Yamauchi No.10 Family Office • Hacker News Board

Re: Yamauchi No.10 Family Office

#151

Post by bsanr2 » Wed, Apr 14, 2021, 2:43 PM UTC

pokot0 wrote: post #146

nine_k wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I happen to know a few Italians, and unfortunately cannot agree about the quality of life. Likely it's way better than in places like Congo — no wonder! But compared to more northern Europe and the US, the difference is rather stark. Look at the unemployment figures, for instance. Still, of course, great people, great culture, great potential. Same with Japan: wonderful culture, nice people, but the problems are real…

Lower classes in Italy are not as much penalized as in the US. Eviction takes YEARS and it's just impossible in some situations (kids in the house), healthcare is free for all, personal debt is not as aggressive as here, unpaid debt is a nightmare to go afer. So unemployment figures are not really that important to gauge quality of life. We had many scandals where people just didn't want to get hired and do small wor…

Too-high GDP seems to result in a de facto aristocracy which claws as much of the wealth as possible to themselves, an issue which becomes more intractable over time re: Piketty. At both the macro and micro scale, quality of life seems to peak at the upper middle class, where there's just enough wealth that the imperative to keep everyone happy takes precedence (vs the imperative to stay at the top or keep everyone from starving on either side).

I know that Italy isn't perfect, but the Italian-style post-Imperial "chill-out" seems to work well in a lot of ways. I'm an American with no Italian heritage, but I was born there and I think I might have imprinted a bit. I hope to go back someday.

Re: Yamauchi No.10 Family Office

#152

Post by mzs » Wed, Apr 14, 2021, 2:50 PM UTC

Nazzareno wrote: post #133

Mobile version is even better, with a fantastic background music (any guess on which is the song? Can't shazam it)

No tags in the MP3, likely created for the site but I too wish I knew the artist(s):

https://y-n10.com/assets/sound/bgm.mp3

edit: 吉田健二 Kenji Yoshida selected works: http://dajistudio.com/

https://twitter.com/mount_inc/status/1381805231479005186

Re: Yamauchi No.10 Family Office

#153

Post by phaedrus441 » Wed, Apr 14, 2021, 2:52 PM UTC

Clewza313 wrote: post #57

chrisco255 wrote: post #30

Besides being a beautiful website, I was rather touched by their call to action: "Seeking stability only clouds your soul. Fear of failing only kills the seeds of innovation. We must create a more exciting future where people feel free to dream and leap into a world of possibilities. We must create a freer future where people are eager to truly live." It's hard not to love Nintendo. Also TLDR for those that didn't sc…

> We must create a more exciting future where people feel free to dream and leap into a world of possibilities. Unfortunately this is standard marketing pablum for Japanese companies, with "future" ( mirai ) and "dream" ( yume ) both being particularly common tropes. Alan Booth talks about this back in 1995 in Looking for the Lost : > I passed through the pavilion's Dream Tunnel into the World of Dream and from there…

Thanks for inadvertently introducing me to Alan Booth. Just picked up a copy of “The Roads to Sata” because of this comment!

Re: Yamauchi No.10 Family Office

#154

Post by V-2 » Wed, Apr 14, 2021, 2:52 PM UTC

nine_k wrote: post #139

throwaway2037 wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a non-native who has lived in Japan for many years, but then moved to another country in Asia... I disagree with the regular stream of negative English language news about Japan. It is still a wonderful culture, people, and country. And ignore the "GDP" stuff. You will read the same about Italy in English language newspapers. And (South) Korea. Both are also beautiful countries with great food and very high qualit…

I happen to know a few Italians, and unfortunately cannot agree about the quality of life. Likely it's way better than in places like Congo — no wonder! But compared to more northern Europe and the US, the difference is rather stark. Look at the unemployment figures, for instance. Still, of course, great people, great culture, great potential. Same with Japan: wonderful culture, nice people, but the problems are real…

Italy is a country of great contrasts. Northern Italy (such as Milan) is definitely on par with "more northern Europe".

Re: Yamauchi No.10 Family Office

#155

Post by bsanr2 » Wed, Apr 14, 2021, 2:54 PM UTC

bobthechef wrote: post #113

chrisco255 wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It might be a trope but coming from Nintendo it means a lot more. Can't say how many wonderful memories I've had exploring the worlds that Nintendo has dreamed up.

Those were...games...

Games made to take advantage of hardware innovations that were then built upon. Nintendo has had a direct hand in the implementation of new (or newly low-cost) technologies that have then gone on to serve as the basis for more widespread innovations. Ex. They placed a cheap infrared camera in their Wiimote to enable controller tracking (which means that that tech got into the hands of millions of users). An engineering student reversed this, using that camera to track LEDs placed on a pair of glasses to achieve cheap headtracking.(1) This was then used as the basis for the tech in Microsoft's Kinect(2), which served as the basis for the tracking technologies we see in modern XR setups. That's just one example of many.

