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Jakarta is now the biggest city in the world

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Re: Jakarta is now the biggest city in the world

#361

Post by ryan_lane »

omaewabaka wrote: post #313
throwaway2037 wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Japan/ese, the pitch/stress thing is overrated, and so are regional language differences. When natives point it out to me, it strikes me a little more than cultural gatekeeping. Linguistic context matters much more. How often are you listening to your own native language and you are confused by two words that sounds similar (like 'hashi' in Japanese for bridge/chopsticks)? Almost never. Advice: Ignore it when nati…

As a Japanese, I will mention that I've seen Japanese people correct each other on this, both in private and in public. Its because we might get the meaning by context, but if you pronounce it wrong, it sounds very strange in that context where its clearly wrong... To default to an assumption that this is due to racism / cultural gatekeeping says a whole lot about your world view and perception about Japanese people…

As a foreigner living in Japan, I'd like to take the opportunity to let you know that it's not ethnocentrism, but that Japan is for the most part quite xenophobic, and racist. It's common to hear Japanese folks make fun of other people's accents in what should be obviously extremely inappropriate settings, like at work, for example. The fact that you consider this ethnocentrism furthers the point that xenophobia and racism is commonplace, and that you feel that it's on foreigners to accept it.

If you're nitpicking a foreigner's accent pitch, think about how it would make you feel if they nitpicked your english pronunciation. My wife points out when I make mistakes in Japanese, but I ask her to do so. If a coworker or stranger were to do so, it would be embarrassing, and that's the difference that matters.

Re: Jakarta is now the biggest city in the world

#362

Post by ryan_lane »

danielscrubs wrote: post #275
throwaway2037 wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Japan/ese, the pitch/stress thing is overrated, and so are regional language differences. When natives point it out to me, it strikes me a little more than cultural gatekeeping. Linguistic context matters much more. How often are you listening to your own native language and you are confused by two words that sounds similar (like 'hashi' in Japanese for bridge/chopsticks)? Almost never. Advice: Ignore it when nati…

I correct my kids when they do mistakes, how else would they improve? Calling people racist when they try to be helpful might say more about you than them. I mean what I say and say what I mean is also something worth striving for.

Other adults aren't your kids, and it isn't your place to correct them, unless they ask for help.

Re: Jakarta is now the biggest city in the world

#363

Post by chengiz »

yourusername wrote: post #317
School-Cotton wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dense cities use up a lot less resources and land than the same number of people spread out in smaller cities or suburbs.

There's probably a point where that stops scaling. Is there any proof a city of 40 million uses less resources per capita than a city of 1 million? 40 cities of 1 million seems preferable because then you can actually get outside the city once in a while without it being 2+ hours of travel.

It is unclear what leaving the city quickly has to do scaling or resources per capita. You seem to value this; most big city dwellers do not.

Re: Jakarta is now the biggest city in the world

#364

Post by incompatible »

wiradikusuma wrote: post #192
stickfigure wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> lunch at the Italian place in the Ritz-Carlton was under $10 I'm curious, what does a beer or a glass of wine cost?

Alcohol is more expensive than other countries, in general.

Due to high taxation, apparently to appease the religious.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_in_Indonesia

Re: Jakarta is now the biggest city in the world

#365

Post by defrost »

hearsathought wrote: post #324
defrost wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have evidence that Malaysia was "colonized" by Arabs? There is evidence that Parameswara converted to Islam following his infatuation with and marriage to a girl from the Samudera Pasai Sultanate. * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parameswara_of_Malacca * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samudera_Pasai_Sultanate

> There is evidence that Parameswara converted to Islam following his infatuation with and marriage to a girl from the Samudera Pasai Sultanate. Doesn't that seem like the silliest thing you ever read? When the infatuation ended ( like all infatuations do ), did he convert back? The only thing royals are infatuated with is wealth and power. If anything, don't you think the guy converted to get preferable treatment fr…

> Doesn't that seem like the silliest thing you ever read?

Not even close to be frankly honest.

Leaving aside the delibrate silliness of Edward Lear, Roald Dahl, et al and focusing just on origin stories relating to the spread of various beliefs ...

* Have you heard the one about the Buddist Monk, the Monkey, Pig, Fish, Dragon, and Horse spirits ?

* the tale of a great snake that carved rivers ?

* maybe that fishing boat passenger that got out and walked across the water ?

> If anything, don't you think the guy converted to get preferable treatment from the arab traders

I suspect the marriage was political .. but he wasn't marrying into a family of arab traders, Sultan Malikussaleh (the progenitor of the Samudera Pasai Sultanate) was an Acehnese man from part of what is now called Sumatra, a part of Indonesia.

> special access to the arab trading network

Was pretty low key wrt volume between the modern middle east and Indonesia back in the time we are looking at - the trade advantages by volume (ie. that which mattered) was all local to the greater archipelago.

