Tokyo is set to introduce a four-day workweek for government employees • Hacker News Board

Re: Tokyo is set to introduce a four-day workweek for government employees

#361

Post by StefanBatory » Tue, Dec 10, 2024, 6:11 PM UTC

thinkingtoilet wrote: post #208

nemo44x wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I enjoyed the DINK life for some time but eventually we decided to start a family and my only regret in life is we didn't start it sooner and have more kids. In the end all the fancy restaurants, nights out, fancy vacations with first class airfare, etc were nice in some ways but pretty vapid and unimportant when looking back. I won't value those years very much compared to the years with children in the house. The e…

Just to provide a counter point you don't hear. I have two kids and very much wish I didn't. I love my kids. I sacrifice for them. There are many moments of great joy. However, I don't really have a life any more. I would rather spend my time traveling, visiting friends, playing music. I would rather have more money. I would rather be healthier. I would rather have time for my hobbies. Being a good parent is a lot an…

I sincerely hope your kids will never read this.

They will never forget.

Re: Tokyo is set to introduce a four-day workweek for government employees

#362

Post by gretch » Tue, Dec 10, 2024, 7:47 PM UTC

makeitdouble wrote: post #334

gretch wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is it bad to be a teacher in Japan?

To put it mildly, it's a shitty job. I don't think it's an easy job in most countries, but in Japan in particular the pay is low, hours are long and the expected work load is super heavy as it includes endless meetings, paperwork, watching extracurricular activities often including on weekends, seasonal events etc. Some still enjoy it as a vocation, but on paper it's just mind crushing. https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworl…

Thanks, I didn’t know that about Japan

Re: Tokyo is set to introduce a four-day workweek for government employees

#363

Post by WarOnPrivacy » Wed, Dec 11, 2024, 12:29 AM UTC

shiroiushi wrote: post #358

15155 wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I grew up in the US with parents that had a suburban kingdom, large back yard, swimming pool, garage for three SUVs, and workshop: I walked to, waited for, and rode the bus to kindergarten. "This is what they get" is false causation, these things have been present for decades. Helicopter parenting, liability for walking around alone, special snowflake treatment are all newly-introduced ideas.

You must be quite young if you had SUVs when you were growing up. They didn't become popular until the late 1990s. They basically didn't exist at all in the 1980s or before; people had station wagons back then.

We did have Suburbans, Broncos and a Ram thing that was closed in. Not a ton of them but they were out there.

Re: Tokyo is set to introduce a four-day workweek for government employees

#364

Post by IIsi50MHz » Wed, Dec 11, 2024, 4:47 AM UTC

paulryanrogers wrote: post #223

TeMPOraL wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their view is a product of hard times. Your view is a product of good times. Theirs is the observation that people will be more committed to work hard to make things better, if they can hope to eventually rest and partake in some of the improvements. Yours is basically "fuck off, YOLO and people should just have fun ". Both views have some good points behind them, but then yours is unsustainable over more than a gene…

Parents chose to have children, how many (i.e. how much their attention is divided), how they'll raise them (with near absolute authority), and pick 50% of the kids' genes (via the other parent). Children chose nothing. They owe nothing. It's selfish to demand your children be personally responsible for you. Making young people miserable under the crushing weight of caring for themselves and their irresponsible elder…

Consider that in Japan, refusal care for the elders would be considered an act of irresponsibility.

You are right that there should be no crushing weight inflicted. Not all of Japanese worklife has the exploitative nature described upthread. And indeed, seems to be decreasing significantly from the 1980s. For instance, the following situation is no longer likely:

"A boss is working late, so the employees under the boss keep working without being requested to. If the boss disagrees with their decision to stay, then instead of directly telling them they may leave (because they may feel obligated politely refuse as long as the boss is still working), the boss will 'go home' by walking around the block. This gives the employees time to leave, before the boss returns to continue working late."

Consider that in Japan, doing what is best for a group of which you are part is more important than self-interest. There is some modern trend to a little more individualism, in part as reaction to some past and current excesses, and somewhat due to influences of foreign cultures. In general, it seems to be trending toward balance while still keeping a lot of importance of your in-group.