1: https://youtu.be/Jd3-eiid-Uw

2: https://www.wired.com/2011/05/johnny-lee-kinect-hacking/

Re: Yamauchi No.10 Family Office

#156

Post by aikinai » Wed, Apr 14, 2021, 2:56 PM UTC

throwaway2037 wrote: post #123

chrisco255 wrote: post #30

Besides being a beautiful website, I was rather touched by their call to action: "Seeking stability only clouds your soul. Fear of failing only kills the seeds of innovation. We must create a more exciting future where people feel free to dream and leap into a world of possibilities. We must create a freer future where people are eager to truly live." It's hard not to love Nintendo. Also TLDR for those that didn't sc…

As a non-native who has lived in Japan for many years, but then moved to another country in Asia... I disagree with the regular stream of negative English language news about Japan. It is still a wonderful culture, people, and country. And ignore the "GDP" stuff. You will read the same about Italy in English language newspapers. And (South) Korea. Both are also beautiful countries with great food and very high qualit…

Your point is orthogonal to the stagnation issue. Yes, Japan is still a wonderful place to live, the best in the world I’d personally say. But it is most certainly stagnating. There’s enough momentum, cultural advantage, and existing wealth to continue to carry it forward for quite a while, but the energy and ambition is gone. That’s what GP was describing and that’s what the Yamauchi family is targeting.

I also love the gesture, but it obviously won’t do much on the grand scale. Not even the massive 2011 disaster was enough to light the fire again.

Re: Yamauchi No.10 Family Office

#157

Post by Clewza313 » Wed, Apr 14, 2021, 3:07 PM UTC

phaedrus441 wrote: post #153

Clewza313 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We must create a more exciting future where people feel free to dream and leap into a world of possibilities. Unfortunately this is standard marketing pablum for Japanese companies, with "future" ( mirai ) and "dream" ( yume ) both being particularly common tropes. Alan Booth talks about this back in 1995 in Looking for the Lost : > I passed through the pavilion's Dream Tunnel into the World of Dream and from there…

Thanks for inadvertently introducing me to Alan Booth. Just picked up a copy of “The Roads to Sata” because of this comment!

You won't regret it! It's a shame he only wrote those two books before his untimely death from cancer.

Re: Yamauchi No.10 Family Office

#158

Post by criddell » Wed, Apr 14, 2021, 3:16 PM UTC

runeks wrote: post #142

Atreiden wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We need to get past using GDP as a measure of success, quality of life, etc. Its a measure of gross product, which includes negative externalities. A company pollutes a nearby river and manages to avoid responsibility, so public funds are required to clean it up. The money the company made by polluting, as well as the cost of cleanup, both contribute positively to GDP. GDP can in some ways be thought of as a measure…

> GDP can in some ways be thought of as a measure of conversion of natural resources into monetary capital. How so? When I pay my accountant to do my taxes, it adds to GDP. How is this “ conversion of natural resources into monetary capital ”?

If I pay you $1 trillion to write a song and you pay me $1 trillion to draw a picture, we have just increased the GDP by $2 trillion yet nobody is better off.

Re: Yamauchi No.10 Family Office

#159

Post by graderjs » Wed, Apr 14, 2021, 3:19 PM UTC

Clewza313 wrote: post #150

graderjs wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually don't know that much about Japan. It's the one place I didn't talk about in East Asia as you can see. That's not entirely true, I guess there's other countries in East Asia: let's not forget Mongolia, and Tibet and Northern Korea. I bet there'd be lots of startups in Mongolia tho I have no idea. Tibet have no idea, tho would love to go. NK I guess there would not be so much because I assume the government…

...you do realize Tibet has been a part of China since 1950, yes?

I didn't!

Re: Yamauchi No.10 Family Office

#160

Post by throwaway2037 » Wed, Apr 14, 2021, 3:27 PM UTC

aikinai wrote: post #156

throwaway2037 wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a non-native who has lived in Japan for many years, but then moved to another country in Asia... I disagree with the regular stream of negative English language news about Japan. It is still a wonderful culture, people, and country. And ignore the "GDP" stuff. You will read the same about Italy in English language newspapers. And (South) Korea. Both are also beautiful countries with great food and very high qualit…

Your point is orthogonal to the stagnation issue. Yes, Japan is still a wonderful place to live, the best in the world I’d personally say. But it is most certainly stagnating. There’s enough momentum, cultural advantage, and existing wealth to continue to carry it forward for quite a while, but the energy and ambition is gone. That’s what GP was describing and that’s what the Yamauchi family is targeting. I also love…

Thank you for your honest reply.

Here is a thought experiment about growth: What if Google never grew again, but maintained the same revenues and profits going forward? To be clear: Their stock price would crash because portfolio theory teaches us that stock price is an indication of future earnings growth. This is what Japan looks like in my mind: Very rich and developed by global standards, but mostly economically stagnant.

"Not even the massive 2011 disaster was enough to light the fire again." Zero trolling: Are you aware of the special tax for reconstruction in Japan? (I pay it.) It runs for 40 or 50 years and will collect billions (USD) to rebuild and reinvigorate the affected regions. I went on a road trip through Iwate prefecture 2.5 years ago. They are rebuilding. Yes, most places feel like eerie "potemkin villages", but I am confident they can rebuild.