Asian UX Rules Out the West

Hey, it's Kushagra. Welcome to AtlasMoth's "Zoomed-Out UX" edition.

Last week at a design meet-up, a fellow designer mentioned they once believed a 30-minute user interview was enough to "know the user."

It hit me—how often do we mistake a glimpse for the full picture? We're usually just scratching the surface.

In this issue, we’re exploring why understanding users means understanding culture, context, and sometimes even Confucius.

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Can’t Lie, UX Needs to Go Deeper Than Just the User

Let’s not play.

When the squad builds apps or sites for folks worldwide, it hits differently.

Just chatting with a few users? Yeah, that’s not even close to enough.

Why? 'Cause you see what they do—but not why they do it.

To get a true feel for folks in a different land, the crew needs more than hot takes or fast chats. They need values, backstory, and lore.

And look—no place sets the stage quite like Japan in my opinion because of their crazy designs.

Japan’s got deep old roots.

And that long ride shapes how folks think, act, and vibe now—even with apps, tech, all that.

To get Japan, don’t just peek at Japan. Peep the East vs. West split.

For example: Greece vs. China.

Back in the Day...

Greece? Mad hills, tight zones. Each crew stayed in their neck of the woods.
No big squad goals—just grind and chill in their lane.

China? Big rivers. One big stream fed all the crops. Rice took squad work. Folks had to link up. Vibes were all peace, sync, and kept the flow.

That split shaped big minds.

In Greece, dudes like Plato and Ari were all, “What’s a chair? What’s real?”

They peeped things as solo bits.

Debate was the move. You could beef, 'cause you didn’t need your next-door guy.

China’s dude, Confucius? He said, “Let’s talk bonds, not things.”

He was like, “Keep the peace, know your rank, vibe with fam, don’t start mess.”

Greece was: truth > all
China was: the way > truth

But Greece ain’t the U.S., and China ain’t Japan.

These core values have been passed down through time.

Japan? Got hit with the Confucius flow way back in the 500s.

It shaped how folks view fam, school, rules, and chill.

One of the biggest gaps between East and West?

How folks look at stuff.

West side? Close-ups, solo shots.
East side? Big views, whole vibes.

And that’s not it.

A study peeked at old art from both sides.
Pics, shots, all that.

This lets the artist add more stuff—like hills, streams, or peeps—to show the full vibe.

In East Asian art, the face or body was small. Lot more world in the frame.
West? Zoomed in—full face, big drip.

The study said: East heads care more 'bout the scene than the star.

A study in the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology looked at art from kids in Canada and Japan.

It turns out that the Japanese kids drew the sky way higher than the Canadian ones. And their pictures? They're full of more stuff.

The scientists drew similar conclusions from the results.

What’s up with design in UX?

The crew at the University of Alberta in Edmonton checked out East vs. Canadian designs. They peeked at print ads and gov’t, and uni sites.

In both cases, the Asian designs packed in way more info.

They also checked how fast peeps could find stuff.
They asked folks to spot things on fake sites full of info.

The Japan site is packed with text and hints, while the UK site keeps it super simple.

Design Ideology?

So yeah, that big brain East style makes folks vibe with more in the UI.

But is that all? Nah, fam. It's not that cut and dry. Culture's deep.

Japan doesn’t just think differently —they write differently too.

They use these techniques:

1. Kanji = old school from Han China, packs deep meaning in one symbol.

2. Hiragana = smooth and native, one symbol per sound.

3. Katakana = for foreign stuff—names, tech, and more.

4. They also use normal numbers (1, 2, 3) and dates tied to the current emperor, which show up in UI.

Unlike West’s ABCs, the Japanese east’s script has no CAPS or italics.

To make a full Japanese font?

So, most Japanese websites look the same. Not 'cause they're lazy. It’s just how the game’s played.

With that many glyphs? Yeah, typing is a chore.

So what do they do?

They link everything.

No joke—click-click-click, not search-search.

3 Big Reasons Their Sites Look Packed:

1. They think widely, not just on one thing.

2. Their script holds a lot per mark.

3. They don’t love to type—so they need links, not search bars.

In Japanese UX, the best way to kill stress? Drop all the info.

More text, more trust.

For them, detail = “this brand knows its stuff.”

So in their world, design ain't just to look cute. It’s there to tell you all the things.

UI Goals?

West sites? Go for clean.
East sites? Go for clear.

Seen the Japanese YouTube thumbnails?

Text on text. Flash. Bold. Chaos (to us).

But to them? That’s the preview. That’s the truth.

It works, 'cause their brains don’t trip over the noise.

They scan, they get it, they click. All chill.

To get why Japanese UX is the way it is, you gotta zoom out to the old days.

Like, Kamakura + Muromachi era old.

Back then, they rolled with the ie (家) vibe—aka, the "house" or "fam" rule.

The setup? One roof. All gens. One dude in charge—most times the dad or first-born son. He made the calls. No vote. No chat. Just done.

That old-school men-lead-women-home split came from Confucian thought.

Men did the grind, women held it down at home.

That vibe stuck for a long time—some still feel it now.

Fast-forward to UX. Japan still ranks high on the "decide vs vibe it out" scale.

When sites pitch to men, they drop all the tech stats.

Specs everywhere. Logic-first. Less fluff.

Japanese sites use text walls, true.

But when is it time to show mood?

Words fall flat. So they flip the script.

They show the feels, not tell.

Photos do the heavy lifting.

You get the vibe, not the pitch.

Emojis? Total Japanese roots.
“E” = pic.
“Moji” = char.

Before emoji? They had kaomoji—like:

(＾▽＾) (╥﹏╥) (¬‿¬)

Way more depth than a :) or :/

Each one said way more than words could.

Japanese UX? It’s not just dense. It’s deep.

But wait, there’s so much more they didn’t cover.

Japanese UI draws from wabi-sabi aesthetics, manga influences, quirky talking tech, and a unique approach to color.

Lots of folks tried to explain why Japanese UX hits differently.

This goes way deeper.

If you’re a UX head? Look past the screen.

Tap into the why behind the look.

Japanese UX isn’t weird—it’s rich.

And we all got a thing or two to learn from it.