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Tokyo has an unmanned, honor-system electronics and appliance shop

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Re: Tokyo has an unmanned, honor-system electronics and appliance shop

#21

Post by hilbert42 »

That's wonderful, but it's not a big surprise for me.

When in Tokyo I encountered vending machines on a public street (the Ginza) that dispensed bottles of whiskey—Suntory if I recall—that operated 24 hours a day. If you wanted a drink at 3AM you could get it.

Where I am that vending machine would be vandalized overnight and the owner of such an appliance shop would be broke and out of business the next day.

Shame really.

Edit: A Westerner but longtime resident of Japan told me when I was working there of a hotel robbery where an American tourist had valuables and jewelry worth a substantial sum taken from her hotel room. The robbery was big enough to make the newspapers which led to the return of the jewelry. The thief after seeing the news story returned them with a message to the effect "Sorry, I wouldn't have stolen them if I'd known you were a visiting tourist".

Perhaps the story is apocryphal but it and other stories such as if you lose your wallet there's good chance it'll be returned complete with cash—is testament to the honesty of Japanese people.

Re: Tokyo has an unmanned, honor-system electronics and appliance shop

#22

Post by kcyb »

deadbabe wrote: post #11
avidiax wrote: post #2

Japan is obviously a "high trust" society, so I feel like this experiment will work. I wish we had a way to make this sort of system work in a low trust society.

High trust environments tend to crumble in society when you allow too much immigration. Japan’s xenophobia has worked well in this regard.

Switzerland is a diverse society with lots of immigration and it is also a high-trust society

Re: Tokyo has an unmanned, honor-system electronics and appliance shop

#23

Post by HPsquared »

vasco wrote: post #15
deadbabe wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

High trust environments tend to crumble in society when you allow too much immigration. Japan’s xenophobia has worked well in this regard.

And a 99.8% conviction rate.

Only 33 prisoners per 100k population (cf 541 in the US). Whatever they're doing, it's working.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_incarce...

Re: Tokyo has an unmanned, honor-system electronics and appliance shop

#26

Post by 2muchcoffeeman »

gentooflux wrote: post #19
jwr wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to buy firewood at National Forest camping sites in the US; there was a box where you dropped the money and then you grabbed a wood bundle. Granted, this was almost 40 years ago, but this type of thing can work, even in less civilized places like the US.

They leave out more wood than a camper would even think to take because they only need one bundle every day or two. The sort of person who would need to steal a whole season's worth of wood is less likely to have the means to transport it all, and if they're so desperate that they'd go to the trouble then the Christian thing to do would be to let them have it. Gillette razors on the other hand, are expensive to stock…

I’d wager that outdoorsy people who are out camping in the woods are like a “mini-Japan”. The community has their own set of rules and behaviours that would make an honour system possible. Especially 40 years ago when it would have been more of a monoculture.

Re: Tokyo has an unmanned, honor-system electronics and appliance shop

#28

Post by [deleted] »

bombcar wrote: post #3
avidiax wrote: post #2

Japan is obviously a "high trust" society, so I feel like this experiment will work. I wish we had a way to make this sort of system work in a low trust society.

We do have a way - "high trust" enclaves inside the low trust society. The modern examples in the USA are things like colleges, community centers, etc. You gatekeeper the area and then everything inside is high-trust and you can get away with things like this. You can also find it in rural areas and some very expensive islands, too.

[deleted]

Re: Tokyo has an unmanned, honor-system electronics and appliance shop

#29

Post by nazgob »

vasco wrote: post #15
deadbabe wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

High trust environments tend to crumble in society when you allow too much immigration. Japan’s xenophobia has worked well in this regard.

And a 99.8% conviction rate.

It's a different system, they don't go to court without iron-clad case. Japan does not have a large prison population.
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