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

Can Tokyo’s charms be replicated elsewhere?

economist.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 183 posts

Re: Can Tokyo’s charms be replicated elsewhere?

#151

Post by wesapien »

blue039 wrote: post #24
BMc2020 wrote: post #20

Tokyo today is unusually liveable— safe , clean, functional and vibrant—for a megacity of its size: 37m in its greater metropolitan area, including 14m people in the central wards. Safe streets are the key.

They're safe because their police make the US police look human. The amount of ways you can accidentally end up in prison with some extreme sentences is uncountable. I'd recommend watching any of the traveling channels to see their warnings on it for foreigners. Punishments for something even as simple as public intoxication can be comparatively severe when juxtaposed with, for example, the US where you might spend t…

Harsh punishment exists because of their Overton window. The demographics that matter (child producing families) would make that trade off easily.

Re: Can Tokyo’s charms be replicated elsewhere?

#153

Post by digitalscribe »

GameOfFrowns wrote: post #145
digianarchist wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Singapore is a high-trust society without the homogeneity.

Does the high trust stem from interpersonal solidarity or draconian persecution of misbehaviour?

> draconian persecution of misbehaviour

Like banning chewing gum. And the death penalty for bringing in drugs?

Re: Can Tokyo’s charms be replicated elsewhere?

#154

Post by digianarchist »

GameOfFrowns wrote: post #145
digianarchist wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Singapore is a high-trust society without the homogeneity.

Does the high trust stem from interpersonal solidarity or draconian persecution of misbehaviour?

Difficult to say probably the latter considering the previous cases of racial tensions in Singapore but if you want a non-authoritarian example I think Canada is a good one.

Re: Can Tokyo’s charms be replicated elsewhere?

#155

Post by largepeepee »

eru wrote: post #74
largepeepee wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe at first. Singapore had to make lots of tough decisions early on, and they fixed it early. Problems which still plague their neighbors to this day. I say today, the base economic situation of the people and the disparity of wealth is a bigger factor to what makes a country -overall safe or unsafe, which is what the thread is about and what I was replying to. Safety first.

When measured by income or accumulated wealth, Singapore has huge inequality. When measured by things like access to good education, infrastructure, housing, things look more equal. A big temper to any real authoritarian tendencies in Singapore is that it's easy for our inhabitants to vote with their feet: people can and do leave. Thanks to some special diplomatic deals, Singaporeans have special access to working vi…

Well said, I rarely compliment replies but I feel that description is worth bookmarking.

Re: Can Tokyo’s charms be replicated elsewhere?

#156

Post by GameOfFrowns »

diordiderot wrote: post #119
llanowarelves wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People don't like to hear it, but a high-trust society is enabled by homogeneity. Look at Japan's demographics, and opposition to foreign religions, languages, etc. They don't allow "the world" to recreate itself inside them, and the conflict and distrust (Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam) that that brings.

I hope you don't mean racial homogeneity, because that would be a load of _equine excrement_ If you didn't, homogeneity really isn't the best word to convey the idea that social trust comes from long-standing, slow moving cultural traditions. Even then there are counter examples but it could be one of those 'necessary but not sufficient' situations

>I hope you don't mean racial homogeneity, because that would be a load of _equine excrement_

I'd argue that Mumbai/India or Lagos/Nigeria are overwhelmingly racially homogeneous. So there must be some additional factor beyond racial homogeneity.

Re: Can Tokyo’s charms be replicated elsewhere?

#157

Post by gamblor956 »

JasonFruit wrote: post #130
gamblor956 wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't describe any part of the Midwest I'm familiar with...

It is possible that we're both right. Do you mind sharing where in the Midwest you have experience?

Ohio. People there are vile, especially in Akron and the smaller factory towns.

And Oklahoma, outside of Tulsa.

Re: Can Tokyo’s charms be replicated elsewhere?

#158

Post by [deleted] »

throwaway-9000 wrote: post #53
BMc2020 wrote: post #20

Tokyo today is unusually liveable— safe , clean, functional and vibrant—for a megacity of its size: 37m in its greater metropolitan area, including 14m people in the central wards. Safe streets are the key.

Japan is also one of the least diverse developed countries with well over 90% of inhabitants being Yamato Japanese. It is unsurprising that it would be safe, clean, and functional.

[deleted]

Re: Can Tokyo’s charms be replicated elsewhere?

#159

Post by [deleted] »

astrange wrote: post #98
asiachick wrote: post #92

No, because the charms come from the culture and the culture will never be replicated elsewhere. Things like, almost no one steals, people return dropped wallets, people don't destroy vending machines (vandalism is low), people try not to annoy others (few house parties, instead rent a bar, practice music in rented music rooms, not at home, it's legal to drink in public but no one does it except at parks and no one g…

Compared to the US you’re a lot more likely to live near a bar though. You can open businesses like bars on the ground floor of your house! The US, which is supposedly capitalist, actually does all it can to stop any profitable use of residential areas to make sure people are already rich before they try buying in one.

[deleted]

Re: Can Tokyo’s charms be replicated elsewhere?

#160

Post by sebastianz »

rjzzleep wrote: post #46
diob wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a feeling you've never actually been there. They do have an issue with forced confessions, but you're much more likely to be arrested or worse (shot) in the USA for no reason. But beyond that, this is an over simplification of something that stems from multiple things, not some singular root reason. And if you want data, look no further than https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_United_States_in... for w…

I don’t think any place in the world comes close to the USA in terms of its prison(labor) camps. It has the highest per capita rate of incarceration on the planet. So I don’t think his comparison is warranted. But I’m actually in Japan right now, and while I definitely did fetishize Japan to some extent this trip has not been pleasant. Last night I went out for a call in front of my Airbnb so I wouldn’t wake up my ba…

The expletives you use when referring to the policeman don't really help your point.
Post reply on HN