I think Japanese people are very much obsessed with questioning themselves, because our entire culture was questioned when western modernity forced its way into our society about one hundred and fifty years ago. It’s a difficult mindset, because it oscillates between two poles—east and west. The clash of “Sakoku”—the hermetic Japanese tradition that lasted form the 17th until the 19th century—and western modernity in the middle of the 19th century still echoes in our minds and culture, making us open for experiments and extremes, but also unstable. Kiyonori Muroga

Of Eastern and Western culture, neither is ever superior to the other. They are two streams of thinking. Sugiura keeps asking himself: how would the logical architecture school of thought function in the Eastern mindset? So he started researching Taoism and even went to India for his studies. He realized that the relationship between “inhale” and “exhale” in vital breathing is actually similar in concept to how cultures and methodologies relate to each other. Neither Eastern nor Western culture represents absolute truth. They correlate to each other. The most important thing is that before learning a different culture we should have a thorough understanding of our own culture...  Prof. Jingren Lu

[...] Germans tend to strictly obey rules, the Swiss are relatively flexible, and the Dutch are freestyle. People from the East might not see these differences, because we are lacking in sharp, radical, and logical analysis compared to the West. We focus on sensuality, on feeling and looking at things with an empirical approach. These are some of the merits of our culture because the senses apply widely and are flexible in nature, but the downside is a lack of science and accuracy. East Asian culture – Chinese, Japanese and Korean – relates to Taoism. Of these cultures, Chinese culture is rather approximate and comforting, whereas Japanese culture embraces Zen and Wabi-sabi. We can illustrate these differences with example of movable letterpress and woodblock printing. Although movable type was invented in China, Johannes Gutenberg introduced sophisticated rules on typography. By contrast, the Chinese also pay attention to grids and forms, but we do printing and engraving in an intuitive way. The East pursues logic in contingency, whilst the West pursues a soft touch within logic. Both have their own strength and beauty.  Prof. Jingren Lu

Until recently typical Korean graphic design didn’t really appreciate empty spaces, and it liked to mix things. I suspect people feel a bit uncomfortable with starkness or with highly rational designs. Simple-looking design solutions, however well-considered, would appear “lazy” because of the lack of ornamental elaboration. But a preference for mixing things has produced some of the most interesting works in Korea, such as Choi Jeong Hwa’s mixture of the high and the low, the precious and the vulgar. Min Choi

Considering positive values in contemporary Japanese culture, I would point to the ability to accept ephemerality and the ability to handle the contradictions of hybridity. One could even look at ephemerality and hybridity as two interdependent phenomena.
[…] Design-wise, there are these two sides to Japan: On one hand, we have the white, clean, restrained, almost sacred approach, represented for example by the Japanese retail company Muji. On the other hand, we have this very messy, colorful, and expressive approach that you can observe in the streets or in Manga publications. For me there is no conflict, but a diversity in our culture—that, admittedly, some people don’t want to accept as authentic Japanese culture. Tetsuya Goto

There is something that I hope to achieve professionally: I want to be a bridge between people and societies. Even though Japanese culture imports a lot of resources, we still stay isolated. We’re not so good at connecting back to other cultures. This attitude has no future, and I want to help get past it by nurturing a culture of translation. […] And I’m not talking about mirroring or literal translation. I’m talking about a translation that takes serious cultural gaps into consideration. Tetsuya Goto

We are a multicultural trio! Our heritage is Egyptian, Iraqi, Emirati, and Iranian. We are constantly trying to learn more about our heritage and find literature that does not correspond to the Western canon. That has been a challenge, and will likely be a life-long pursuit.   Hala Al-Ani (Mobius Studio)

We thrive in places that have a sense of camaraderie and try to avoid places that promote individualism.  We agree 100% on this. This is a Eurocentric thing, and there is a reason for us growing up with English being the main focus in our classrooms. From the onset, we’ve been exposed to a Western education. Back then (and now still), speaking good English is a sign of prestige. But we feel that we are at a loss. We wish we could go back and focus more on our mother tongue. It is a shame. Literally, we feel embarrassed that it is so difficult for us to conduct a full conversation in Arabic. In university, we didn’t have access to Arabic typography. Can you imagine?  Hala Al-Ani (Mobius Studio)

We would encourage designers to research more about their roots rather than rely on their Eurocentric education.  Hala Al-Ani (Mobius Studio)

Actually, I don’t see my approach as experimental. I don’t set things up to turn out in unexpected ways. I try to find an intense expression of the content in every detail of the book. This sometimes leads to unusual design solutions. But I don’t see this as experimental, because it is closely linked to the content. Being unconventional doesn’t necessarily equate to being experimental… Xiao Mage

I’m very interested in how the concept of design—a phenomenon of western culture and history—could be translated into our culture. What most people in Japan call design is craft or art. The more abstract approach to form artifacts, which is a characteristic of design, is rather new in Japan and other Asian countries.
[…] We have no “western” sense of efficiency. After working some time in Europe, I realized that western people are often driven by logical thinking. They tend to plan the whole (design) working process. And when they reach the planned endpoint, for them, work is completed.
In Japan, we don’t set our goals before we start. Our “briefing culture” is very vague. I would put it this way: We are making things while thinking. We don’t come up with the thought first. We start following a promising path towards a rather vague idea, curious about where it takes us. Along the way, we might already go pass the point that we need to go, but we don’t even realize it. That’s what might look extreme to western people. Japanese people are taught to work thoroughly, deeply. Stopping halfway is not a good thing in our culture. But I have to admit, this makes us not very efficient.
[…] Craftsmanship and detail are important notions in design, architecture, and art. A lot of people would probably also say concept, but in my opinion that’s a self-delusion. I really think that Japanese design is more about composition and refinement. Maybe one could even state that there’s a lack of concept in Japan. I think this has to do with the structure of Japanese society.  
Japan is a highly contextual and hermetic society. Only 2 percent of our population is non-Japanese. Although we have some ethnic particularities, like for example the Ainu in Hokkaido, we basically all look the same and are brought up within the same environment, cherishing the same codes of collectiveness. In daily life we don’t really need to explain ourselves. Mutual context creates easy understanding. It may sound funny to you, but almost everything can be communicated without a smart concept—because within a concept, you don’t need a concept.
But, as I said earlier, Japanese graphic designers are getting more and more curious about the concept of concept. Tetsuya Goto