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Japan to introduce six-month residency visa for 'digital nomads'

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Re: Japan to introduce six-month residency visa for 'digital nomads'

#291
post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But not ever place needs to turn into cosmopolitan London. In the same way that Japan showed it’s possible to have a high standard of living without obsessing over growth, I trust that the Japanese can find a path forward that doesn’t default to “just bring in millions of immigrants”.

Why are we treating a known working and humanitarian strategy as some evil "growth" thing? I feel like we're dragging that term out of the hyper-capitalistic sense it's meant to evoke. People ought to be able to move where they're most happy / productive. One consequence of that may be that a place turns "into cosmopolitan London". But that's hardly a horror.

>People ought to be able to move where they're most happy / productive.

By what measure?

Re: Japan to introduce six-month residency visa for 'digital nomads'

#292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Immigration != colonization One is implemented with the will of the people (in a functioning democracy) and the other is not. Equating the two and then correlating that to dog whistle terms like “genetic extermination” which has no scientific basis (except in terms of pest control) is disingeuous. Edit: formatting

I assure you that there is nothing disingenuous in my comment, and not everything is a "dog whistle". A dog whistle for what, if you mind? No people has ever willed to be colonised (and that was the proposal in the comment I replied to). Immigration is a different matter. The people in history who welcomed being colonised were very sorry for it afterwards. Genetic extermination is the same as genocide, and it has hap…

You have yet to explain why genetic extermination (whatever you mean by that) is undesirable.

Naming a natural evolutionary occurrence (and I mean genetic mixing, not colonization) a pejorative doesn’t make it so.

There is plenty of genetic mixing happening in the world in the last single generation without any colonization. Go back in time far enough and you can draw a line from any major event to a calamity that came after it. It’s quite easy to see through your veiled prejudice for inter-racial breeding.

Re: Japan to introduce six-month residency visa for 'digital nomads'

#295
post #280
post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are we treating a known working and humanitarian strategy as some evil "growth" thing? I feel like we're dragging that term out of the hyper-capitalistic sense it's meant to evoke. People ought to be able to move where they're most happy / productive. One consequence of that may be that a place turns "into cosmopolitan London". But that's hardly a horror.

I think the argument against can be boiled down to this hypothetical analogy: A few friends and I like your home better than ours. It's much nicer and safer than where we currently live, so we move into a few open bedrooms. Now that we outnumber you and your family, we vote to change things in the common areas more to our liking. Some changes are small and happen over time, others more jarring and immediate. You like…

I feel like the analogy isn't a service to the problem.

It's got all sorts of baggage and expectations pertaining to homeownership that don't carry over into migration. I feel it'd just be better to address the problem space directly and ask what specific problems you observe/predict with immigration.

The problem I'm inferring from your comment here would also seem to apply to families moving from Chicago to Boston. And what's funny is that people actually do complain about this (our mayor is from Chicago), but it's for nonsensical reasons in my experience.

Re: Japan to introduce six-month residency visa for 'digital nomads'

#296
post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree the tone was aggressive but this is arguably a real issue and it's not as simple as it seems at first Israel as a "Jewish state" is arguably a place that would not exist if they let in unlimited immigration because it would soon be majority not Jewish. I see that's in conflict with the idea that people should be/do whatever they want. I don't see how to reconcile the two sides. Radiolab had an episode on this…

> The reason being rich non-Samoans would quickly buy up the entire island and there would be no Samoa / Samoan culture anymore. isn't this more of a class (rich vs non-rich) issue than an immigration issue? > I don't know how to resolve that. allow only people who live long-term and actually reside there to buy property might be one strategy? > On the other hand, something will be lost, something that seems to have…

> isn't this more of a class (rich vs non-rich) issue than an immigration issue?

That Doesn't really seem to matter if there are few rich Samoans and lots of rich foreigners. Their culture will still disappear if they have no where to collectively live and access to the things the culture cherishes.

> allow only people who live long-term and actually reside there to buy property might be one strategy?

That's one idea. It has the issue that you can't sell your house if you can't find a local to buy it, even if you desperately need the money.

