America could have $4 lunch bowls like Japan but for zoning laws • Hacker News Board

Re: America could have $4 lunch bowls like Japan but for zoning laws

#291

Post by veidr » Sat, Jan 17, 2026, 12:43 AM UTC

IAmBroom wrote: post #242

veidr wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure I can accept most of your assertions, but anyway, I left America in 2008 and IIRC there were microwaves available in every 7-11 even then? There were't any $4 healthy bowls of anything, but there were $2 "red hot beef & bean" (& fake soy filler) burritos which hit the spot if you'd failed to find a way to eat real food... The problem with the microwave solution, I think, is that pretty much only burritos and…

I microwave most of my meals. Solid disagree.

What do you eat?

Re: America could have $4 lunch bowls like Japan but for zoning laws

#292

Post by joquarky » Sat, Jan 17, 2026, 1:49 AM UTC

dv_dt wrote: post #58

milkytron wrote: post #15

I serve as a planning commissioner for my city, and my city just recently tried to overhaul our zoning code to allow for more affordability and better economic outcomes for our citizens and future as a city. Here is what I have learned: In the US, few people participate or care about local laws, zoning, and elections, or even understand why participation may be important. In a citizen ballot to determine if we should…

Protests come when people are pushed into a corner with little other choice. Participation is more prevalent when people have free time in their lives. Our economics has systematically squeezed free time out in favor of more work to most of our workforce, and particularly hard for young people. One reason so many local city policies favor the old, is that they're retired and have the time to participate

If the economy continues in it's current vector, there will be a lot more unemployed people with idle hands available to do interesting things.

Re: America could have $4 lunch bowls like Japan but for zoning laws

#293

Post by mapotofu » Sat, Jan 17, 2026, 2:03 AM UTC

IAmBroom wrote: post #243

mapotofu wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s not a respectable sandwich. They have it at mine too, by the produce, which would be a better choice than eating that.

"Respectable" is not something I care about in a sandwich. Beyond your disdain for things from Walmart, how is a filling, tasty sandwich not "respectable"?

I was simply trying to redirect your recommendation to a different part of Walmart, where one can find things that are closer to food, and not rubberized patties of processed blob on imitation white bread, because it’s true what they say - you are what you eat!

Re: America could have $4 lunch bowls like Japan but for zoning laws

#294

Post by eli_gottlieb » Sat, Jan 17, 2026, 3:17 AM UTC

t-3 wrote: post #256

ryandrake wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Protesting is basically "doing nothing, loudly." It looks virtuous but has almost zero actual affect on policy. Does any politician actually look at a protest and say "Oh, my, look at that, people don't like what I'm doing! Looks like I have to change my mind."

They never change their minds, that's because the police are willing to beat the protesters for them. The Civil Rights movement is an example of (mostly, but not always peaceful) protest that changed things within living memory. Gay rights advances in recent decades definitely owe a lot to demonstrations and public organizing that put the issues into public conversation. Women's suffrage movements also featured many…

Civil disobedience and other exertions of citizen power are only a subset of "protest". I've been to a lot of protests and most of them accomplished jack shit.

Re: America could have $4 lunch bowls like Japan but for zoning laws

#295

Post by frumper » Sat, Jan 17, 2026, 3:57 AM UTC

quaverquaver wrote: post #131

LunaSea wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having two or three jobs is not really conductive to free time.

In the US per official data ~5% have more than one job (and that includes lawyers doing consultancy for example) https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LNS12026620

That is a self reported survey of households that doesn't lend itself to capturing all of the people. One, participants need to respond, which a busy and tired person isn't likely to do. Two, it doesn't define job, so if you don't think of your side hustle/gig work as a job, then you won't say it is. In the survey, if you did answer, and you do have 2 jobs, but you didn't work both in the exact week that you were surveyed, then you also aren't counted. IRS data, ADP private payroll estimates are much higher, but have their own issues.

Re: America could have $4 lunch bowls like Japan but for zoning laws

#296

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Jan 17, 2026, 4:59 AM UTC

sarchertech wrote: post #278

topspin wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, but you're not going to get a nifty $4 lunch bowl shop. The properties are held until Starbucks or H&R Block or whatever wants to expand. Maybe said tax makes the mattress store reopen with its one minimum wage cashier poking at their phone all day, but you won't get more than that. The investors are holding out for the big money. The business model works because when a buyer appears looking for numerous sites fo…

> Maybe said tax makes the mattress store reopen with its one minimum wage cashier poking at their phone all day, but you won't get more than that. The landlord isn’t operating the store so why would they need to rent to a business with low operating costs.

