Japanese 'Prince' Switched at Birth Was Raised a Pauper

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2013/11/29/247807768/japanese-prince-switched-at-birth-was-raised-a-pauper

by vezycash • 8 years ago

88 115 8 years ago

He ends up a 60 year old truck driver and the person he was switched with is the president of a real estate company - and meanwhile we pretend western society is mostly meritocratic.

forkLding4• 8 years ago

Lets be real, western society is not perfect nor meritocratic. Its why we say networking and connections are still important for your career. Many kids just go to the same companies their parents go to (if their parents are high-up VPs) and receive great internships or positions.

You're not going to expect a Rockefeller to die from poverty right?

eanzenberg3• 8 years ago

Let’s be real, the western world is the most meritocratic. I don’t know anyone working at their parents company and I’ve met easily >200 people with about a quarter of them in high positions VP+ and all of them with great high paying careers.

ars4• 8 years ago

and meanwhile we pretend western society is mostly meritocratic.

Japanese society is much less meritocratic than US society. They prize conformity far far more than the US/Europe does.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wa_(Japanese_culture)

This result is actually entirely expected given their culture.

bbctol• 8 years ago

What does conformity have to do with meritocracy? They seem orthogonal.

frgtpsswrdlame12• 8 years ago

Conformity has nothing to do meritocracy?

Besides I know that mobility and meritocracy don't map perfectly but Japan is actually a society with more intergenerational mobility than the US and about half of Europe.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Gatsby_curve#/media/File...

jacquesm• 8 years ago

Is Japan part of Western Society?

neaden4• 8 years ago

I would say yes, post WW2. It's a wealthy capitalistic representative democracy which seems to be what people say when they mean "the West", at least in terms of economics and meritocracy.

titanix2• 8 years ago

No. For two reasons: first talking of the "West Society" as a single entity doesn’t make sense. There are multiples societies such as the Fench, the German, the US ones which have common traits but also some differences. You could however put them under the concept of Western civilization.

Secondly, Japan is very different from the West. Not so much about the institutions which were calqued on Europeans ones after the war, but because of how people think. Having living there speaking a bit of the language, it is a totally different world with different values and most people are just fine living in their country and nor caring about the West or any foreign countries.

patio11• 8 years ago

If you can describe a dividing line for Western society which puts Japan on the outside and all of the Pope, Barack Obama, all members of Congress, Hawaii, Ireland, and France on the inside, you’d get a really good East Asian Studies paper out of it. If your definition of Western society excludes any group in that second set, it is clearly a useless definition.

(Ask a simple question, get a simple answer: yes. One has to be mendacious about definitions to come to any other result.)

jstanley• 8 years ago

This happened in Japan. You can't get much less "West"!

ceejayoz• 8 years ago

"West" is frequently used to mean "developed world".

Same goes for Australia/New Zealand, for example.

spinlock2• 8 years ago

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who noticed that. It's amazing how oblivious some people are to their bias.

marnett8• 8 years ago

21st century Japan is most certainly in "The West."

cdoxsey• 8 years ago

This story doesn't undermine the idea of meritocracy.

A rich child may end up a rich adult and a poor child a poor adult purely because of nepotism, with the two individuals being roughly the same in terms of skills and abilities.

But another explanation is that the rich child ends up a rich adult because his rich parents actually instill more merit in the child and he ends up with more skills and abilities.

In the latter case the standard could still be meritocratic.

I think there's truth on both sides - things like growing up in an intact family, or learning the value of thrift, are going to inevitably lead to better outcomes for the child - but I think there's also a whole lot of unmeritocratic signaling (who you know, where you went to school, etc) and on the reverse side, measures to prevent people from getting ahead (regressive taxation, poor schools, etc)

frgtpsswrdlame12• 8 years ago

If your merit is dependent on your parents instilling that merit in you it's hard to say it's merit at all, it had nothing to do with you, just the environment you happened to be born into.

FLUX-YOU• 8 years ago

In the latter case the standard could still be meritocratic.

This is a logical escape hatch of meritocracy because you can push money into services towards training the child, but the source of that money isn't self-owned by the child. It's essentially meritocracy alchemy where money=merits, but that undermines the idea of meritocracy in the first place.

lawlessone2• 8 years ago

But another explanation is that the rich child ends up a rich adult because his rich parents actually instill more merit in the child and he ends up with more skills and abilities.

How is that in itself not a form of privilege? is it different to attending an elite school?

wyager3• 8 years ago

Career outcomes are strongly correlated with IQ in the US, suggesting a fairly robust meritocracy.

Japan is also not “The West” - if you’re being sarcastic, it was a bit under the radar.

HarryHirsch• 8 years ago

Tell that to any chemist laid off by Pfizer & their ilk.

frgtpsswrdlame12• 8 years ago

Career outcomes are strongly correlated with IQ in the US

I'd actually love to see that study. But before you link it I'll dispute it anyways which is that this a problem with a third variable, wealth. Wealthy parents raise IQs by being more attentive, allowing children to attend better schools, etc.

Japan is also not “The West” - if you’re being sarcastic, it was a bit under the radar.

Yes it is.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2009/08/why-are...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heritability_of_IQ#Heritabilit...

danharaj2• 8 years ago

What is the effect size?

Maken2• 8 years ago

IQ also correlates with education. What else correlates with education?

chapill4• 8 years ago

meanwhile we pretend western society is mostly meritocratic

The poor kid was raised by a single mother in a 100sqft apartment. You don't expect a prize winning plant if you never water it, right?

