Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Tokyo: A big city that is also pleasant to live in

economist.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

251–260 of 448 posts

Re: Tokyo: A big city that is also pleasant to live in

#251

Post by mrkentutbabi »

dymk wrote: post #231
mrkentutbabi wrote: post #133

Earlier 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…

> consider that maybe Japanese woman prefer to be in traditional role? This obviously can’t be true for all Japanese women, so what’s your solution to that? At least in Western countries there is progress being put towards letting women chose if they’d rather be a housewife or an independent person. In Japan there is no such option.

Please see my other comments. Diversity vs harmony.

Re: Tokyo: A big city that is also pleasant to live in

#252

Post by tsunamifury »

ben-schaaf wrote: post #239
tsunamifury wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s pretty easy to understand when you realize Americans don’t like eachother. If we liked living together we wouldn’t be so car centric, it’s not like the cars built the cities for us. And we keep getting worse. Small towns I drive through now are full of angry people who seem to want to be left alone. It’s incredibly sad. We are a selfish and community-less people that enjoy the frontier and adventure more than qu…

> If we liked living together we wouldn’t be so car centric It's entirely the other way around, car centric planning results in less community. It's much easier to be angry at the other 2t metal boxes than at your fellow human being. American cities used to be just like European cities: designed for walking, mixed use developments, small shops, public transportation everywhere. It's only after the delusion of the car…

You know I used to believe that for many years and I’ve come to the conclusion that this is just a “bike-city” circle jerk scapegoating Robert Moses in order to ignore our deeper problem: Americans don’t like each-other.

We would have built better cities if we wanted carless communities. But we didn’t and still don’t.

We want this. This is what we like. We are a sick people. And it isn’t Robert Moses and GMs fault, they are a product of us. We weren’t brainwashed we weren’t forced into this. There is no cabal that made it this way. We choose it. The sooner we accept that the sooner we can evaluate real options for change.

Re: Tokyo: A big city that is also pleasant to live in

#253

Post by mrkentutbabi »

christophilus wrote: post #218
88840-8855 wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't misunderstand me. Maybe I wasn't precise enough with my thoughts. My main point was: Western people are often pro Japan but anti China. If people would apply the same norms, this wouldn't be possible as there is clearly a double standard. My wish is that Western people (i am one of then) stop apply their world view, norms and values to everyone else on this planet. We believe that so many things that def…

I’m one of those people. Japan and China are quite different. I really liked visiting Japan. I really did not enjoy visiting China at all. The two cultures are not as similar as you imply, and the differences matter, at least to me.

If you are just visiting, you won’t see much similaries. Japanese also consider non Japanese (or more precisely, non Asian looking), to have different norms than us so we treat them differently. Its an internal barrier that homogeneous society make. We will be polite about it but forever we will consider you a foreigner.

Re: Tokyo: A big city that is also pleasant to live in

#254

Post by lkschubert8 »

throwaway2331 wrote: post #219
zdragnar wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You would think so, but we still get plenty. What used to be a nice, safe neighborhood near uptown no longer is. Leave your car doors unlocked if you park on the street overnight, or else you'll find the windows broken by morning by kids looking for stuff to steal (happened to a coworker, the one night her husband forgot to not lock the doors). In the last two years, theft of catalytic converters from cars, as well a…

Do you live in the PNW? Because that sounds a lot like the PNW. The northern east coast is what I believe the GP was referring to. We don't really have homeless people. I've honestly never seen a homeless person before, until I left. Neither has anyone tried to "get something" out of me, until I went down south or out west. I think it's cultural. The people who had moved out West were those that weren't necessarily s…

The north east coast has 4 states with some of the highest homelessness rates (New York, Vermont, Maine, and Massachusetts). https://www.statista.com/statistics/727847/homelessness-rate...

Re: Tokyo: A big city that is also pleasant to live in

#255

Post by [deleted] »

tsunamifury wrote: post #235
pakitan wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It’s pretty easy to understand when you realize Americans don’t like eachother. As a general rule, people don't like each other. In places where people live close to one another it's not because they like it but out of some kind of combination between inertia and necessity.

When I go to France or England or India (city centers and countryside) people may not Love each-other but they seem to generally be ok with being together and cooperating a bit more. In America it’s a whole new level. Except for a few idyllic small towns and suburbs that are actually economically and racially exclusionary that seem to have a faux-community.

