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Japan was the future but it's stuck in the past (2023)

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Re: Japan was the future but it's stuck in the past (2023)

#61

Post by fluoridation »

akira2501 wrote: post #42
fluoridation wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, it's basically inevitable, isn't it? Cultural heterogeneity is born out of isolation. If two groups of people are in constant contact, they'll never ever stop speaking the same language and having the same traditions. Conversely, if two originally distinct cultures start to interact regularly (even more so if closely) they'll eventually merge into one. People are more willing to give up on traditions and cult…

> Cultural heterogeneity is born out of isolation. What level of "isolation" forms that threshold though? We're nowhere near a single worldwide religion, for example, which is odd because it's the most existential of cultural beliefs.

No level. It's a continuum. The more isolated, the faster the cultures will diverge.

Re: Japan was the future but it's stuck in the past (2023)

#62

Post by swatcoder »

fluoridation wrote: post #36
telchior wrote: post #23

It's interesting to consider that these "Japan is backwards" takes might persist in part simply because it hasn't melded with the global first world culture. I can go to various countries and very similar experiences at an electronics store, a hotel and a gas station. In Japan all of those (and many others) are distinctively Japanese. I've read travelogues from the 17th-19th centuries, and in a lot of them, all of th…

I mean, it's basically inevitable, isn't it? Cultural heterogeneity is born out of isolation. If two groups of people are in constant contact, they'll never ever stop speaking the same language and having the same traditions. Conversely, if two originally distinct cultures start to interact regularly (even more so if closely) they'll eventually merge into one. People are more willing to give up on traditions and cult…

Millenia of stubbornly cosmopolitan cities suggests it's not so inevitable, as does all but the most modern history of Europe, India, and East Asia. These all reflect essentially distinct cultural communities in constant trade and travel for hundreds and hundreds of years. Contact alone isn't enough.

Homogenization doesn't seem to happen until either some sweeping administrative body insists on it, or (unique to modernity) a specific culture's media successfully and pervasively inserts itself between people and local/inherited traditions.

Re: Japan was the future but it's stuck in the past (2023)

#63

Post by [deleted] »

Xcelerate wrote: post #25

I’ve lived in many parts of the U.S.—from major cities to the rural countryside. I’ve also lived outside the U.S. And without fail, every time I visit other developed countries, I become so confused about how our economy is apparently one of the strongest, and yet the U.S. just feels behind a lot of other places. A friend was telling me the first time they moved to the U.S. to work in Silicon Valley, they were expect…

[deleted]

Re: Japan was the future but it's stuck in the past (2023)

#64

Post by fluoridation »

woodPurchase wrote: post #60
fluoridation wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Toshi would tear down his local shrine and import the third world because it's better than having some Judeo-Christian reporters call them names? He would have if those foreigners were similar in numbers to the Japanese, rather than being a minute minority.

If they were similar in numbers why would it be the Japanese ceding instead of the foreigners? Even if so, it's all the more reason to not let them in in the first place. Keep Japan Japanese for the Japanese

It's not a battle, where one side decisively wins over the other. Both cultures cede a bit towards common ground.

Re: Japan was the future but it's stuck in the past (2023)

#65

Post by swatcoder »

lannisterstark wrote: post #32
huy77 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

us is the strongest in arm not civil

>us is the strongest in arm not civil the US economy is one of the (if not the, depending on who you ask) strongest economy in the world - and we're not talking military economy. To pretend otherwise is simply naive. Mississippi, the poorest US state, has both higher GDP Per Capita and GDP PPP Per Capita than most of Europe, much less the world.

I believe the person you were replying to is referring to something like the "civil" impact of the economy. GDP is an extremely abstract measure and doesn't really speak to who's benefiting from that productivity or how they're benefiting.

Without challenging that the high GDP of the US may be an outcome of its hands-off attitude towards capital return and wealth concentration, it's not really the world leader for making sure its people are healthy and well in proportion to it.

