Four simple rules behind Japan's most liveable cities • Hacker News Board

Re: Four simple rules behind Japan's most liveable cities

#111

Post by MiroslavPokorny » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 2:37 AM UTC

TacticalCoder wrote: post #106

stringsandchars wrote: post #9

> It's a concept that's difficult to replicate elsewhere, but Lydon compares it to what made old Main Street America so special. Designing at a people-first scale pays off. "The smell of fried croquettes drifting onto the streets, small shops run by the building owners, easy public transit access, a feeling of safety and community for all ages… it's hard to overstate how well this all works." Honestly, even though I…

> ... they could find this in pretty much any Spanish city That's a horseload of bullcrap. For a start there are plenty of pickpockets in many spanish cities (not just Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia). Then there are people visiting houses: don't tell me it doesn't happen for I had my house visited by thieves the one time I forgot to put the alarm on (because I had to run to the ER for my daughter was between life and…

But nobody in Japan is actually living.

They are all in a rush to get home or work or school.

I feel sorry how little time they actually get to do things they want to do on their own schedule.

Re: Four simple rules behind Japan's most liveable cities

#112

Post by num42 » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 2:40 AM UTC

> 4. Maintain manners in shared spaces

Before reading the article, I guessed that it would ultimately be about human cooperation. Most discussions about human activities seem to come back to how people work together and respect shared spaces.

I also think this idea extends to environmental problems. In the end, they still boil down to human cooperation. If we want to solve environmental problems, we first have to solve problems of human cooperation. Simply put, to reduce conflict between humans and nature, we must first reduce conflict among humans.

Re: Four simple rules behind Japan's most liveable cities

#113

Post by seanmcdirmid » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 2:42 AM UTC

danudey wrote: post #23

stringsandchars wrote: post #9

> It's a concept that's difficult to replicate elsewhere, but Lydon compares it to what made old Main Street America so special. Designing at a people-first scale pays off. "The smell of fried croquettes drifting onto the streets, small shops run by the building owners, easy public transit access, a feeling of safety and community for all ages… it's hard to overstate how well this all works." Honestly, even though I…

Or come to downtown Vancouver. I live in a small apartment, but within four blocks I have a community centre with gym, a pharmacy, a post office, a grocery store, a small bakery, the best liquor store in the city, three banks, a hot pot restaurant, a physiotherapist/massage therapist office, a vet, a dispensary, multiple hairdressers, an optometrist, several restaurants, two places to get gelato, a public plaza with…

I live in Ballard Seattle, we have most of that except the hot pot place (we are getting a Korean BBQ someday soon though). Ok, no imax (you have to take the bus to Seattle center for that). And…no subway-like mass transit until 2065 it seems.

But you can get that in the states, you just need to pay for it, although the prices are something Vancouverites can surely emphasize with. And frankly, Vancouver area has some wicked unhappy commute opportunities as well.

The nice thing about living in China was that it was easy and cheap to live urban.

Re: Four simple rules behind Japan's most liveable cities

#114

Post by seanmcdirmid » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 2:44 AM UTC

weakened_malloc wrote: post #105

testing22321 wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there are several cities in America that are similar (Boston, Seattle, SF, SanDiego, Austin, NYC to name a few). Worth noting the US does not have a single city in the top 20 worlds most livable. Honolulu is #25, Atlanta gets #35 That tells you something.

It tells me the way they measure 'livable' is wrong. Given the choice, most people would choose to be in any one of those over where ever they are now, and the cities on 'most livable' lists.

Those top 20 livable lists are always pretty narrowly defined though. They’ll mention some pricey cities in Switzerland for sure, and for forget the poor slouches that have to commute into Bern from Freiburg.

Re: Four simple rules behind Japan's most liveable cities

#115

Post by ahartmetz » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 2:48 AM UTC

weakened_malloc wrote: post #105

testing22321 wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there are several cities in America that are similar (Boston, Seattle, SF, SanDiego, Austin, NYC to name a few). Worth noting the US does not have a single city in the top 20 worlds most livable. Honolulu is #25, Atlanta gets #35 That tells you something.

It tells me the way they measure 'livable' is wrong. Given the choice, most people would choose to be in any one of those over where ever they are now, and the cities on 'most livable' lists.

How'd you measure 'livable'? 1. income, 2-n crickets?