Re: Tokyo is set to introduce a four-day workweek for government employees

#365

Post by supplied_demand » Wed, Dec 11, 2024, 5:01 PM UTC

lenerdenator wrote: post #103

supplied_demand wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

==Since then the American public has seen it as a nice little bonus they get for living past 65 and has started stealing from younger generations in the form of sovereign debt in order to maintain that instead of treating it like the insurance policy it actually is.== Social Security has it's own funding stream, a tax on wages earned. It does not add to the deficit or increase borrowing. If the funding dries up, the…

But there's only so many dollars you can pull from a wage earned. A dollar pulled for OASDI is a dollar that can't be pulled for anything else, and the person earning said dollar will express dissatisfaction at the ballot box if you try to make up for that by taking another dollar. A retirement bonus (which is what OASDI is for millions of retired Americans) costs more than a retirement insurance plan, because one ge…

==A more expensive program requires more tax revenue to administer, revenue that could be used on anything else.==

More complexity is what makes programs more expensive to administer, not size. You are suggesting adding significant complexity (actual insurance) to what is currently a relatively simple program.

There are lots of things that make it more complex. For example, actual insurance requires you to continue paying in each year to get a benefit. Currently, I can take a year off from working and it has minimal impact on my SSI benefits (as SSI just takes and average index of your 35 highest earning years).

Re: Tokyo is set to introduce a four-day workweek for government employees

#366

Post by nox101 » Sat, Dec 14, 2024, 9:35 AM UTC

thinkingtoilet wrote: post #208

nemo44x wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I enjoyed the DINK life for some time but eventually we decided to start a family and my only regret in life is we didn't start it sooner and have more kids. In the end all the fancy restaurants, nights out, fancy vacations with first class airfare, etc were nice in some ways but pretty vapid and unimportant when looking back. I won't value those years very much compared to the years with children in the house. The e…

Just to provide a counter point you don't hear. I have two kids and very much wish I didn't. I love my kids. I sacrifice for them. There are many moments of great joy. However, I don't really have a life any more. I would rather spend my time traveling, visiting friends, playing music. I would rather have more money. I would rather be healthier. I would rather have time for my hobbies. Being a good parent is a lot an…

I know this is a week old post so there will likely not be any follow up but I have several friends that seem to have it all

They have 2 or 3 kids. They love their kids and love spending time with them. Yet, they still have time for hobbies and side projects. I don't know how they do it

1 friend, 2 kids (8-12), FAANG job, 2nd company on the side with a partner, plays horror games and writes about them.

1 friend, 2 kids (7-11), FANNG job, plays video games with this brother remotely, takes his kids out often and they hang out with this friends (we all love the kids). He's also the cook in the house and has people over often. Goes snowboarding in the window.

1 friend, 3 kids (6-8-10), plays videos games (hobby 1), plays guitar (hobby 2), does photograph (hobby 3), see his picts on facebook all the time of the latest thing he's doing

1 friend, 3 kids (8, 10, 12), makes video games for a job and makes his own at home for hobby. One of this kids is also into making video games which they share.

1 friend, 2 kids, tech job, loves VR, plays VR with kids, writes tech tutorials for blogs as hobby.

I'm not saying "you can do it too", I'm just saying I see example of people that somehow *seem* like they're enjoying visiting friends, playing music, having time for hobbies, and they have kids

Would love to know if they just lucked out. If there's specific things they do. Or if it's just an attitude. Or something else.

Re: Tokyo is set to introduce a four-day workweek for government employees

#367

Post by toomuchtodo » Tue, Dec 17, 2024, 4:08 PM UTC

thinkingtoilet wrote: post #208

nemo44x wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I enjoyed the DINK life for some time but eventually we decided to start a family and my only regret in life is we didn't start it sooner and have more kids. In the end all the fancy restaurants, nights out, fancy vacations with first class airfare, etc were nice in some ways but pretty vapid and unimportant when looking back. I won't value those years very much compared to the years with children in the house. The e…

Just to provide a counter point you don't hear. I have two kids and very much wish I didn't. I love my kids. I sacrifice for them. There are many moments of great joy. However, I don't really have a life any more. I would rather spend my time traveling, visiting friends, playing music. I would rather have more money. I would rather be healthier. I would rather have time for my hobbies. Being a good parent is a lot an…

You are not alone, and I would encourage you to ignore anyone who says you are a bad person for regretting a one way door many default to. I had kids, but I wouldn't do it again knowing what I know now. If these ideas are not discussed, younger cohorts don't have more information to potentially make different decisions and lead potentially better lives (depending on what they're optimizing for).

https://www.axios.com/2024/07/25/adults-no-children-why-pew-... ("64% of young women say they just don't want children, compared to 50% of men.")