[deleted]

Re: Tokyo: A big city that is also pleasant to live in

#256

Post by cscurmudgeon »

tsunamifury wrote: post #224
VeninVidiaVicii wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Concur totally after living in Sevilla (Spain). US cities - with the exception of New York - are just cookie-cutter strip malls. There’s a fundamental lack of coherence that’s hard to explain.

It’s pretty easy to understand when you realize Americans don’t like eachother. If we liked living together we wouldn’t be so car centric, it’s not like the cars built the cities for us. And we keep getting worse. Small towns I drive through now are full of angry people who seem to want to be left alone. It’s incredibly sad. We are a selfish and community-less people that enjoy the frontier and adventure more than qu…

Is there a shred of data to support Americans hate each other more than other countries? I will even take a buzzfeed poll slapped together in a minute.

Re: Tokyo: A big city that is also pleasant to live in

#257

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

tsunamifury wrote: post #235
pakitan wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It’s pretty easy to understand when you realize Americans don’t like eachother. As a general rule, people don't like each other. In places where people live close to one another it's not because they like it but out of some kind of combination between inertia and necessity.

When I go to France or England or India (city centers and countryside) people may not Love each-other but they seem to generally be ok with being together and cooperating a bit more. In America it’s a whole new level. Except for a few idyllic small towns and suburbs that are actually economically and racially exclusionary that seem to have a faux-community.

I think the point is that for a series of reasons, during the 20th century the US built a lot of infrastructure that allows a lot (not all!) people to get further away from each other than is typical in Europe (probably elsewhere too, but I have no experience other than the US & Europe).

Neighbors on a street in London don't love but do tolerate each other, and deal with the implications of close proximity and shared responsibilites moderately well. In the US it's much easier to move somewhere and get a parcel of land that makes you feel like a sovereign property owner. Your neighbors are not as adjacent, and may even be ignorable.

Obviously this doesn't cover the millions of Americans who live in relatively dense (generally older) cities, but it does impact the millions who live in suburban, ex-urban and rural parts of the country.

Re: Tokyo: A big city that is also pleasant to live in

#258

Post by tsunamifury »

cscurmudgeon wrote: post #256
tsunamifury wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s pretty easy to understand when you realize Americans don’t like eachother. If we liked living together we wouldn’t be so car centric, it’s not like the cars built the cities for us. And we keep getting worse. Small towns I drive through now are full of angry people who seem to want to be left alone. It’s incredibly sad. We are a selfish and community-less people that enjoy the frontier and adventure more than qu…

Is there a shred of data to support Americans hate each other more than other countries? I will even take a buzzfeed poll slapped together in a minute.

Your handle.

Re: Tokyo: A big city that is also pleasant to live in

#259

Post by turtlebits »

makotobestgirl wrote: post #16
bedobi wrote: post #8

Having lived in Tokyo for years, the elephant in the room is "cars". The whole city is full of pleasant mixed use neighborhoods that are more or less car-free, and centered around public transport hubs that have everything you need around them. People, including unaccompanied children, can and do safely walk and ride bikes everywhere at all hours of the day, including when grocery shopping etc. The world can learn a…

This is honestly the thing that bothers me most about cities the US. Having grown up in Europe, I find many (I'm sure there are exceptions) US cities to be plain ugly and unlivable. The reason is obvious to me. It's that they are designed around cars. It makes such a huge difference.

Americans like their own yards and giant houses and lots of storage.

Personally, I'm guilty of this (except the huge house part). I want 5 acres of land and don't want to see my neighbor.

Re: Tokyo: A big city that is also pleasant to live in

#260

Post by ghaff »

Dracophoenix wrote: post #164
presentation wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This 100%, I measured the volume in my neighborhood in Central Tokyo 5 mins from the nearest station (it’s one of the more popular spots in the city) and it clocks in at 30dB or less. Compared to Manhattan where it’s deafeningly loud all the time. Aside, NYC’s train system is, besides being filthy, unreliable, slow, poorly maintained, and a pain to switch between transit agencies, it’s also unfriendly to anyone who i…

>This 100%, I measured the volume in my neighborhood in Central Tokyo 5 mins from the nearest station (it’s one of the more popular spots in the city) and it clocks in at 30dB or less. Compared to Manhattan where it’s deafeningly loud all the time. Shibuya?

Shibuya is somewhat exceptional in Tokyo whether or not it's unique.

In Manhattan it's more like the constant blaring of horns and near-constant sirens of various types.

Post reply on HN