I'm an American living in Tokyo, and it easily has the best quality of life out any city I've lived in.
- The public transit is literally the best I've ever seen, both in America or Europe. The main train line in Tokyo (the Yamanote line) stops at my local station ever 2-3 minutes during peak hours, and around every 5-7 minutes during the off hours.
- The streets are clean, safe, and well maintained. Unlike cities I've seen in America and Europe, garbage doesn't pile up in the streets.
- Service workers, partially in the government, have been friendly and helpful. Even when I didn't speak the language well, I've never had trouble at the government office getting something done.
It’s interesting to me that my wife, who is Japanese, believes that in truth Japanese people are very unhelpful and unkind - she says that the politeness and helpfulness is a show that people do for foreigners as guests, but rarely show to one another. I think she’s exaggerating a bit, but there’s some truth to the different standards for different people.
A lot of this boils down to Japanese people being efficient and conscientious. I was walking around Ginza one day and noticed that sometimes you had to go multiple blocks to find a cross walk. People did it, and nobody jay walked. In DC or NYC it would have been a circus. Flying back to NYC from Tokyo is always jarring, like traveling back in time.
You can't really compare Japan to all of Europe. There are major differences in Europe on all of your points. As a German that lived 6 months between Osaka and Kyoto I mostly agree on the last one, but cleanliness and public transport is only slightly behind so that it doesn't really matter. E.g. Japanese streets are astonishingly clean, but I have never been disturbed by litter in Munich. Garbage doesn't pile up here. Also the public transport works really well, mostly in 5 minutes intervals in peak hours and 10 otherwise. The "Stammstrecke" in the center is also served in 1-3 minute intervals.
The homes are so small though. 66 square meters on average. Much smaller than NYC even if you just take Manhattan. I used to be able to do that but with a family and hobbies and a desire for space, it’s just dehumanizing for me today.
But yes, my time in Tokyo informs me the place is amazing. Just not for me anymore.
Indeed Tokyo and other parts of Japan are clean and well run. It’s a cultural thing. I spent some in Europe about 15 years ago and likewise it was clean as well. I used to get stared at for crossing streets when you’re not supposed to (no cars but without the light). There were very few bums or beggars either.
From what I hear, things have changed in some places. Not sure the cause. Sometimes strikes maybe cultural things as well.
Quite interesting to see, I recently moved to Singapore which seems to be the place everyone looks up to in the region right now because they say it’s so advanced and apart from the cleanliness (which is different though, it’s mostly to not get fined, but things like the mixed recycle bins in condos certainly don’t show an intrinsic aspiration to maintain a clean environment) I don’t see the advantages you’ve described in Tokio.
I wish there were more opportunities in Tokio, apart from what you’ve described there seems to be a good tax scheme for expats and it also has so much to offer culturally. I was in touch with several recruiters though and all their clients weren’t moving forward due to the pandemic.
Despite the title, people who have never lived in Japan probably still don’t have a great idea of how it runs after reading the article.
So here’s a quick rundown of how the decentralisation mentioned in the article is structured:
Japan is split into 47 todōfuken (都道府県), their closest analog to a US “state”. You’ll hear these called “Prefectures”, but just like the US has states (Washington) and territories (Washington DC), Japan only has 43 prefectures, the rest are technically different types of district. Tokyo is (the only) “metropolis” region directly under the national government.
Across Japan every local district is split up into shichōson (市町村), cities, towns, and villages.
“Central” Tokyo is a special area where that standard shichōson system doesn’t apply, except really it does, we just call things “wards” instead.
Every local district, whether city, town, village, or ward, is essentially the face of government in that community. They provide public services like sanitation, education, and community engagement events. When it’s time to vote, you will go to your local [city|town|village|ward] office and do it there.
These local offices have quite a bit of power (and are what people are talking about most of the time when they refer to the “infamous” Japanese bureaucracy. For an excellent film looking at this world, I cannot recommend Kurosawa’s “Ikiru” enough. I believe it’s in IMDbs top 10 of all time), while they are often ridiculed for being slow and stuffy, they are a very real check and balance against the prefectural and national governments.
Tokyo has a city-wide government (analogous to a state government) that is politically important at a national level, an example of the more illustrious institutions run by this level is the famous Tokyo metropolitan police.
As the article stated, Tokyo is rich. 10th largest gdp nation in the world if it was an independent nation, this means there’s a lot of money flowing through that city government. Depending on who you ask, this is the level that shady deals, and blatant corruption happens most. The tabloids are always busy in Tokyo.
