Uhm, do you have sex in front of your kid?
Maybe I'm a spoiled westerner, but (save for that one time that my kid barged in because I forgot to lock the door,) I've never had sex in front of my kids.
Van Life in Japan
221–230 of 231 posts
Re: Van Life in Japan
#222Earlier quoted context omitted.
The author links to a van rental service. Looks like a van comparable to the author's van rents for ¥24,800/night. Ouch! You could get a very nice hotel room in rural Japan for that.
You can buy vans from that company for 60k. Yes renting is more expensive than a hotel. But good luck taking your hotel room on the highway.
Fair enough. 60k would be impossibly cheap for a Class B conversion van -- even a used one -- in the US.
Re: Van Life in Japan
#223Earlier quoted context omitted.
You could also try New Zealand. You’re probably never more than 30 minutes drive away from a campsite. And if you get a self-contained vehicle it’s even better as you can park up virtually anywhere.
As a Kiwi, free-camping is restricted in NZ and for good reason, people need to make sure they're allowed to be there. But also tourists make an absolute mess of the place a lot of the time. Other countries don't have the "tidy kiwi" mentality that we get growing up. I live in the UK now and the percentage of people that will just throw rubbish on the ground is extraordinarily high; I'll hold onto my rubbish until I…
Yeah, that’s why I mentioned getting a self-contained vehicle for freedom camping. The laws around self-contained vehicles are designed to solve the problems you discussed.
I want to be clear that I’m not suggesting freedom camping in a non self-contained vehicle, nor littering or other anti-environmental or illegal behaviour.
But anyone with a self-contained vehicle is well within their rights to freedom camp on council or public conservation land except where camping is explicitly prohibited. Alternatively, if you have a non self-contained vehicle, you’re never far from a legit campsite anyway.
I agree about the UK though, it’s next level. I was up in the lakes one time, can’t remember exactly where, but on the path from the carpark to the lake (maybe 500m) I noticed an insane amount of rubbish (some of it very old), so I grabbed every plastic bag I had and started collecting it. I received extremely dirty looks, people started handing me their rubbish (???), and an old man asked me what crime I had committed to be forced to do community service.
I struggle to understand the mentality of people who visit national parks for their beauty then ruin them by littering.
Re: Van Life in Japan
#224Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not at all, hundreds of millions have it. Normal but stinky. Most folks don't realize, but sweat itself has substantial odor.
A infection in the armpit, is not something normal. Odor and sweat and lots of bacteria is, yes, but that is not an infection. It can become an infection.
See def #3: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/infect
Re: Van Life in Japan
#225Earlier quoted context omitted.
And I'm sure the kids still remained with their parents at night. Through all of our known history across all cultures families have slept together. It is only in the past few centuries that European wealth and individualism changed that. So why is this the 'better' option? What is the benefit from separating a child from their parents at night? More likely it just how our parents did it and everyone else does it so…
> And I'm sure the kids still remained with their parents at night. Through all of our known history across all cultures families have slept together. It is only in the past few centuries that European wealth and individualism changed that. I am sure you are so sure because you are attempting to shoehorn reality into some vague political philosophy. > So why is this the 'better' option? What is the benefit from separ…
Political philosophy? Different cultures approach life in different ways. Where’s the politics in that?
Families sleeping together is the the absolute opposite of post modern.
Letting a baby cry out for its parents while it’s alone is a ‘good thing’ makes no intuitive sense. Feeding babies with bottles became normal for some reason until we understood that it was more for the benefit of the companies selling formula and decided ‘gasp’ breastfeeding might be preferred.
You keep your individualism? It’s the only thing you know, you have no idea what life is like otherwise. You just assume the culture you live in is the best version of how to do things.
Re: Van Life in Japan
#226Earlier quoted context omitted.
I found it kind of boring/isolating though. Did you? It's unbelievably easy to move through their society, eat well, etc etc. But not truly interacting with anybody for weeks at a time besides tourists is kind of annoying.
Discussing where in the world to travel, someone told me roughly: When I can manage conversations, my travel is about people. When not, it's about places. As I prefer people to places, that's my first filter.
Yeah I enjoy both. But the little "side quests" that happen when you're able to regularly interact with people didn't seem to happen as much in Japan. Only with foreigners who lived there who could act as a bit of a bridge. It's an insular society too.
Re: Van Life in Japan
#227Earlier quoted context omitted.
I found it kind of boring/isolating though. Did you? It's unbelievably easy to move through their society, eat well, etc etc. But not truly interacting with anybody for weeks at a time besides tourists is kind of annoying.
I've gone on two separate trips. I did have this feeling at times. What helped though was finding groups of people who shared hobbies with me. This way I could chat with them, even using Google Translate, and have some form of that connection.
Yeah but just in general it seems like they're an insular society, don't have random big parties and stuff. It's all like rigid, at the specific bar area. I went to a language meetup and met some cool ones that spoke enough English. But that was about as far as I got. All the "side quests" were with foreigners who I met.
Re: Van Life in Japan
#228Re: Van Life in Japan
#229Earlier quoted context omitted.
My Japanese wife would never go for that.
If it was the middle of the night and she absolutely had to go I'm sure she would - anyone would.
I wouldn't. I'd go outside in the snow. My wife claims the same. Don't take this as negative commentary directed at the author of the article. If this works for them, great! I'm just saying that it isn't a solution that would work for me and my wife.
Re: Van Life in Japan
#230Earlier quoted context omitted.
Discussing where in the world to travel, someone told me roughly: When I can manage conversations, my travel is about people. When not, it's about places. As I prefer people to places, that's my first filter.
Yeah I enjoy both. But the little "side quests" that happen when you're able to regularly interact with people didn't seem to happen as much in Japan. Only with foreigners who lived there who could act as a bit of a bridge. It's an insular society too.
> Only with foreigners who [...] could act as [...] a bridge
Hmm, or perhaps some other subculture which addresses both language overlap and (sub)cultural openness? Like local alumni, or some software-related community (eg ruby, or XR, or ...), or ... ? HN people? In context of TFA, perhaps something surfing? One dream the net was weaving a world where you could have a friend in every city.