This story says nothing of the merits of the rich kid. You seem to assume the rich kid is a layabout wastrel, because he was born from a poor lineage.

I think the mother of this kid would have been conflicted if she were alive. She wanted the best for her offspring, and he got it, but not due to her efforts. Your jaded prejudice has derailed what other boards might have made into a thoughtful discussion.

marnett8• 8 years ago

Please, tell us all how you really feel about the poor. Do you think it's the curse of a bad mother when she is no-fault evicted and they live in the streets for a stint of time?

sounds like you want the caste system and the untouchables back.

itsjustme25• 8 years ago

It seems pretty obvious that it usually takes more than one generation's effort to gain certain things in this world. My wife and I work very hard so we can afford to optimize the development of our children as best we can so they can eventually do better than we did. My parents did the same. My parent's parents did the same. If people struggle raising their children, then their children will be at a disadvantage. I guess you could say it's a kind of multi-generational meritocracy. Some people seem to imply that this reveals a flaw in our society, but I am having trouble seeing better systemic alternatives. Can someone please help me understand?

frgtpsswrdlame12• 8 years ago

Some people seem to imply that this reveals a flaw in our society, but I am having trouble seeing better alternatives. Can someone please help me understand?

A society which doesn't massively privilege the children of the wealthy? What are you having trouble with? We just reduce the influence of class and wealth.

k__2• 8 years ago

" My wife and I work very hard so we can afford to optimize the development of our children as best we can so they can eventually do better than we did. My parents did the same. My parent's parents did the same."

yes, they all did... until they didn't and then you are stuck at the bottom because your parents or their parents failed.

leggomylibro3• 8 years ago

It's wrong that your personal success depends on a long chain of ancestry that you have no control over.

Your success should depend on your intrinsic merits, which every individual should have an equal opportunity to assess and develop for themselves.

Rich people are the same as poor people at birth, they just have more money.

...uh, is this a controversial opinion? I'm confused.

jl6• 8 years ago

Beware a pure meritocracy. In a meritocracy there will still be people at the bottom, and they will be told they deserve to be there.

abritinthebay2• 8 years ago

We do? Maybe here on HN but it’s pretty widely acknowledged in most places that it’s not.

aaronbrethorst• 8 years ago

The word "meritocracy" was not coined as a positive term. It was intended to describe a dystopia. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/jun/29/comment

partycoder• 8 years ago

He shouldn't have settled for $317,000.

tehlike• 8 years ago

Should have gone with annual payout from re profits. Not sure if possible, but probably circumventable (through trusts etc)

JonnyNova• 8 years ago

On what grounds could he get more from the hospital? IANAL and am not familiar with Japanese statutes, but the law almost certainly doesn't guarantee any entitlement to wealth from being born into a wealthy family. He probably has a very good chance of making a claim on the family's estate though.

lostlogin2• 8 years ago

On what grounds could he get more

I’d say he could get more if the other half of the switch paid back the amount he presumably benefitted by. Should the two values equal out though?

hwoolery• 8 years ago

Uh, this is just a PR stunt for the movie at the bottom, right? The court report link is broken...

berberous• 8 years ago

I searched asahi.com for the article and still can't find it. I did find the below, which suggests it may be real, but given how little is available on the English web I'm now skeptical like you. Perhaps it's better sourced on Japanese language websites though.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/12/28/national/media-...

sudosteph2• 8 years ago

It's a lousy hand to be dealt, but I don't see how he deserves to take 317k from a charitable organization over it. Everyone else who is born poor just has to live with it. But he gets free money because he has the genetics of rich people who never met him nor even knew of his existence.

The one case I could legitimately see being made for harm to the child caused by being switched at birth is if there is some sort of genetic disease that they could have had diagnosed or treated sooner if they knew their birth parents. Not going to a fancy private school isn't harm though, it's just lack of privilege.

spinlock2• 8 years ago

Hospitals have insurance for malpractice. My friend is an OBGYN so he gets sued every time a baby is born with complications. His view on it is that the family needs money to care for the child and the only way for them to get it is through his malpractice insurance.

But, what do you think the difference in net-worth is between these two men? I don't think the hospital is to blame that one of these children was going to have the best education and the other wouldn't but you have to blame them to get the insurance payout.

Plus, maybe the truck driver will do something like start a scholarship. In that case, I'd hope he gets much more than $300k.

jbob20002• 8 years ago

I am tempted to agree with you, but put yourself in his shoes. Being poor is a trap that you cannot get out of by yourself, it is incredibly frustrating. Along comes his ticket out of shitsville and you expect him to just pass?

sudosteph2• 8 years ago

Oh, I don't blame him for trying for it. Anyone would. I just don't know if he should have been awarded money based on not attending private schools that most people wouldn't have been able to attend anyhow.

Maken2• 8 years ago

I would argue that the Japanese justice system has either to accept that the hospital violated this man's right to enjoy his parents' money, or to rule against inheritances at all.

chapill4• 8 years ago

It's a lousy hand to be dealt, but I don't see how he deserves to take 317k from a charitable organization over it.

Most US hospitals are non-profit "charitable organizations"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-profit_hospital

They should all be allowed to mix up children with no penalty? Odd stance you have there. I'm sure most Americans will disagree with you.

knolax• 8 years ago

Not an actual prince but merely from a rich (birth) family.

RickJWag• 8 years ago

Amazing. This is an interesting read.

Japanese 'Prince' Switched at Birth Was Raised a Pauper

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