Live data from Hacker News

Yamauchi No.10 Family Office

y-n10.com

191–200 of 288 posts

Re: Yamauchi No.10 Family Office

#191

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 look at overall GDP less than GDP-per capita. As you should. But a quick search suggests GDP/capita is below where it was in 95, and only exceeded it for a short period around 2010: https://www.google.com/search?q=japan+gdp+per+capita&oq=japa... I'm not sure that the numbers support the narrative you're putting forth here; population decline is not offsetting the lack of overall GDP growth, and the GPT/capita num…

> the GPT/capita numbers are essentially flat

We haven't quite reached this level of AI dystopia yet. Give it a few years. ;)

Re: Yamauchi No.10 Family Office

#192

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…

> It is still a wonderful culture, people, and country.

Of course it is. But that doesn't make the problems less real.

The demographic pressure cooker is still cooking-- a greater and greater proportion of national resources go to support an ever increasing fraction of the old, and stopping this is impossible at this point. Prospects for dating and marriage are collapsing for a large chunk of the populace. Government debt is increasing as a share of GDP and with the change in the dependency ratio and declining populace default looks increasingly likely in the long term.

Re: Yamauchi No.10 Family Office

#193
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…

Sorry to nitpick, but I am a regular listener to Deutsche Welle (dw.com). They have a nice weekly show called DW Africa. More info here: https://www.dw.com/en/top-stories/africa/s-12756 Are you aware there are two countries that are casually referred to as "Congo" by non-Africans? (Hello Africans! We hear you loud and clear!) Sorry, this is a real issue for me. I am so tired of Western (and East Asian!) media using t…

>Democratic Republic of the Congo has GDP per capita below 1000 USD per year and is one of the least developed countries in the world -- affected by unfortunate tropical diseases and civil war. (2) Republic of the Congo

Reminds me of the heuristic, the more modifiers a country's name has, the more likely it is to have economic or political issues. See for example, Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea vs Republic of Korea.

Re: Yamauchi No.10 Family Office

#194
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…

Sorry to nitpick, but I am a regular listener to Deutsche Welle (dw.com). They have a nice weekly show called DW Africa. More info here: https://www.dw.com/en/top-stories/africa/s-12756 Are you aware there are two countries that are casually referred to as "Congo" by non-Africans? (Hello Africans! We hear you loud and clear!) Sorry, this is a real issue for me. I am so tired of Western (and East Asian!) media using t…

This is easily one of my top 10 favorite HN posts.

Interesting, informative, and polite. (Last one is super important)

Re: Yamauchi No.10 Family Office

#195

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…

Sounds like your typical reheated, cluster-of-blandly-positive and vague feel-good marketing. Not sure what exactly you're so enamored with, or what you're projecting here. (Also the phrase "giving back" implies you've been doing something unjust. You only give back after you've taken. But all just business practice is about fair exchange, so there's nothing to "give back".)

That's a pretty zero-sum outlook on giving back. Another way of looking at it is that people invested in us before we had any potential (parents and teachers, at the very least), the Yamauchi family wants to do the same for others. They are giving because they received, not because they've taken.

Re: Yamauchi No.10 Family Office

#196

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!

Me too, and I thought the combination of trains I had to use for the same trip was tough work :( I am really looking forward to reading that.

Re: Yamauchi No.10 Family Office

#197

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…

It's so rare to hear about Japanese startups - either becoming successful within Japan or outside. Are other mature East Asian countries going through a similar phase?

There are not too many start ups but they seems to have a lot of small companies working under an umbrella of a bigger company. It is a different arrangement in which the wealth is distributed as well as the management graph, I am not sure it is worst than the American system where one Bezos or Zuckerberg eat everybody's lunch. Japan just has its own ways, it is like taking a mind altering drug, how reality could be if certain things were tweeked differently.

Re: Yamauchi No.10 Family Office

#198
post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's like saying that Alice in Wonderland or Wind in the Willows are mere... books... Games are an art form, completely on par with books, paintings, or movies. I'd say they are one of the most important art forms of our times.

I used to believe that games were an art form - but I just can't get behind them being completely on par with books, etc. The writing is often so terrible... I wish I could think of a single video game that touched me like The Brothers Karamazov or Les Miserables.

lol you probably enjoy it when textbooks tell you the proof is left up to the reader

Re: Yamauchi No.10 Family Office

#199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Well in your thought experiment, Google choosing to shift priorities away from growth towards stability could ultimately lead to being dethroned as other companies seek to undercut them through competition.

Re: Yamauchi No.10 Family Office

#200
post #146
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…

[deleted]
Post reply on HN