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Japan has 33k businesses at least a century old

bbc.com

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Re: Japan has 33k businesses at least a century old

#261

Post by 2038AD »

samatman wrote: post #229
2038AD wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as I can tell you've misread the article. The grandmother of one of the emperors may have been Korean but the first (non-legendary) emperor was Jimmu who was born in Japan. I'm also a little wary of that article since it says "Yamato is the name of the family that founded Japan's imperial line" when Yamato is the word used for the ethnic group to which most Japanese belong. I'm wondering if there's a link here…

Yamato is also the family name of the Japanese Imperial family. These facts are directly related, through the Yamato region, from which the Yamato family ruled for some centuries.

Thanks

Re: Japan has 33k businesses at least a century old

#262

Post by cthalupa »

asiachick wrote: post #239
ehnto wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh boy did I have a comment brewing for you, before I realized you were being sarcastic! There is something refreshing about the feeling of permanence I got when I was in Japan. There is so much old infrastructure that's still working, because it's maintained. In the west, we assume we'll be replacing pretty much everything within 5-10 years so why bother with upkeep, and who cares if it doesn't even function that we…

Except for housing which in Japan is only expected to last for 30 yrs and who's value is like a car, the moment you buy a house it's now a "used house" and from their the price goes down.

This is primarily for the large cities and surrounding suburbs. Smaller cities and rural areas have many homes with significantly longer lifespans.

Re: Japan has 33k businesses at least a century old

#263

Post by cthalupa »

christiansakai wrote: post #214
johnklos wrote: post #191

(Slightly, but not completely sarcastic) They've learned plenty from the United States, but they haven't learned that in order to succeed, others must fail. They should be trying harder to make these businesses succeed hard or fail. After all, life isn't about living - it's about how much we can accumulate at the cost of others. They should also learn the Unites Statesian way of "going out of business" for the purpos…

In Japan there are plenty of old and young people working arubaito (part time) in the service industry. If you go to Disneyland for example, you can see obaachans (grandma) bringing food from the kitchen to the dining area. Japan as a country is also hi tech. But it seems that they are not worried about the effect of automation and people losing jobs. There are plenty of jobs that machines still can’t do and the Japa…

>Granted. Japan is the nation where it is mostly relatively closed compared to other far east Asian nation. They won’t give citizenship easily (around 10 to 20 years), they don’t take influx of immigrants, and they care about Japanese more other than non Japanese. All of this is motivated by the preservation of culture and the Japanese way. Japan would rather have their island sink than opening doors to more immigrants to avoid Eternal September that is plaguing the US and Europe.

You should tell the Japanese lawmakers this ;)

Skilled immigration is now done on a point based system where most white collar working professionals could quality to residency with little effort.

Japanese naturalization is now a 5-10 year process, not 10-20. This is in line with the US process.

The slowing birth rates have resulted in Japan opening up significantly more to immigration and naturalization of these immigrants.

Re: Japan has 33k businesses at least a century old

#264

Post by cthalupa »

Abishek_Muthian wrote: post #80
hnaccy wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I thought the previous record was a Japanese temple building company that was around for 400+ years before having to close during the global financial crisis a decade ago?! You have the numbers mixed up, Kongō Gumi had been founded in 578 AD so its run was over a millennia.

Japan's Kongō Gumi construction company has lasted over 1,400 years! To give a perspective of the time period of its existence - • It was started just right at the end of Kofun period when Japanese tribes started political centralisation (578 AD). • It has survived unification of Japan under Tokugawa shogunate (1603 - 1868). • It has survived forced opening of Japan to the outside world by the western forces (1854).…

>• It has survived World War II (1939-1945), ending in the near total destruction of the country.

What part of WW2 resulted in near total destruction of the country? The two atomic bombs were tragic, but the near total destruction of two cities is a far cry from the near total destruction of a country.

Re: Japan has 33k businesses at least a century old

#265

Post by nojvek »

nojvek wrote: post #59
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is the reality of life - every single cell in the body of a plant or animal is replaced every few months. This is laughably false.

Do you have a source for your claim?

I like how HN downvotes when asking for a “source”.

I was merely expecting a “this is false because of X”. Rather than “this is false”

I guess we all have our biases.

Re: Japan has 33k businesses at least a century old

#266

Post by JoeAltmaier »

ilikeathechacha wrote: post #254
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was my point. We built well back then. Everybody seems to be excited to point out, that infrastructure investment is at a low now. E.g. Obama's 'shovel-ready' money didn't go to sewer and water, since those are 'invisible'. So pointless visible projects like cables-down-the-freeway-media got built instead. This is of course obvious. This thread has become a place to vent about that, which is fine.

That decidedly was not your point. You added that point in a followup after someone conveniently fleshed it out for you, but try to read your original comment in a vacuum and find any trace of it. The point that was sent across in your comment was that we have an “unparalleled” power grid (and Internet, apparently, which I could also easily take apart) and we should feel fortunate because outside of America, things l…

Our infrastructure lasted for 100 years. That was how I opened. How is that invisible?

Now it's being neglected. Sure I didn't say anything about that, because to me that is obvious.