Re: Japan was the future but it's stuck in the past (2023)

#66

Post by oezi »

Xcelerate wrote: post #25

I’ve lived in many parts of the U.S.—from major cities to the rural countryside. I’ve also lived outside the U.S. And without fail, every time I visit other developed countries, I become so confused about how our economy is apparently one of the strongest, and yet the U.S. just feels behind a lot of other places. A friend was telling me the first time they moved to the U.S. to work in Silicon Valley, they were expect…

Too much wealth is privatized in the US so there isn't much left for ensuring the public spaces are nice.

Next, the relentless capitalism has squeezed every last penny from every inch of life (for the good and bad). Parking 20 Dollars an hour, concert tickets 400 bucks, hospital visit 100k. You need a lot of GDP to keep up.

Re: Japan was the future but it's stuck in the past (2023)

#67

Post by fluoridation »

swatcoder wrote: post #62
fluoridation wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, it's basically inevitable, isn't it? Cultural heterogeneity is born out of isolation. If two groups of people are in constant contact, they'll never ever stop speaking the same language and having the same traditions. Conversely, if two originally distinct cultures start to interact regularly (even more so if closely) they'll eventually merge into one. People are more willing to give up on traditions and cult…

Millenia of stubbornly cosmopolitan cities suggests it's not so inevitable, as does all but the most modern history of Europe, India, and East Asia. These all reflect essentially distinct cultural communities in constant trade and travel for hundreds and hundreds of years. Contact alone isn't enough. Homogenization doesn't seem to happen until either some sweeping administrative body insists on it, or (unique to mode…

>(unique to modernity) a specific culture's media successfully and pervasively inserts itself between people and local/inherited traditions.

So, when there's more cultural exchange and less isolation?

Re: Japan was the future but it's stuck in the past (2023)

#68

Post by inglor_cz »

akira2501 wrote: post #42
fluoridation wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, it's basically inevitable, isn't it? Cultural heterogeneity is born out of isolation. If two groups of people are in constant contact, they'll never ever stop speaking the same language and having the same traditions. Conversely, if two originally distinct cultures start to interact regularly (even more so if closely) they'll eventually merge into one. People are more willing to give up on traditions and cult…

> Cultural heterogeneity is born out of isolation. What level of "isolation" forms that threshold though? We're nowhere near a single worldwide religion, for example, which is odd because it's the most existential of cultural beliefs.

At least in the West, we have a lot more secularism than ever before.

Re: Japan was the future but it's stuck in the past (2023)

#69

Post by inglor_cz »

im3w1l wrote: post #54
fluoridation wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, it's basically inevitable, isn't it? Cultural heterogeneity is born out of isolation. If two groups of people are in constant contact, they'll never ever stop speaking the same language and having the same traditions. Conversely, if two originally distinct cultures start to interact regularly (even more so if closely) they'll eventually merge into one. People are more willing to give up on traditions and cult…

It's not that simple. People in constant contact have in fact maintained separate cultures in some instances. I think what makes it different this time is that we are using science to find the best culture. "How should we behave towards each other for the best possible outcome?" If a certain culture is clearly and demonstrably better, then that will lead to everyone adopting it. Democracy might also be part of it, as…

Even separate cultures have converged to a massive degree.

For example, most people in the world, nowadays, send their kids to school and use smartphones. And even though Putin, Xi and Western leaders may not be friends, they wear basically the same professional attire.

200 years ago, there would be much fewer common cultural traits.

Re: Japan was the future but it's stuck in the past (2023)

#70

Post by amai »

akira2501 wrote: post #44
nothercastle wrote: post #20

The Japanese central bank doomed their economy to 20+ years of stagnation. Instead of allowing prices of assets to crash after the big bubble they locked interest rates at 0 and prevented a recession and repricing of assets but at the cost of future

> they locked interest rates at 0 "How to destroy innovation and ensure monopolies take over your economy."

Wasn’t that the case for a long time in the US an the EU, too? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_interest-rate_policy
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