The point is, all these powers seem to be quite well-balanced, and the citizenry engaged enough to keep them in check, in other words, like a well functioning democracy. I’m not saying it doesn’t have its downsides, and I’m no fan of Tokyo after living there for four years, but it is a remarkably well-working system. I’d still rather be in Osaka, or better yet, the countryside tbh.
>while [local districts/offices] are often ridiculed for being slow and stuffy, they are a very real check and balance against the prefectural and national governments
What's the mechanism for local districts checking the power of prefectural and national governments? If the prefecture passes a regulation can a local district just say "no" or bury it in paperwork?
> So here’s a quick rundown of how the decentralisation mentioned in the article
Sounds bit like:
> Subsidiarity is an organizing principle that matters ought to be handled by the smallest, lowest or least centralized competent authority. Political decisions should be taken at a local level if possible, rather than by a central authority.[1] The Oxford English Dictionary defines subsidiarity as the idea that a central authority should have a subsidiary function, performing only those tasks which cannot be performed effectively at a more immediate or local level.
The article highlights some great points about why Tokyo is so livable, but having been in the market for a home here last year, I also think the depreciation of Japanese real estate (at least the physical structures) is a big factor.
New houses and apartments depreciate significantly once bought, and old homes can even trend into negative territory. Land that someone has cleared for you can be more expensive than the same land with an old home on it that they presume you will later pay to demolish.
The land itself in Tokyo can appreciate, but not enough to offset the rapid depreciation of the structure. A lot of the avoidance around old homes is cultural (maybe because of frequent natural disasters), and it’s started a self-fulfilling prophecy where old homes can actually not be livable. People build homes with the depreciation in mind and don’t generally use long—lasting materials, leading to homes that aren’t actually livable a few decades later when they might be sold.
On the bright side, this leads to a lot of opportunities for architects to build new homes, so it’s also part of the reason why you see so many uniquely designed homes out of Japan.
I assume by 'depreciation' you mean prices fall down or don't go up?
Yea, why is that a bad thing? If house prices keep going up it just makes it impossible for young people to start families. Why would anyone want that?
Treating homes as investment kills the social fabric.
That said, houses in Tokyo are quite expensive. Try looking online (like on suumo or sumaiti or lifull homes websites) and you will see that a house for a family with 2 kids costs upwards of half a million dollars. Which I think is insane.
Houses on the country side are much cheaper (half that price or less).
So true, and that idea is so prevalent to people living there.
This mentally prevents me, who moved from Japan to US, from buying a home. I still cannot convince myself a home can be a investment (or at least meaningful asset.) To Me it feels like buying a exceptionally expensive laptop.
That's probably not true here, but I cannot turn my head around.
Tokyo is nice but the commute no shangri la. Trips longer than 10km are usually a hour because of so many train stops. Average commute to work is ~50min in a crowded train standing up.
Meanwhile on my social feed my Japanese friends will admire the large living spaces in the US. I think most people are just convinced it is always better somewhere else.
Not everyone is standing on the train. The people who have the longest commutes usually also get on first, and thus have a seat. There are also express trains during rush hours... Do you have a source on the 50 minute average commute? 50 minutes on a non express train would be close to a last stop from the west side of Tokyo on one of the lines to the east side of Tokyo.
That said at least it was feasible for me to live in a clean, $650/mo apartment of my own, in a great neighborhood, <15 minutes from Shinjuku/25 to Tokyo. The concept of an equivalent place in a place like NYC is laughable.
> Meanwhile on my social feed my Japanese friends will admire the large living spaces in the US. I think most people are just convinced it is always better somewhere else.
I think it’s about different people having different preferences. Most folks in Dallas (average commute under 30 minutes) aren’t wishing they were crammed into subway car in Tokyo. Likewise, people who like the urban lifestyle in Tokyo probably aren’t wishing they were stuck in freeway traffic in Dallas.
Back in 1993 I spent six weeks in Japan, four of the in Kyoto where I was working on a contract. Because I was a foreigner they said I didn't have to work Saturday, giving me time to visit many castles and tourist spots. The other two weeks were spent traveling to Nagoya and Tokyo.
Anyway, on one of those days a Japanese coworker chaperoned me. He told me when he was a kid he was astonished at how huge houses were in the US. How did he know? When he watched Tom and Jerry cartoons, the cat chased the mouse through so many rooms, far more than a Japanese house had.
But of course they like large living spaces, most people do. The issue is how costly suburbia is on a societal level. It promotes car usage, fosters social isolation, prevents building walkable and convenient neighborhoods, etc. The worst part is that after the cat's out of the bag, nobody is willing to give up their spacious homes. Better to heavily restrict or disallow the option in the first place.