Re: Japan to introduce six-month residency visa for 'digital nomads'

#297
post #280
post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are we treating a known working and humanitarian strategy as some evil "growth" thing? I feel like we're dragging that term out of the hyper-capitalistic sense it's meant to evoke. People ought to be able to move where they're most happy / productive. One consequence of that may be that a place turns "into cosmopolitan London". But that's hardly a horror.

I think the argument against can be boiled down to this hypothetical analogy: A few friends and I like your home better than ours. It's much nicer and safer than where we currently live, so we move into a few open bedrooms. Now that we outnumber you and your family, we vote to change things in the common areas more to our liking. Some changes are small and happen over time, others more jarring and immediate. You like…

I'd also add here that it's really not even just about the greater good. There's something obviously unique and valuable about different places remaining different, rather than creating some sort of global homogeneity. Austin coined 'Keep Austin Weird' which Portland, and a handful of other such cities, then mimicked.

Of course it failed - the attractiveness of Austin, in part because of its distinct character, left it facing widespread 'migration' of a sort that the city was unaccustomed to dealing with, and it increasingly just looks like any other city. Identical to how if Japan starts opening the flood gates there will be all these people moving there because 'wow, Japan's so weird and unique' and soon enough e.g. Tokyo will look like any other city.

It could well be "better", by some metric or another, for Austin, Tokyo, and everywhere else to be basically the same, excepting some window dressing. But it sure creates a much more bland and less interesting world.

Re: Japan to introduce six-month residency visa for 'digital nomads'

#298
post #7

Has anyone done the digital nomad thing with children? It'd be great if childcare/schooling was easier overseas, maybe even an opportunity for kids to get an early mind opening experience

I was an expat child that moved many times in my childhood. The broken connections of each move hurt me more than any 'new experience'. I wouldn't recommend it, imo social stability is very important.

Re: Japan to introduce six-month residency visa for 'digital nomads'

#299
post #196
post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See my comment below: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39230623 As travelling(!) nomad with an effective tax residency in Switzerland other than living cost and food there aren't as many actual saving options. Vs being stational in a country with low tax and a cheap long term rental. For ME the difference isn't very high.

I don’t get it. Most of my expenses are “living costs” and food. You also said you have the same tax residency. May we know what other expenses in Thailand that matches Switzerland (I’d guess some electronics, but these are casual expenses that you can pick up from the duty free). The other possibility is that you are simply spending more in Thailand. I’ve seen some DN who have the same expenses because they get used…

Brand electronics and branded imported food is more expensive in Thailand than Switzerland. I went out drinking maybe once a month if at all.

However: I eat good and healthy if possible. I love the street food there, but not 2-3 times a day. I am a coffee junkie, coffee to go is generally more expensive as there are no or only expensive imported options in 7/11 and coffee shops are oriented at tourists.

I definitely didn't waste money, didn't have any money to waste. All I am telling is that Travelling(!) In a cheap country can be just as expensive than staying(!) Long term in a expensive country

Re: Japan to introduce six-month residency visa for 'digital nomads'

#300
post #191
post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know this sounds stupid. However i still paid taxes, health care, a mobile contract, banking, etc in Switzerland. The actual savings should be in living and food. On short term I rarely rented below $800/month for a single room flat. (Vs $1000 for a old house in Switzerland) for food I have to cook myself now Vs. Eating out twice a day in Thailand. Without actually moving and centering your life to a cheap country…

You are not comparing apples to apples. “Normal” meals in Thailand are food stalls, $2 per meal if not less. If you’d eat out twice a day in Switzerland, you’d go bankrupt. Same with renting. Short term leases in Switzerland would be astronomical in price. The way you air-quoted “super cheap Thailand” implies that it isn’t cheap to live there at all. It is, as long as you don’t go out of your way to spend extra.

My daily spending was about like this:

- Cheap first meal: $2-$3 - 2-3 Espresso from Supermarkets: $4 - Coffee or tea to go: $3 - Water: $1 - Eating out: $6-$30

So my average day in Food was about $16 - $41 per day. I rarely spend this much in Switzerland when buying only organic food and mostly from farmers. I save a lot on coffee by having a proper coffee machine.

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