hulk \u2014 our favorite overpowered green giant with anger management issues \u2014 is also the result of an army experiment. The only reason he manages to control his inner Mr. Hyde is because he\u2019s a brilliant scientist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iron Man? His power is money. Money inherited from his father, who made a fortune selling weapons\u2026 to the army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other notable examples include: Spider-Man, bitten by a radioactive spider; Thor, son of a god; and every X-Men member, powered by a genetic mutation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sure, not every American hero is military-related \u2014 but a significant number inherit their powers and then need to learn how to control them. It\u2019s a gift, of sorts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, let\u2019s talk about our Japanese counterparts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Son Goku<\/strong> is a Saiyan (from another planet), and in his first story, he starts young. Pretty much every story arc follows the same formula:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOh no! A big, bad, super-strong evil [monster, robot, alien, whatever] just arrived on Earth and is kicking our asses. Let\u2019s train for a season and then kick his ass back.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n And so he trains\u2014until his power level goes over 9000!!! (Yes, that\u2019s a geek reference.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Monkey D. Luffy<\/strong>, our future King of the Pirates, eats a Devil Fruit\u2014a fruit that gives him powers\u2014but it\u2019s a dumb one. He becomes rubbery. That\u2019s it. A rubber man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And yet, this idiot with an unbreakable will trains\u2014mostly by fighting. He usually gets his ass kicked, but he comes back again and again until he wins the crucial battle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Naruto<\/strong>, an orphan who dreams of becoming Hokage (the #1 ninja and basically the \u201cpresident\u201d of the Hidden Leaf Village), starts off as a loud, annoying underdog. Sure, he has tremendous potential that we slowly uncover, but he has to train hard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He trains with his classmates, his mentors, and\u2014most importantly\u2014by having a rival and friend: Sasuke<\/strong>, the cool, powerful, emo kid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other notable examples include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Japanese shonen (manga), you become great by training\u2014not by being born special.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What about the villains?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Funny enough, that text made me reflect on their evil counterparts\u2014and there\u2019s a trend there too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In most classic American hero stories, the villains need to be brought to justice. And where do they usually end up? In jail\u2026 until the sequel, of course\u2014because they somehow escaped. Batman knows a thing or two about that problem. It\u2019s called Arkham Asylum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And Japanese villains?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, a lot of them end up becoming friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Son Goku became allies with Piccolo, Vegeta, Tien Shinhan, Androids 17 and 18, Majin Buu, and many more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Monkey D. Luffy turned former enemies into crewmates or allies like Nico Robin, Franky, Jinbe, Trafalgar D. Law, and his most loyal of all: Bon Clay (Mr. 2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Same thing with Naruto\u2014he eventually gained the trust and support of Gaara, Neji, Nagato\/Pain, Itachi, Sasuke, Obito, and even Orochimaru.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why all those pop culture references?<\/p>\n\n\n\n They\u2019re really just a way to talk about coopetition<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Coopetition<\/strong> is a blend of cooperation<\/em> and competition<\/em>. It happens when rivals work together toward a common goal while still competing in other areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And honestly, I like the idea of local coopetition<\/strong>\u2014and I see it reflected in our local ecosystem and the multiple communities I\u2019m part of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If I had to summarize the Japanese superhero<\/em> mindset, it\u2019s pretty simple:<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, what\u2019s your mindset?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Over time, characters have become more nuanced. Both American and Japanese heroes have begun borrowing elements from each other\u2019s cultures. And thankfully\u2026 not all heroes are men anymore. Still, we can observe clear cultural patterns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m writing this because, back in 2010, a few competing agencies decided to organize an event that would benefit everyone \u2014 something bigger than the sum of its parts. What started as WaQ, a 200-person event, is being reborn this year as Interface<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s still built by competitors who embrace the coopetition mindset<\/strong> \u2014 that Sh\u014dnen<\/em>, manga-inspired spirit:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Train hard, challenge each other, grow together, and build something greater<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, thank you for creating that event with that mindset back then, and thank you to the community for keeping the tradition (and culture) alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cheers and have a nice Interface25 !<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Are you more like Captain America, Hulk, and Iron Man \u2014 or more like San Goku, Monkey D. Luffy, and Naruto? I\u2019m not trying to make a cheap internet quiz or boost engagement with emoji reactions. I\u2019m talking about culture\u2014social culture, enterprise culture\u2014and something we call \u201ccoopetition.\u201d And last week, I came across a fun […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":410,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinions-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/andfriends.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/andfriends.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/andfriends.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andfriends.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andfriends.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/andfriends.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":411,"href":"https:\/\/andfriends.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409\/revisions\/411"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andfriends.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/andfriends.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andfriends.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andfriends.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
What about evil characters ?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Have you heard of coopetition?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Interface25: Coopetition since 2010<\/h2>\n\n\n\n