It doesn't take much to be ~50 mins. I lived in Yayoi-cho. As a reference I could walk west from Shinjuku station and get to my apartment in 30 mins.
I worked in Aoyama. The closest station was Nakano-shimbashi on the Marunouchi line but it was better for me to take the Oedo line from Nishi-Shinjuku 5-Chome station. Walking to that station was ~15 mins. With waiting for the next train it was another 15 mins to Aoyama, then another 10 mins walk from the platform to the Office. So 40 mins total. That's only 10 mins short of your average.
I'm sitting on the subway train home, not entirely sober at 1:30 in Stockholm enjoying public transportation. I have 50 minutes to the city center (15m walking, 30m subway + 5m leeway). I just moved here from a smaller city and I adore it, public transportation brings people together. The spacious American homes you're talking about were plentiful where I used to live, but it just encourages people to stay at home zoning themselves off.
I'm quite social so I guess that plays a role in my preferences.
How often do you have to travel 10km? With a high population density just traveling 1km means you're whizzing past the homes of a hundred thousand people.
It talks a lot about the lack of zoning, which (combined with lots of low-rise) leads to convenience stores on every corner. This makes living a lot easier (you don't need to drive to get basic groceries), reduces crime (eyes on the street discourage crime) and creates a local social network (people from the street will meet there).
The downside is that Japan's lack of planning makes it kind of ugly and boring. I love the utilitarian look, and a functional city is one that can have other priorities, but the physical city fabric is treated mostly as a disposable commodity.
The Youtube channel "Life where I'm from" recently put out a video (one week ago) about how Japan keeps itself clean.
In some cases it's even the elderly living in the smaller neighborhoods who will "find something to do", such as tending to the public area near the street outside of their home, sweeping and washing it clean, throwing away loose trash (cans, bottles, etc.).
Mainly because its citizenry and its bureaucracy have a personal attachment to their city and society being run cleanly and efficiently. This is not the case in cities like Paris or NYC, where most people see themselves as guests or even victims attempting to finesse the system by doing the least work possible. Since pretty much every public worker abides by this system there is an implicit agreement to never pursue any offenders (be they lazy or just incompetent), for everyone is used to doing the bare minimum and they like the arrangement.
> While trains have long been part of Japanese daily life after most of Tokyo was leveled during World War II, Japan had to make a post-war decision to either adopt the American automobile-focused city or to rely on public transportation. Of course, they chose public transportation, likely because of Japan’s lack of natural resources like oil.
This is true for Tokyo and other major metropolises and larger cities.
Having lived in smaller towns and the country-side, I can confidently say that the rest of the country has gone all-in on the American car-centered infrastructure. Living in a town of 30k citizens in Scandinavia for years, I never felt the need for a car. In Japan, it’s essential. Busses run 1/h or so and stops are sparse. The towns themselves are sprawling and not very accessible by foot. Bicycling is a tiring and dangerous endeavour.
The structure of the city also makes it a great place to raise a family. That's why my family settled here. The kids have a safe, walkable community where almost everyone knows them and they feel at home and empowered. But we're also in a global center with great opportunities, jobs, school, etc.
One aspect of Tokyo that is really nice is that many areas of the city are really organized like small villages.
When you live in one of those, the 'big city' feeling that you might experience, say in one of the European capitals or in N/Y is completely gone, and it feels really good.
This article made me feel proud of my adopted city. I agree with its premises and the things that the article argues make Tokyo so great are actually the reasons I moved here many years ago. And stayed.
I don’t think most foreigners are willing to do the work that it takes to “make Tokyo work,” which I have seen first-hand.
First, there is the tax rate, which is super-high and the vast majority of Japanese pay without complaint. I am pretty sure there’s the highest top bracket in the world, and it’s super-progressive so you hit it quickly. Many of the foreigners who move to Japan try all sorts of tricks to avoid paying it (you get 5 years to avoid paying on foreign income not brought into the country), which just makes everyone else silently dislike them even more. I’ve literally been at a Japanese government office filing papers and overheard a Singapore resident asking a government employee if he can just transfer his business to a family member to avoid the tax rate because “it’s just too much.”
Then you’ve got the sense of shared suffering that is part of Japanese culture and super important. I think a lot of people who talk about “racial cohesion” are incorrectly identifying this, which is basically a sense that “we are all here to make this work for each other, and if you’re not you’re part of an other.” It’s not a race thing, although it can appear that way to others — if you’ve grown up in Northern Europe, you’ll understand what I mean; it’s kind of like the Asian version of Jante Law.