[deleted]

Re: America could have $4 lunch bowls like Japan but for zoning laws

#297

Post by valleyer » Sat, Jan 17, 2026, 5:10 AM UTC

whynotminot wrote: post #258

vel0city wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone affected by the laws passed have "skin in the game". Someone renting an apartment and working a job in a community definitely has skin in the game in regards to local tax rates, building regulations, public amenities, etc.

Sure but there’s degrees to this. If you’re a day laborer renting a room at the local motel, it’s a lot easier for you to say “screw this place I’m going to the next town over” than for someone who has their kids enrolled in the highschool and a mortgage. Everyone has skin in the game but some have way more.

Renters can also enroll their kids in public schools. And in terms of mobility, renters might be stuck in a one- or two-year lease, far longer than it might take to sell a house.

Maybe those transient homeowners are the ones who shouldn't get to vote...

Re: America could have $4 lunch bowls like Japan but for zoning laws

#298

Post by quacker » Sat, Jan 17, 2026, 5:19 AM UTC

pzo wrote: post #255

quacker wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure what your point is. Is it about the lunches being specifically healthy ? A rice bowl at Chipotle, for example, is not unhealthy (rice, beans, meat, vegetables). Plenty of restaurant food in the US is perfectly healthy (or, you can look at nutrition facts to know if it is). And if I can take a single US portion size and split it into two lunches that are Japanese-sized portions, then maybe we're getting t…

I think just statistics about how many people are overweight and obese in both countries can already paint a picture that probably japanese food is more healthy. And optimizing for how many calories you can get for $1 is probably also not the best metric to aim for.

Sort of for sake of argument: National obesity statistics don’t necessarily imply anything about the healthiness of the food, nor specifically about the healthiness of $4 lunches that the article discusses. If the Japanese eat smaller portions and are less sedentary, they could still be less obese regardless of differences in the nutritional content of these $4 lunches. (And I think they ARE less sedentary and DO eat smaller portions.)

I’m not advocating for anything (certainly not optimizing for calories per dollar).

My point is just that the article has no data. It says a Japanese lunch is cheap and a US lunch is expensive and doesn’t consider what you actually get for the money. It assumes the US lunch is a worse deal, but I suspect it’s really not if you adjust the price for the amount of food.

Re: America could have $4 lunch bowls like Japan but for zoning laws

#299

Post by topspin » Sat, Jan 17, 2026, 6:00 AM UTC

sarchertech wrote: post #278

topspin wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, but you're not going to get a nifty $4 lunch bowl shop. The properties are held until Starbucks or H&R Block or whatever wants to expand. Maybe said tax makes the mattress store reopen with its one minimum wage cashier poking at their phone all day, but you won't get more than that. The investors are holding out for the big money. The business model works because when a buyer appears looking for numerous sites fo…

> Maybe said tax makes the mattress store reopen with its one minimum wage cashier poking at their phone all day, but you won't get more than that. The landlord isn’t operating the store so why would they need to rent to a business with low operating costs.

> so why would they need to rent to a business with low operating costs

If you're asking why the landlord doesn't just leave the site vacant? They're offsetting costs or obviating vacancy taxes or both. There are a lot of reasons why it's beneficial to keep the lights on and babysit a place.

If you're asking why the landlord minds having a real tenant instead? The landlord doesn't want a real lessor that actually values the location, holds a 10+ year lease, invests money for improvements, makes weird modifications, etc. They want a junk business they can kick to the curb when the time comes.

Often the landlord and the placeholder business are the same, behind the scenes, renting from themselves. No hassle when it's time for the deep pocketed tenant/buyer to move in. All you need is a low cost property manager to look in on the place once a week, make sure the "staff" are actually showing up, and keep the plumbing/heat/electrical working.

Re: America could have $4 lunch bowls like Japan but for zoning laws

#300

Post by KellyCriterion » Sat, Jan 17, 2026, 6:44 AM UTC

KellyCriterion wrote: post #57

systemtest wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've lived in various European cities where I was not able to vote for various reasons. Such as living hotel long-term, living in a holiday home, being semi-homeless, sub-letting, crashing on someones couch. Seasonal workers, migrant workers or people with unstable employment are typically in this situation. No, I was not able to vote.

...and sorry: Thats absolutely OK. I do not want strangers stopping by for 3 - 4 years to be able to influence the politics of my country? Thats totaly understandable? I would never to ask to vote at a remote place where I do not live permanently, yet where I even not a citizen?

nice to see how the voting for this comment fluctuaded massivly during the last hours:

for some reason, people on HN have a specific opinion when it comes to politics and voting and what are acceptable implementations ;-)