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Tokyo: A big city that is also pleasant to live in
241–250 of 448 posts
Re: Tokyo: A big city that is also pleasant to live in
#242Earlier quoted context omitted.
And kids can actually walk places by themselves, have social lives and develop some independence instead of being stuck in the backyard.
I want this for my kids (stuck in US suburbia), but have instead opted for them to grow up close to their grandparents. I’m not always sure that I’m making the right trade off, and it annoys me that I even have to make such a choice. Anyway, it’s been over 20 years since I visited Tokyo, and I’ve been to many major cities since. Tokyo remains my favorite.
If you haven't seen it already, the YouTube channel Not Just Bikes has a great video making the other decision (ie. moving to the Netherlands) with some compelling reasoning: https://youtu.be/ul_xzyCDT98
Re: Tokyo: A big city that is also pleasant to live in
#243Re: Tokyo: A big city that is also pleasant to live in
#244I generally do not like cities, at least not to live in, but I really liked HK, Shanghai, Phnom Penh, Chiang Mai and Bangkok. Tokyo and Melbourne are often mentioned as the greatest and I spent months in both; it really depends what you want, situation you are in, what period in your life etc. I though Melbourne was dead; after midnight the city is just a graveyard. And so was Tokyo. I like cities that are alive: in…
Moscow is 24/7 city as well. Shanghai is promoting nightlife economy on the city level. Both are insanely pedestrian-friendly with one of the best public transportation infrastructure in the world.
Re: Tokyo: A big city that is also pleasant to live in
#245> Tokyo comes joint fourth, but its population is larger than the combined populations of the others (Adelaide, Auckland, Osaka and Wellington). Having lived in Adelaide and visited Toyko, Osaka and a bunch of other Japanese cities, I can take a crack at the difference: Adelaide is a great lifestyle city, if you don't actually want to live in a city, love car enabled lifestyles and the outdoors. Tokyo would be great…
I honestly don't understand how "cities" like Adelaide, Auckland and Wellington keep making these lists of "most liveable cities". Their low populations mean they just don't have much of the things that make cities desirable. (like, lots of culture, lots of diversity, lots of options for dining and activities etc etc) Granted, that can make them comparatively pleasant and peaceful, with good access to outdoors and fr…
> these lists of "most liveable cities".
I think the problem is that the idea of habitability is not always clearly defined in facile compilations of locations. And the compromises and sunken-cost calculations are not always clear.
Any good community, big or small, is healthy. Clean air, water, good food, waste management; sensible urban planning and shelter cost; access to nature, infrastructure, and health services; intellectual and cultural prospects such as libraries, bookstores, museums, music, galleries.
A "city" as a market/marketplace is rarely very healthy. Some people might choose to trade health for money and prestige. These are personal choices, but do not scale well over time to a large population.
Re: Tokyo: A big city that is also pleasant to live in
#246Tokyo, and most big Japan cities, are probably the only cities I could visit regularly without getting bored. Whether it's cuisine, the shops, or the people, it felt like a home away from home. It's surely super crowded in some areas, but you don't have to go there either. There are plenty of areas where you could enjoy a quiet (literally) afternoon sipping a good coffee without having to queue up. Also, it's so damn…
That's the thing. It's a super great place when you are a tourist. I lived there and I saw the bad sides, too. To keep this amazing tidyness, order, extremely high quality of service, people go to their limits - with low pay and low perspectives. We have these "bad" jobs also here, people in those jobs are half-assing them, are rude or just quit. In Japan, at least from my experience, it's the conservative conformity…
> pedophilia was normalized for a very long time
Care to explain more to a foreigner? How/when did it stop being normalized?
Re: Tokyo: A big city that is also pleasant to live in
#247Earlier quoted context omitted.
No need for door bells. No need for street signs. No need for taxi stops. No need for privately owned cars (rent via phone app or use Uber like service). Those things affect urban planning a lot.
That's silly. Phones can get damaged or stolen, looking at a sign is much faster than looking at a phony and signs hardly take up any space.
Are you suggesting that cars can't get damaged or stolen? lol
Re: Tokyo: A big city that is also pleasant to live in
#248Earlier quoted context omitted.
I feel just the opposite. I enjoy driving. It puts me in a thoughtful state and the feeling of being free to take whatever turn, shortcut, or scenic route I want at a whim is great. I don’t look forward to the day a human driving is a weekend, closed course activity for the privileged.
You cannot take a scenic route on a whim. You can only take a route that roads and infrastructure is built for and regularly maintained.
what is your point exactly? I can't literally choose to drive my car anywhere, as I am not the dictator of my local DOT. but there are many pleasant routes that do exist near me, and I can choose to take them any time.
Re: Tokyo: A big city that is also pleasant to live in
#249Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most of the things you mentioned here is why I like Japan more han the Western world. To be fair, Japan isn’t perfect. But a lot of things make sense for us. Are you a westerner? It seems that your way of thinking is just different than ours. We value things differently. For example, have you ever stopped to consider that maybe Japanese woman prefer to be in traditional role? The western world has a lot of problems t…
> maybe Japanese woman prefer to be in traditional role? Great, good for them, everything should work out. It's not the women who want to be subservient to men that I'm worried about, it's the ones who don't. Japanese society doesn't leave a lot of room for them and I don't think that's OK.
You can’t please everyone. That’s the whole point of diversity vs harmony. Besides, Japan doesn’t go around killing opeople who don’t adhere to their society. Please think about this hard as lonng, philosophically.
To answer your question. Yes we have a lot of single women, doing careers instead of doing families just fine.
Re: Tokyo: A big city that is also pleasant to live in
#250Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most of the things you mentioned here is why I like Japan more han the Western world. To be fair, Japan isn’t perfect. But a lot of things make sense for us. Are you a westerner? It seems that your way of thinking is just different than ours. We value things differently. For example, have you ever stopped to consider that maybe Japanese woman prefer to be in traditional role? The western world has a lot of problems t…
>For example, have you ever stopped to consider that maybe Japanese woman prefer to be in traditional role? how can you know this for certain? if Japanese culture writ large is "woman should be homemakers", and most Japanese women become homemakers due to societal pressures of cultural conformity - not ever having the opportunity to freely consider alternatives - is that really a "preference"?
I already know the repliers will answer like this. See my other comments.