I can’t stress that shared suffering thing enough. Since the 1600s, Tokyo was destroyed on average of, like, once every 10 years, and right now everyone’s just waiting for the Great Earthquake and The Great Mount Fuji Eruption. It’s a hilarious, tragic, comical, romantic drama that plays out in the Japanese subconscious. (And since everyone will continue to pay a surtax for their shared national obligation to rebuild after the Fukushima earthquake — a tax that will continue for another decade — everyone’s also acutely aware that the bill will be massive, and they’ll be expected to contribute. Cue more foreigners departing to avoid taxes.)
The tax rate, combined with the sense of obligation to each other, supports one of the best healthcare systems in the world. Which in turn is part of one of the best government administrations in the world, filled with extremely smart people who feel a real sense of obligation toward their country to do a really good job. (Don’t confuse this with the political machine... let’s just not go into that.)
When you have a society where everyone is willing to “suffer” for each other, you can have a society like Tokyo. Like so many other great places, it works because people can just sort of expect others to do what’s right. And conversely, for reasons that look racist to outsiders but really aren’t, everyone also silently expects foreigners to do everything wrong. If there was an influx of people into Japan who didn’t share these values — and they’re real values, not a race thing — the whole country would quickly fall apart.
Japan and Tokyo works because people "make themselves small". Whether that is wearing your backpack on the front on the subway, wearing a mask, sharing communal spaces, or not shilling dogecoin.
Most foreigners grow contemptuous of Japan when vacation mode subsides and they have to abide the social contract and logistics which makes "Tokyo Works". For example, waste disposal and recycling are complex (and I've worked in AdTech). Leasing an apartment involves 3-4x months of deposit, including a gift to the landlord as residual traces from Japan's feudal system, a inch thick of paperwork, and signing half a dozen places that you are not a yakuza member. Getting cell phone service too is a process, and when you go signup, about half a dozen employees will loop in and out of the process. There's also kinds of ceremony and bureauracy, and things that are hard to reconcile for foreigners who are used to "freedom" and pursuing ones desires. Personally, everything about Japan makes sense to me, and why I'm one of the survivors. I literally have nothing to complain about Japan, whereas the Reddit group r/japanlife has the highest concentration of cynical and mopey people I've ever seen.
Most of the unhappy foreigners come to Japan/Tokyo thinking it is like London or NYC, except with Anime and Manga. I urge you to reassess the day-to-day realities before committing to a foreign country. There are things which the Japanese expect everyone to do properly, and whether you think it's inefficient/dumb, it's not up for negotiation or discussion. For example, if you enter the subway gate and realize you meant to take a different subway gate/train, you can't back out, and some station staff will give you a hard time and hold you hostage instead of giving you a solution. There's a strict protocol, which Japanese people have been trained all their life to not err, and when (foreigners) make these mistakes, Japanese people are like deer in headlights. Or, you bought a drink of the vending machine, then the bus comes, and you run to catch the bus forgetting to discard the drink. This will be frowned upon, and if you're a tourist, you're probably oblivious to it, but you are creating stress for people around you.
Don't come to Japan if the believe in the notion of systemic oppression. Japan is not politically progressive, and it is socially acceptable, sometimes even encouraged, to not be an independent thinker or question social norms/tradition. This is a stark contrast to the SF/HN culture, especially the "hacker" mentality is frowned on. Consider how Japan only has 44 billionaires, whereas Taiwan which has 1/5th the population has 36.
White collar Americans are obsessed with Japanese high cultural exports like Omakase because the Japanese do things that don't scale. They dedicate their life to one modest craft, and focus on the details. Meanwhile, the typical tech person have this sentiment to focus on the "big picture" and things that scale to millions, billions, even if that means moving fast and breaking things. That's kind of not Japanese.
Americans have been taught to think about "big picture", and maybe that's why America produces many innovations and innovators, but the Japanese are about doing things right. Nowadays everyone is talking about Squid Games, which is a huge commercial success mostly to Netflix, but it was accused of plagiarizing the Japanese "As the goods will". There are lots of cultish products that come out of Japan, because people aren't thinking about how they can capture the value to be billion dollar idea, but just focusing on their craft ( as a
Study Japanese before you go. You'll learn that there are three writing systems, one of which is used to pronounce English words, but the Japanese way. This is one of the many reasons the Japanese do not speak good English. Foreigners complain the Japanese don't speak English, but that reaction is precisely why they will be unhappy in Japan. This is there country, and the Japanese are proud, and as far as they are concerned, English is foreign, and if you are in Japan, you have to pronounce it in the mora-timed Japanese tongue. Deal with it.