Moreover, returning to the original point upthread, there's no evidence of colonisation by arabs in the sense of colonisation by the British of India or various parts of Africa, colonisation by the Dutch in the East Indies, colonisation by the Germans in Africa and PNG, by the French in Vietnam, etc.

Re: Jakarta is now the biggest city in the world

#366

Post by rester324 »

socalgal2 wrote: post #338
rester324 wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can tell you that Tokyo is very loud. Constant road traffic noise everywhere, drunk people singing on the streets, pointless warnings from the local municipal office on the public alert system, noisy street advertisements, constant announcements in train stations, bousouzoku gangs constantly revving their bikes in silent neighborhoods every night, flight traffic noise, railroad noise of the trains passing, level cr…

Tokyo isn't loud at all. Go 2-3 blocks from any major street and they are practically silent. > drunk people singing on the streets never seen this > bousouzoku gangs constantly revving their bikes in silent neighborhoods every night seen this maybe twice in 25 years > flight traffic noise do you live next to the airport? this is not a thing relatively to any other major city I've lived in > railroad noise of the tra…

Well, then it's clear you don't have enough experience to objectively judge the situation.

I lived near 5 different stations in Tokyo in 10 years and all of those were how I described it.

I also lived in Saitama and Kanagawa. It's the same there too.

Maybe you should get more exerience first and live longer in Japan?

Re: Jakarta is now the biggest city in the world

#367

Post by makeitdouble »

stickfigure wrote: post #180
lurk2 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don’t have a huge culture industry yet (or at least, not one that appeals to English-speaking audiences), but they’ve become a lot more prominent on the internet in the last 5 years due to better infrastructure and integration into various English speaking social networks (via both social media and people travelling in and out of Indonesia). It’s a Muslim majority country and very conservative, so a lot of the t…

> both developed their own internationally-competitive culture industries Korea definitely, but China? Seems like most of China's modern cultural export came from Hong Kong, and even that has stopped. Conventional wisdom is that the Three Body Problem couldn't be published today. I'm curious what (homegrown) Chinese cultural products are internationally competitive today. China seems to be punching far below their we…

Mainland China is coming the other side through anime.

Productions like "The Legend of Hei" are of truly high quality and it's getting a decent reception in Japan for instance (not breaking the box office, but the fact it's there and talked about so no positively is already something)

Re: Jakarta is now the biggest city in the world

#369

Post by wraptile »

BurningFrog wrote: post #344
wraptile wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would Indonesians use cars that cannot go anywhere? It's not about affording but about people/m² compression. Here's a quick napkin math: a 1.3m² scooter can take 1-3 people, a toyota camry of 8.8m² can take 1-5 people. This gives the humble scooter aprox 3-5 times the space efficiency that of a car. Not to mention the agility and parking benefits of scooters. There's no way any SEA city could get rid of scooters…

That makes sense, but I have to assume driving a scooter is a pretty dangerous way to get around a giant city? I have biker friends who call cars "cages", and I get the sentiment. But they have a lot more concussions than any other group of people I know.

I agree with other commenter and speed is primary danger for scooters. I've been driving for 7 years (mostly in Thailand) and never had an accident as the risk distributions is incredibly obvious:

- stay within reasonable speed

- keep distance

- don't do highways

- project your intentions very clearly with no sudden moves

vast majority of accidents happen when this simple rule set is broken (aside from obvious DUI). If you're driving 40km/h max in a city you are surprisingly safe, especially as scooter traffic culture is very river like so once you're familiar with the area you are basically being carried by the traffic.

Most stats of SEA scooter deaths are coming from really bad driving, as in drunk uncle driving a scooter on the opposite side of the road with no headlights sort of bad driving (sadly very common). The culture can be very unserious about scooter safety when it's quite achievable in practice. It really is an incredible form of transportation when taken seriously.

Re: Jakarta is now the biggest city in the world

#370

Post by wraptile »

zarzavat wrote: post #342
delta_p_delta_x wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comment is proof that the parent commenter has never actually lived in either city. After a while, a city's 'character', 'charm', and 'charisma' all become annoyances. People live, work, go to school, file taxes, use transport, not just visit tourist attractions. Singapore's quality and efficiency of administration is light-years beyond any other country, perhaps bar Switzerland. 6.1 million people live in Singa…

It's hard to put into words how unsafe Singapore makes me feel. No, literally, it's hard to put it into words. I feel that if I criticize the country, the govt might take revenge the next time I visit. (See also: Bald JD Vance) Metrics aren't everything. Singapore might be on paper a great place to live, but it could never be a home.

I agree it's hard to explain why Singapore is so dull. I go there every year or so as that's where the closest Lithuanian embassy is and the entire country feels like a shopping mall.

It's a great example how "on paper" metrics don't match reality but it's hardly surprising given that manipulating paper is the entire function of the country.

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