41–50 of 56 posts
Was that the entirety of the apartment in photos, minus the bathroom? Even by New York standards, that's pretty tiny.
Have you been in a Japanese hotel room? It’s a bed, plus about a few square feet of access pathway into the bed.
I’ve stayed in both ‘international’ hotels that cater to foreigners and in business hotels which explicitly discourage foreigners by having literally everything in Japanese and they’ve all had fairly standard sized rooms for a hotel.
Recommend also reading this beautiful and very sad NYT article from a couple of months ago. "A Generation in Japan Faces a Lonely Death" https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/30/world/asia/japan-lonely-d... Discussed here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15822064
Glad you posted this. I found the article from November to be quite moving. As someone who knows precious little about Japanese culture, it surprises me that someone would die alone - and then sit alone for a long time before discovery. I had always heard Japan was a very collectivist society. Does that play into this?
Being collectivist means not taking up unnecessary psychic space in the lives of others.
Was that the entirety of the apartment in photos, minus the bathroom? Even by New York standards, that's pretty tiny.
Have you been in a Japanese hotel room? It’s a bed, plus about a few square feet of access pathway into the bed.
How fancy, must be a Western-style room. In a Japanese-style room you get nothing but a mattress.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Off Topic: This is why my mother sends me an email every morning. Should be the other way around. Parents watched us every hour when growing up, as adults we should be the ones checking on them constantly. In the West I rarely hear people who talk about their parents with great love and care. Instead I see parents praising their children all day long. These kids grow up feeling like a prize and they do not develop en…
It doesn't really matter if mom initiates the email exchange or child does. The important detail is daily communication from the elderly parent confirming they are alive and functional. If child sends email, the elderly parent still needs to reply or you have no mechanism to check if they are okay.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have you been in a Japanese hotel room? It’s a bed, plus about a few square feet of access pathway into the bed.
Have _you_? I’ve stayed in both ‘international’ hotels that cater to foreigners and in business hotels which explicitly discourage foreigners by having literally everything in Japanese and they’ve all had fairly standard sized rooms for a hotel.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> she didn't want to become cat food should she died suddenly. I had a great-great aunt who lived alone and hoarded cats and dogs (and many other non-living things). She was partially eaten when they finally found her. My grandparents eventually moved in to that property, and now my parents have it as a second property. Every time I visit, I still get a little shudder when I think about what it must have been like to…
I’ve heard similar stories and seen it mentioned on cop show. It must be pretty common. What about a device like the emergency buttons for elderly but it checks vitals? It could update loved ones daily. I bet you could use an Apple Watch.
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This is why my mother sends me an email every morning. Sometimes she just says hey , but most other times she includes other info about her life or asks me questions. Her reasoning was that because she had a cat (at the time), she didn't want to become cat food should she died suddenly.
Off Topic: This is why my mother sends me an email every morning. Should be the other way around. Parents watched us every hour when growing up, as adults we should be the ones checking on them constantly. In the West I rarely hear people who talk about their parents with great love and care. Instead I see parents praising their children all day long. These kids grow up feeling like a prize and they do not develop en…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is why my mother sends me an email every morning. Sometimes she just says hey , but most other times she includes other info about her life or asks me questions. Her reasoning was that because she had a cat (at the time), she didn't want to become cat food should she died suddenly.
Off Topic: This is why my mother sends me an email every morning. Should be the other way around. Parents watched us every hour when growing up, as adults we should be the ones checking on them constantly. In the West I rarely hear people who talk about their parents with great love and care. Instead I see parents praising their children all day long. These kids grow up feeling like a prize and they do not develop en…
You are assuming these people have children at all - that's becoming less true every year.
Also, you should consider that people sometimes prefer to be alone. My grandmother now lives with my mother, but that was only after she fell at home at 85 years old, because before she preferred to live by herself. Had she died in that fall, she would have died alone too, but not because her children didn't want to take care of her.
I hope anyone reading this realizes that there will be a time in life when you should call your mother and / or call your father, once a week at least.
I hope anyone reading this realizes that there will be a time in life when you should call your mother and / or call your father, once a week at least.
My grandfather loves talking about cars and he enjoys his weekly phone call. He can't wait to tell me all about new technologies he reads about. He tells me how his car is doing and asks how my car handles. He has 5 grandchildren and I believe that I am the only one who calls every week.