Foreigners complain about how it's hard to make friends or be fully accepted, even after being in Japan for years and speaking good Japanese, but Japan was never keen on having foreigners here. It's like people who invite themselves to a party. Westerners feel entitled to the idea that the world is an immigrant country like the United States, but Japan is not. Just observe the historically districts where they placed foreigners.
It's hard to describe Japan. Japanese zen poems known as koens are seemingly contradictory or paradox. That's how I would summarize Japan. For all this about being private and not voicing your opinion and making yourself small, the Japanese love Twitter more than anyone else. It's a land of many paradoxes and contradictions, that is not meant to be logically resolved and reconciled. For example, the thing that are trending right now are having an American BBQ, having an American tent and camping in the park. Meanwhile, the stories and staff providing these services can't speak English. It's not sufficient to call this appropriation. Japanese people love having weddings in a church/chapel. Other than that, it's a pleasant / awkward feeling to stumble a church by accident in Japan. Watch Silence by Martin Scorsese to learn some history.
>"A developed country is not a place where the poor have cars. It's where the rich use public transportation," says Colombian politician Gustavo Petro.
Jason Kottke goes through it[0], but it seems the real source is Bogotá Mayor Enrique Peñalosa, who translated it as:
>An advanced city is not one where even the poor use cars, but rather one where even the rich use public transport.
Ehh, as a person who lived in Tokyo and NYC for a while, I can say that the difference isn't as big. It's true that Tokyo is way cleaner and the trains are much better, but Tokyo streets are harder to navigate (as it's not grid based) compared to NYC or Kyoto/Osaka, and the article misses one big potential factor about its livablity: Tokyo's earthquake readiness is pretty sketchy and it hasn't been tested for about 100 years (the 2011 earthquake affected a different part of Japan; it was a blip to Tokyo). The city requires huge influx of daily goods from all over Japan, and we are all not sure what's really going to happen if it's disrupted. It is a convenient city to live for now, but I'd say it's kinda short-sighted view.
So many commenters relating widely varying experiences and then arguing about it…
As Tokyo is massive in land area and population, and as visitors (us) are all unique, each expertise and feeling about “the people in Tokyo” is likely to be different.
It makes no sense to argue about different experiences.
[+] [-] raziel414|4 years ago|reply
- The public transit is literally the best I've ever seen, both in America or Europe. The main train line in Tokyo (the Yamanote line) stops at my local station ever 2-3 minutes during peak hours, and around every 5-7 minutes during the off hours.
- The streets are clean, safe, and well maintained. Unlike cities I've seen in America and Europe, garbage doesn't pile up in the streets.
- Service workers, partially in the government, have been friendly and helpful. Even when I didn't speak the language well, I've never had trouble at the government office getting something done.
[+] [-] presentation|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rayiner|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ascar|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nemo44x|4 years ago|reply
But yes, my time in Tokyo informs me the place is amazing. Just not for me anymore.
[+] [-] mc32|4 years ago|reply
From what I hear, things have changed in some places. Not sure the cause. Sometimes strikes maybe cultural things as well.
[+] [-] GDC7|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mupuff1234|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] junon|4 years ago|reply
I've heard it's insanely difficult to get a residency visa there, along with of course the language barrier. Was that the case for you?
[+] [-] harha|4 years ago|reply
I wish there were more opportunities in Tokio, apart from what you’ve described there seems to be a good tax scheme for expats and it also has so much to offer culturally. I was in touch with several recruiters though and all their clients weren’t moving forward due to the pandemic.
[+] [-] nec4b|4 years ago|reply
I wouldn't consider that as the best public transit ever.
[+] [-] bamboozled|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] skizm|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] glandium|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ekianjo|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rablackburn|4 years ago|reply
So here’s a quick rundown of how the decentralisation mentioned in the article is structured: Japan is split into 47 todōfuken (都道府県), their closest analog to a US “state”. You’ll hear these called “Prefectures”, but just like the US has states (Washington) and territories (Washington DC), Japan only has 43 prefectures, the rest are technically different types of district. Tokyo is (the only) “metropolis” region directly under the national government.
Across Japan every local district is split up into shichōson (市町村), cities, towns, and villages.
“Central” Tokyo is a special area where that standard shichōson system doesn’t apply, except really it does, we just call things “wards” instead.
Every local district, whether city, town, village, or ward, is essentially the face of government in that community. They provide public services like sanitation, education, and community engagement events. When it’s time to vote, you will go to your local [city|town|village|ward] office and do it there.
These local offices have quite a bit of power (and are what people are talking about most of the time when they refer to the “infamous” Japanese bureaucracy. For an excellent film looking at this world, I cannot recommend Kurosawa’s “Ikiru” enough. I believe it’s in IMDbs top 10 of all time), while they are often ridiculed for being slow and stuffy, they are a very real check and balance against the prefectural and national governments.
