The United States of Japan • Hacker News Board

Re: The United States of Japan

#11

Post by ksec » Sat, May 05, 2018, 4:21 PM UTC

SlowRobotAhead wrote: post #4

Not at all related to the article, but visiting Tokyo, it was immediately interesting to me just how similar to NYC it was. The feel was very New York, except stores close much earlier on par with the rest of Asia. And no one has ever seems to have heard of a suit that isn’t black. A lot of difference of course, but overall it very much felt like New York to me. As to the article, no doubt that the world is getting s…

>The feel was very New York, except stores close much earlier on par with the rest of Asia.

Closer much earlier? What time do NY stores closes at?

Re: The United States of Japan

#12

Post by knuththetruth » Sat, May 05, 2018, 4:24 PM UTC

torstenvl wrote: post #8

I have trouble getting any value from this article, which seems relatively devoid of pertinent facts. The author wants to claim "Japanization" of America after the Great Recession because of a reduced fertility rate and an emphasis on the experience economy. But, although he notes that fertility declines are a mark of industrialized nations, he fails to adequately compare the U.S. phenomenon to other countries, to co…

Orientalist mystique is doing a lot of the legwork in a piece that you correctly describe as holding true for most advanced Capitalist economies.

Re: The United States of Japan

#13

Post by drdeadringer » Sat, May 05, 2018, 4:27 PM UTC

SlowRobotAhead wrote: post #4

Not at all related to the article, but visiting Tokyo, it was immediately interesting to me just how similar to NYC it was. The feel was very New York, except stores close much earlier on par with the rest of Asia. And no one has ever seems to have heard of a suit that isn’t black. A lot of difference of course, but overall it very much felt like New York to me. As to the article, no doubt that the world is getting s…

> no one has ever seems to have heard of a suit that isn’t black.

This seems like a time-warp to the 1930s with a pinch of Henry Ford. "They can buy a suit of any color as long as it's black."

Re: The United States of Japan

#14

Post by temp-dude-87844 » Sat, May 05, 2018, 4:32 PM UTC

The author's basic premise stands: Japan has undergone a post-industrial transition where the sudden prosperity of post-WWII generations was quickly followed by stagnation of those coming of age later; the shrunken opportunities afforded to the younger cohort leads them towards idle leisure, or anxiety-filled corporate drone work. The nature of consumerism has changed: there's still outward signalling but the goals have coalesced around personal experiences and fulfillment within an intimate group, as opposed to nebulous segments of the society at large. This makes for an interesting comparison with South Korea, where the nature of consumerism has become markedly more extroverted instead.

The economic and demographic points are fair, but the author tries too hard to tie elements of Japanese culture in with American trends. Yes, Japanese animation has mainstream appeal, but not universally. Video games can be pointed to as the most successful cultural export, but enduring appeal of Mario, Pokemon, and Link isn't functionally more different than Lego or Barbie in their respective times. If the world of video games were devoid of the above, they would be more realistic, more violent, with bleak storytelling and morally ambiguous characters, as we've seen from typical Western AAA games, so perhaps ironically, Japan's most influential cultural export is optimist escapism.

Re: The United States of Japan

#15

Post by [deleted] » Sat, May 05, 2018, 4:35 PM UTC

dragontamer wrote: post #5

The USA and Japan have a very strange relationship. As far as Asian countries are concerned, Japan has fewer immigrants to the USA than Philippines, China, Vietnam, Korea, and India. But Japan sticks out despite the relatively low migration rate. * The USA in general does have a sense of "the importance of the foreigner" or outsider. Foreigners invite new thought, new culture, and new experiences. * Japan seems to ma…

[deleted]

Re: The United States of Japan

#16

Post by wafflebear » Sat, May 05, 2018, 4:36 PM UTC

aerophilic wrote: post #3

It is an interesting thing to contemplate, how there really are “leading” and “trailing” cultural activities. I noticed this in Australia how culturally, they were about a decade behind the US (this is not a snipe, just an observation on cultural norms). It is interesting to think that the US is culturally behind Japan. It leads me to wonder if that really will be our future as well, will we go through two lost decad…

Can you give some examples of how Australia is culturally 10 years behind the US?

Re: The United States of Japan

#17

Post by ucontrol » Sat, May 05, 2018, 4:48 PM UTC

>We don’t buy into Kondo’s life-changing magic just because we think Japan is cool; we also buy because our country is, in many ways, increasingly like Japan.

On point.

Re: The United States of Japan

#18

Post by hodlbtc » Sat, May 05, 2018, 4:54 PM UTC

ksec wrote: post #11

SlowRobotAhead wrote: post #4

Not at all related to the article, but visiting Tokyo, it was immediately interesting to me just how similar to NYC it was. The feel was very New York, except stores close much earlier on par with the rest of Asia. And no one has ever seems to have heard of a suit that isn’t black. A lot of difference of course, but overall it very much felt like New York to me. As to the article, no doubt that the world is getting s…

>The feel was very New York, except stores close much earlier on par with the rest of Asia. Closer much earlier? What time do NY stores closes at?

Depends on the store of course, but many just don't close, or else stay open far later than the rest of the U.S. -- it would be pretty reasonable to go out at midnight and expect to be able to grab icecream, for instance.

Re: The United States of Japan

#19

Post by panarky » Sat, May 05, 2018, 5:05 PM UTC

aerophilic wrote: post #3

It is an interesting thing to contemplate, how there really are “leading” and “trailing” cultural activities. I noticed this in Australia how culturally, they were about a decade behind the US (this is not a snipe, just an observation on cultural norms). It is interesting to think that the US is culturally behind Japan. It leads me to wonder if that really will be our future as well, will we go through two lost decad…

> will we go through two lost decades?

Growth rates in US and Japan are remarkably similar.

https://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&...

> the crushing amount of debt the US has collectively accumulated

The US has far less debt than Japan.

https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/government-debt-t...

https://tradingeconomics.com/japan/government-debt-to-gdp

Re: The United States of Japan

#20

Post by almostApatriot1 » Sat, May 05, 2018, 5:12 PM UTC

>Another societal struggle that Japan was one of the first developed countries to encounter can be seen on the opposite end of the age spectrum, in its large population of unemployed young men and women. A report from 2017 revealed that, in 2015, there are some 1.7 million of them, a full ten per cent of those between the ages of fifteen and twenty-nine—a shocking number, given that Japan’s unemployment rate is an enviable 2.5 per cent. Officially, Japan calls these people NEETs (“not in education, employment, or training”) and “freeters” (temps who drift among various short-term jobs). The press has other, less generous terms for them, including “parasite singles” and “herbivore men.” In the early aughts, journalists spilled a great deal of ink on the herbivores’ seemingly unique lack of interest in moving out, getting married, or finding a girlfriend.

It's telling that the author starts out his hitjob on NEETS as stating they're both officially men and women, and finishing with the implication that they're actually all men.

I'd expect better editing from The New Yorker!