The world is more than 1st-world advanced countries. I see a bunch of first-worlders going on about who's dick is bigger. Not a reasonable discussion about infrastructure; a venting about how our world-class technology is not keeping up with expanding demand. Essentially a complaint about our plenty, not being enough.

And this bit about 'going after people' is really ripe irony. I've been gentle and respectful. Never addressed other commenters directly, but just the topic. Got to consider that comment trolling at best.

But enough of that. Let the pedantry thrive, I've not got any ego in this game.

Re: Japan has 33k businesses at least a century old

#267

Post by henriquemaia »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #266
ilikeathechacha wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That decidedly was not your point. You added that point in a followup after someone conveniently fleshed it out for you, but try to read your original comment in a vacuum and find any trace of it. The point that was sent across in your comment was that we have an “unparalleled” power grid (and Internet, apparently, which I could also easily take apart) and we should feel fortunate because outside of America, things l…

Our infrastructure lasted for 100 years. That was how I opened. How is that invisible? Now it's being neglected. Sure I didn't say anything about that, because to me that is obvious. The world is more than 1st-world advanced countries. I see a bunch of first-worlders going on about who's dick is bigger. Not a reasonable discussion about infrastructure; a venting about how our world-class technology is not keeping up…

> Sure I didn't say anything about that, because to me that is obvious

In writing, if you're truly trying to make your point across, never assume something is obvious. Obviously, no one is in your head to know what you know or presuppose.

Be generous with your readers and inform them of your moves. Again, if you're truly interested in making yourself clear.

Re: Japan has 33k businesses at least a century old

#268

Post by thebean11 »

cthalupa wrote: post #262
asiachick wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except for housing which in Japan is only expected to last for 30 yrs and who's value is like a car, the moment you buy a house it's now a "used house" and from their the price goes down.

This is primarily for the large cities and surrounding suburbs. Smaller cities and rural areas have many homes with significantly longer lifespans.

But totally not the case in American cities, where century plus old apartment buildings and houses are totally normal

Re: Japan has 33k businesses at least a century old

#269

Post by [deleted] »

rubidium wrote: post #149
nickelpro wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But someone from 1870 could easily adapt to any time going back through the 17th century. I don't see how that's evidence of change slowing down, it's rapidly accelerating.

I would guess the parent comment wouldn’t disagree that it had sped up til about 1950 or 1970. But then it has slowed down since. I tend to agree, and that this whole personal computers, web apps, tracking stuff that’s obsessed over here just isn’t that big of deal compared to refrigeration and easy global transportation (to pick 2 from 1850-1950).

[deleted]

Re: Japan has 33k businesses at least a century old

#270

Post by rottweiler33 »

rubidium wrote: post #149
nickelpro wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But someone from 1870 could easily adapt to any time going back through the 17th century. I don't see how that's evidence of change slowing down, it's rapidly accelerating.

I would guess the parent comment wouldn’t disagree that it had sped up til about 1950 or 1970. But then it has slowed down since. I tend to agree, and that this whole personal computers, web apps, tracking stuff that’s obsessed over here just isn’t that big of deal compared to refrigeration and easy global transportation (to pick 2 from 1850-1950).

> 'I tend to agree, and that this whole personal computers, web apps, tracking stuff that’s obsessed over here just isn’t that big of deal compared to refrigeration and easy global transportation (to pick 2 from 1850-1950).'

, he says non-chalantly, pressing enter to transmit his message instantaneously around the world, which is read by people in many different nations before finally being stumbled upon 10 days later by a man living in the middle of the wilderness in Alabama, who wonders in amazement at the opinion he's just read. How can anyone fail to understand how the entire world has changed overnight, permanently, in astounding and still-unfolding ways, as a result of personal computer technology? It's exactly akin to refrigeration, jet aircraft, etc. in its transformative power. Even more, since it's a communications technology, and that is an agent of change moreso than anything else.

Check this out: about 20 years ago in the late 90s, as a teenager, the thinking at the time was that "y'all" wasn't considered a real word and would actually get you lectured by some people who would tell you it isn't a word. Today it has spread from coast to coast of the USA, to Australia and England, and about 5 years ago I even saw a teenage girl from Africa using the word on Facebook. Holy fuck.

Likewise, "bless your heart" used to be an exclusively Southern phrase. More and more people elsewhere are becoming familiar with it.

"Shit show" used to be exclusively a midwestern term. So was "have a good one." Within the past 5 years these have taken hold here in Alabama and are now common to hear, especially the latter. The Internet did this.

Overnight we went from telephones at the house (with tone dialing, not that far removed from rotary phones), to cell phones in every pocket, to mini-computers everywhere. And we're instantly "used to" it. The world totally changed in the blink of an eye, and nobody even notices how profound the change really is. Even when there's entire disorders linked to the changes--like the phenomenon of cell phone zombies.

Can you imagine a typical person from 1950 trying to understand and fit in to the world of today? Of course we could go back then and kind of blend in, we've seen enough movies to know "how it was." We could cope. But imagine transporting one of those people here today sight unseen and showing them how things are, all the crazy shit that's in the news on a daily basis, the things perceived as normal, I mean just the whole shit show package all at once. How long would it be before he runs screaming back to 1950?

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