Tokyo has a city-wide government (analogous to a state government) that is politically important at a national level, an example of the more illustrious institutions run by this level is the famous Tokyo metropolitan police.
As the article stated, Tokyo is rich. 10th largest gdp nation in the world if it was an independent nation, this means there’s a lot of money flowing through that city government. Depending on who you ask, this is the level that shady deals, and blatant corruption happens most. The tabloids are always busy in Tokyo.
The point is, all these powers seem to be quite well-balanced, and the citizenry engaged enough to keep them in check, in other words, like a well functioning democracy. I’m not saying it doesn’t have its downsides, and I’m no fan of Tokyo after living there for four years, but it is a remarkably well-working system. I’d still rather be in Osaka, or better yet, the countryside tbh.
[+] [-] LogonType10|4 years ago|reply
What's the mechanism for local districts checking the power of prefectural and national governments? If the prefecture passes a regulation can a local district just say "no" or bury it in paperwork?
[+] [-] throw0101a|4 years ago|reply
Sounds bit like:
> Subsidiarity is an organizing principle that matters ought to be handled by the smallest, lowest or least centralized competent authority. Political decisions should be taken at a local level if possible, rather than by a central authority.[1] The Oxford English Dictionary defines subsidiarity as the idea that a central authority should have a subsidiary function, performing only those tasks which cannot be performed effectively at a more immediate or local level.
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subsidiarity_(Catholicism)
> […] and the citizenry engaged enough to keep them in check, in other words, like a well functioning democracy.
How is the need/desire to bring forward and expose problems balanced with the Japanese cultural habit (?) of not rocking the boat?
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tall_poppy_syndrome
* https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/出る釘は打たれる
[+] [-] mikkyang|4 years ago|reply
New houses and apartments depreciate significantly once bought, and old homes can even trend into negative territory. Land that someone has cleared for you can be more expensive than the same land with an old home on it that they presume you will later pay to demolish.
The land itself in Tokyo can appreciate, but not enough to offset the rapid depreciation of the structure. A lot of the avoidance around old homes is cultural (maybe because of frequent natural disasters), and it’s started a self-fulfilling prophecy where old homes can actually not be livable. People build homes with the depreciation in mind and don’t generally use long—lasting materials, leading to homes that aren’t actually livable a few decades later when they might be sold.
On the bright side, this leads to a lot of opportunities for architects to build new homes, so it’s also part of the reason why you see so many uniquely designed homes out of Japan.
[+] [-] hsn915|4 years ago|reply
Yea, why is that a bad thing? If house prices keep going up it just makes it impossible for young people to start families. Why would anyone want that?
Treating homes as investment kills the social fabric.
That said, houses in Tokyo are quite expensive. Try looking online (like on suumo or sumaiti or lifull homes websites) and you will see that a house for a family with 2 kids costs upwards of half a million dollars. Which I think is insane.
Houses on the country side are much cheaper (half that price or less).
[+] [-] quantisan|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] flakiness|4 years ago|reply
This mentally prevents me, who moved from Japan to US, from buying a home. I still cannot convince myself a home can be a investment (or at least meaningful asset.) To Me it feels like buying a exceptionally expensive laptop.
That's probably not true here, but I cannot turn my head around.
[+] [-] AlanSE|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 0x77x66|4 years ago|reply
Meanwhile on my social feed my Japanese friends will admire the large living spaces in the US. I think most people are just convinced it is always better somewhere else.
[+] [-] chrischen|4 years ago|reply
Here's an example involving one transfer and the last stop on one of the lines: https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Wako,+Saitama,+Japan/Tokyo+S... Currently it is 53 minutes.
[+] [-] presentation|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rayiner|4 years ago|reply
I think it’s about different people having different preferences. Most folks in Dallas (average commute under 30 minutes) aren’t wishing they were crammed into subway car in Tokyo. Likewise, people who like the urban lifestyle in Tokyo probably aren’t wishing they were stuck in freeway traffic in Dallas.
[+] [-] thomasahle|4 years ago|reply
This seems to be comparing urban Japan with rural America. From my experience in San Francisco the living spaces certainly aren't big.
[+] [-] tasty_freeze|4 years ago|reply
Anyway, on one of those days a Japanese coworker chaperoned me. He told me when he was a kid he was astonished at how huge houses were in the US. How did he know? When he watched Tom and Jerry cartoons, the cat chased the mouse through so many rooms, far more than a Japanese house had.
