81–90 of 95 posts
I’m curious if handcrafting artisans like this exist in North America/Europe at anywhere near the same scale (and we only see stories from Japan as we view it as something their culture does) or whether this is a uniquely Japanese thing to do. Perhaps we just value it less here in North America. All stories of extremely small batch but precisely crafted products seem to come out of Japan.
I’m curious if handcrafting artisans like this exist in North America/Europe at anywhere near the same scale (and we only see stories from Japan as we view it as something their culture does) or whether this is a uniquely Japanese thing to do. Perhaps we just value it less here in North America. All stories of extremely small batch but precisely crafted products seem to come out of Japan.
Japanese culture seems to emphasize the experience of "doing" a lot more than the west. This attitude surely stems from Zen Buddhist ideas. For example, in the west, there is a commonly shared fantasy that automating away work will lead to happiness, having the robots doing it all is Nirvana; However, e all know deep down inside we'd still need something to do, we'd have to create some purpose or some object for ours…
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> All stories of extremely small batch but precisely crafted products seem to come out of Japan. idk. Most of my YouTube recommendations are exactly that but from all around the world lol. I can’t even say most are from Japan. I would be lying if I did. As a very simple example, I just watched a video about some candy company in Massachusetts that has been hand-making hard candy the same way for more than a hundred y…
japan is roughly 1.5% of the world population. where do they stack up in your video feed (maybe even leave out half the world's population, so call it 3%)?
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I mean, sorta? This would be like claiming that folks that enjoy a long bike ride are finding a way to lie about difficult physical tasks. (Or marathon runners, or any other difficult thing.) That is, I'm pointing out that you can use unique tastes to imprint experiences. And if you do that, it is not surprising that you can grow to like the taste, as it is no longer an isolated thing, but a physical reminder of othe…
If you work really hard at it, perhaps you can convince yourself of anything. But, notice I used the word work there. Those marathon runners are putting in an active effort to motivate themselves. No one wants to have to put effort into convincing themselves they're enjoying good wine with their experience.
Japan's MO seems to be extreme attention to detail on labor intensive high end luxury products. This translated into good transfer learning towards industrialization after WW2 but now has stagnated its potential by focusing on optimizing local maxima. It's aims fail to see the forest for the trees.
I think local focus is the secret sauce to the diversity of outputs and ability to sustain so many different niche interests.
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I hate to push the idea of experience, but you can try that next time. That is, don't try and take in the taste individually. Look around and experience everything with you and try to imprint some of that into tasting it. Close your eyes and set the idea that it was all a part of it. Then, later, if you can get back to this specific taste, it can help remind you in very physical ways of being there and having that ex…
I'd like to extrapolate this further. Don't make yourself independent from the experience. If you're already enjoying yourself, you will enjoy the taste (of whatever is in debate) even more. You will associate the taste with the story of its creation as well as your personal experience. Aim for the memorable experience with family/friends over consuming "the best" (sometimes it can be the same thing!) and you will en…
I wish I could not only upvote, but add a massive underline to that last sentence.
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Can you please stop posting these links? You're crossing into spamming.
Hi dang! This article is behind a soft paywall, so I thought it would be helpful to the HN community.
Not only that but it looks like your account has been using HN primarily to promote your own work (this project and others), which is something that the site guidelines explicitly ask users not to do: "Please don't use HN primarily for promotion. It's ok to post your own stuff part of the time, but the primary use of the site should be for curiosity." - https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
There's nothing wrong with sharing your work on HN—that's an important part of what the site is for! But it should be part of an unpredictable mix of topics. When people are only interested in their own stuff, that's not the kind of interest we're shooting for here—that's using HN as a promotional target and really not in the intended spirit of the site. As the guideline says, we want people to share in the spirit of curiosity, not promotion, and that would normally include a range of unrelated/interesting things, not just one's own.
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japan is roughly 1.5% of the world population. where do they stack up in your video feed (maybe even leave out half the world's population, so call it 3%)?
Uhh, not sure if you misinterpreted what I said. I said that most of the videos in my feed aren’t Japan-related.
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>> I eat it and after all the hype, am disappointed. "Fine" wine has almost nothing to do with taste. It is about culture. It is about history and travel. It is about wealth. It is about demonstrating one's ability and acceptance within a particular society. It is about pretending. The fact that an elite wine only available to a rarified few actually tastes horrible is very much beside the point.
I love it when HN galaxy brains talk about stuff they clearly know nothing about.
Japan's obsession with tradition gives me real Europe vibes. The people selling it praise it, the people nearby have pride. I eat it and after all the hype, am disappointed. If I try really really hard, I can trick my brain into thinking its worthwhile. (I did just spend a bunch of money, traveled across the world, I should be able to enjoy this more than something I grow in my garden.. right?) I'd love blind taste t…
sometimes it's not just about the flavor but the tradition itself. You're participating in an act and culture that has stretched throughout time and creates a shared experience to those in the past and hopefully future