Re: Four simple rules behind Japan's most liveable cities

#116

Post by Scrip » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 2:58 AM UTC

hagbard_c wrote: post #81

Earlier on I posted the following comment which for some inexplicable reason got flagged: The BBC forgot - or, as is more likely, refused to mention - rule #0: ensure a homogeneous culture with rather stringent rules around public behaviour. To the person or persons who flagged this comment, please explain. What is it that got you to flag this comment? If there is one thing Japan is known for it is for having a homog…

[flagged]

Re: Four simple rules behind Japan's most liveable cities

#117

Post by richardatlarge » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 3:05 AM UTC

danudey wrote: post #23

stringsandchars wrote: post #9

> It's a concept that's difficult to replicate elsewhere, but Lydon compares it to what made old Main Street America so special. Designing at a people-first scale pays off. "The smell of fried croquettes drifting onto the streets, small shops run by the building owners, easy public transit access, a feeling of safety and community for all ages… it's hard to overstate how well this all works." Honestly, even though I…

Or come to downtown Vancouver. I live in a small apartment, but within four blocks I have a community centre with gym, a pharmacy, a post office, a grocery store, a small bakery, the best liquor store in the city, three banks, a hot pot restaurant, a physiotherapist/massage therapist office, a vet, a dispensary, multiple hairdressers, an optometrist, several restaurants, two places to get gelato, a public plaza with…

America's greatest achievement is to last as long as it has while inverting all common sense. What is the fatal seed, I often wonder. I think this article suggests what it is. The role of the car in its fabric suggests it's hyper-individualism: a myth that the more untethered the self it, the more it will thrive. Hogwash

Re: Four simple rules behind Japan's most liveable cities

#118

Post by aianus » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 3:09 AM UTC

danudey wrote: post #23

stringsandchars wrote: post #9

> It's a concept that's difficult to replicate elsewhere, but Lydon compares it to what made old Main Street America so special. Designing at a people-first scale pays off. "The smell of fried croquettes drifting onto the streets, small shops run by the building owners, easy public transit access, a feeling of safety and community for all ages… it's hard to overstate how well this all works." Honestly, even though I…

Or come to downtown Vancouver. I live in a small apartment, but within four blocks I have a community centre with gym, a pharmacy, a post office, a grocery store, a small bakery, the best liquor store in the city, three banks, a hot pot restaurant, a physiotherapist/massage therapist office, a vet, a dispensary, multiple hairdressers, an optometrist, several restaurants, two places to get gelato, a public plaza with…

Vancouver is SF-level drug disorder paired with Detroit salaries, in no way is it more "livable" than a nice US suburb.

Re: Four simple rules behind Japan's most liveable cities

#119

Post by richardatlarge » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 3:10 AM UTC

MiroslavPokorny wrote: post #111

TacticalCoder wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ... they could find this in pretty much any Spanish city That's a horseload of bullcrap. For a start there are plenty of pickpockets in many spanish cities (not just Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia). Then there are people visiting houses: don't tell me it doesn't happen for I had my house visited by thieves the one time I forgot to put the alarm on (because I had to run to the ER for my daughter was between life and…

But nobody in Japan is actually living. They are all in a rush to get home or work or school. I feel sorry how little time they actually get to do things they want to do on their own schedule.

Japanese live for the afterlife, but know there isn't one, so it's coming apart.

Re: Four simple rules behind Japan's most liveable cities

#120

Post by vkou » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 3:13 AM UTC

aianus wrote: post #118

danudey wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or come to downtown Vancouver. I live in a small apartment, but within four blocks I have a community centre with gym, a pharmacy, a post office, a grocery store, a small bakery, the best liquor store in the city, three banks, a hot pot restaurant, a physiotherapist/massage therapist office, a vet, a dispensary, multiple hairdressers, an optometrist, several restaurants, two places to get gelato, a public plaza with…

Vancouver is SF-level drug disorder paired with Detroit salaries, in no way is it more "livable" than a nice US suburb.

99% of Vancouver by area does not have anything resembling 'SF level drug disorder', and if your 'nice US suburb' didn't just punt all of its fucking problems into its nearest downtown, it too would have an East Hastings, or three.

It probably has a lower homicide rate (and a vastly lower vehicular homicide rate) per capita than your 'nice US suburb'.

That same 'nice US suburb' is also, for some reason, packed to the gills with terrified people who have an inexplicable desire to own guns for 'self-defense'. Self-defense from what..?

Having been to quite a number of what I would call 'nice US suburbs', and knowing people from them, a significant fraction of them act like they are living in some lawless Mad Max hellscape. How do you square this circle?