[+] [-] allset_|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bllguo|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] greggman3|4 years ago|reply
I worked in Aoyama. The closest station was Nakano-shimbashi on the Marunouchi line but it was better for me to take the Oedo line from Nishi-Shinjuku 5-Chome station. Walking to that station was ~15 mins. With waiting for the next train it was another 15 mins to Aoyama, then another 10 mins walk from the platform to the Office. So 40 mins total. That's only 10 mins short of your average.
[+] [-] lillecarl|4 years ago|reply
I'm quite social so I guess that plays a role in my preferences.
[+] [-] JCharante|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wisty|4 years ago|reply
The downside is that Japan's lack of planning makes it kind of ugly and boring. I love the utilitarian look, and a functional city is one that can have other priorities, but the physical city fabric is treated mostly as a disposable commodity.
[+] [-] spike021|4 years ago|reply
In some cases it's even the elderly living in the smaller neighborhoods who will "find something to do", such as tending to the public area near the street outside of their home, sweeping and washing it clean, throwing away loose trash (cans, bottles, etc.).
[+] [-] efwrgerwg|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 3np|4 years ago|reply
This is true for Tokyo and other major metropolises and larger cities.
Having lived in smaller towns and the country-side, I can confidently say that the rest of the country has gone all-in on the American car-centered infrastructure. Living in a town of 30k citizens in Scandinavia for years, I never felt the need for a car. In Japan, it’s essential. Busses run 1/h or so and stops are sparse. The towns themselves are sprawling and not very accessible by foot. Bicycling is a tiring and dangerous endeavour.
[+] [-] aikinai|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kory|4 years ago|reply
https://youtube.com/watch?v=wfm2xCKOCNk
[+] [-] ur-whale|4 years ago|reply
When you live in one of those, the 'big city' feeling that you might experience, say in one of the European capitals or in N/Y is completely gone, and it feels really good.
[+] [-] tuatoru|4 years ago|reply
The author has also compiled a bunch of his essays into a book, "Strange Nights, and Some Days Too: Why You’ll Love Japan, for About a Year"[2].
1. https://japaneseruleof7.com/
2. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1735174629
[+] [-] lovemenot|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] numair|4 years ago|reply
First, there is the tax rate, which is super-high and the vast majority of Japanese pay without complaint. I am pretty sure there’s the highest top bracket in the world, and it’s super-progressive so you hit it quickly. Many of the foreigners who move to Japan try all sorts of tricks to avoid paying it (you get 5 years to avoid paying on foreign income not brought into the country), which just makes everyone else silently dislike them even more. I’ve literally been at a Japanese government office filing papers and overheard a Singapore resident asking a government employee if he can just transfer his business to a family member to avoid the tax rate because “it’s just too much.”
Then you’ve got the sense of shared suffering that is part of Japanese culture and super important. I think a lot of people who talk about “racial cohesion” are incorrectly identifying this, which is basically a sense that “we are all here to make this work for each other, and if you’re not you’re part of an other.” It’s not a race thing, although it can appear that way to others — if you’ve grown up in Northern Europe, you’ll understand what I mean; it’s kind of like the Asian version of Jante Law.
I can’t stress that shared suffering thing enough. Since the 1600s, Tokyo was destroyed on average of, like, once every 10 years, and right now everyone’s just waiting for the Great Earthquake and The Great Mount Fuji Eruption. It’s a hilarious, tragic, comical, romantic drama that plays out in the Japanese subconscious. (And since everyone will continue to pay a surtax for their shared national obligation to rebuild after the Fukushima earthquake — a tax that will continue for another decade — everyone’s also acutely aware that the bill will be massive, and they’ll be expected to contribute. Cue more foreigners departing to avoid taxes.)
The tax rate, combined with the sense of obligation to each other, supports one of the best healthcare systems in the world. Which in turn is part of one of the best government administrations in the world, filled with extremely smart people who feel a real sense of obligation toward their country to do a really good job. (Don’t confuse this with the political machine... let’s just not go into that.)
When you have a society where everyone is willing to “suffer” for each other, you can have a society like Tokyo. Like so many other great places, it works because people can just sort of expect others to do what’s right. And conversely, for reasons that look racist to outsiders but really aren’t, everyone also silently expects foreigners to do everything wrong. If there was an influx of people into Japan who didn’t share these values — and they’re real values, not a race thing — the whole country would quickly fall apart.
[+] [-] alephnan|4 years ago|reply
Most foreigners grow contemptuous of Japan when vacation mode subsides and they have to abide the social contract and logistics which makes "Tokyo Works". For example, waste disposal and recycling are complex (and I've worked in AdTech). Leasing an apartment involves 3-4x months of deposit, including a gift to the landlord as residual traces from Japan's feudal system, a inch thick of paperwork, and signing half a dozen places that you are not a yakuza member. Getting cell phone service too is a process, and when you go signup, about half a dozen employees will loop in and out of the process. There's also kinds of ceremony and bureauracy, and things that are hard to reconcile for foreigners who are used to "freedom" and pursuing ones desires. Personally, everything about Japan makes sense to me, and why I'm one of the survivors. I literally have nothing to complain about Japan, whereas the Reddit group r/japanlife has the highest concentration of cynical and mopey people I've ever seen.
Most of the unhappy foreigners come to Japan/Tokyo thinking it is like London or NYC, except with Anime and Manga. I urge you to reassess the day-to-day realities before committing to a foreign country. There are things which the Japanese expect everyone to do properly, and whether you think it's inefficient/dumb, it's not up for negotiation or discussion. For example, if you enter the subway gate and realize you meant to take a different subway gate/train, you can't back out, and some station staff will give you a hard time and hold you hostage instead of giving you a solution. There's a strict protocol, which Japanese people have been trained all their life to not err, and when (foreigners) make these mistakes, Japanese people are like deer in headlights. Or, you bought a drink of the vending machine, then the bus comes, and you run to catch the bus forgetting to discard the drink. This will be frowned upon, and if you're a tourist, you're probably oblivious to it, but you are creating stress for people around you.
Don't come to Japan if the believe in the notion of systemic oppression. Japan is not politically progressive, and it is socially acceptable, sometimes even encouraged, to not be an independent thinker or question social norms/tradition. This is a stark contrast to the SF/HN culture, especially the "hacker" mentality is frowned on. Consider how Japan only has 44 billionaires, whereas Taiwan which has 1/5th the population has 36.
White collar Americans are obsessed with Japanese high cultural exports like Omakase because the Japanese do things that don't scale. They dedicate their life to one modest craft, and focus on the details. Meanwhile, the typical tech person have this sentiment to focus on the "big picture" and things that scale to millions, billions, even if that means moving fast and breaking things. That's kind of not Japanese. Americans have been taught to think about "big picture", and maybe that's why America produces many innovations and innovators, but the Japanese are about doing things right. Nowadays everyone is talking about Squid Games, which is a huge commercial success mostly to Netflix, but it was accused of plagiarizing the Japanese "As the goods will". There are lots of cultish products that come out of Japan, because people aren't thinking about how they can capture the value to be billion dollar idea, but just focusing on their craft ( as a
Study Japanese before you go. You'll learn that there are three writing systems, one of which is used to pronounce English words, but the Japanese way. This is one of the many reasons the Japanese do not speak good English. Foreigners complain the Japanese don't speak English, but that reaction is precisely why they will be unhappy in Japan. This is there country, and the Japanese are proud, and as far as they are concerned, English is foreign, and if you are in Japan, you have to pronounce it in the mora-timed Japanese tongue. Deal with it.
Foreigners complain about how it's hard to make friends or be fully accepted, even after being in Japan for years and speaking good Japanese, but Japan was never keen on having foreigners here. It's like people who invite themselves to a party. Westerners feel entitled to the idea that the world is an immigrant country like the United States, but Japan is not. Just observe the historically districts where they placed foreigners.
It's hard to describe Japan. Japanese zen poems known as koens are seemingly contradictory or paradox. That's how I would summarize Japan. For all this about being private and not voicing your opinion and making yourself small, the Japanese love Twitter more than anyone else. It's a land of many paradoxes and contradictions, that is not meant to be logically resolved and reconciled. For example, the thing that are trending right now are having an American BBQ, having an American tent and camping in the park. Meanwhile, the stories and staff providing these services can't speak English. It's not sufficient to call this appropriation. Japanese people love having weddings in a church/chapel. Other than that, it's a pleasant / awkward feeling to stumble a church by accident in Japan. Watch Silence by Martin Scorsese to learn some history.
[+] [-] Amorymeltzer|4 years ago|reply
>"A developed country is not a place where the poor have cars. It's where the rich use public transportation," says Colombian politician Gustavo Petro.
Jason Kottke goes through it[0], but it seems the real source is Bogotá Mayor Enrique Peñalosa, who translated it as:
>An advanced city is not one where even the poor use cars, but rather one where even the rich use public transport.
0: https://kottke.org/21/11/where-the-rich-use-public-transport...
[+] [-] euske|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 0max|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] blunte|4 years ago|reply
As Tokyo is massive in land area and population, and as visitors (us) are all unique, each expertise and feeling about “the people in Tokyo” is likely to be different.
It makes no sense to argue about different experiences.
[+] [-] lostlogin|4 years ago|reply