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Japan is hopefully about to allow tourists back in after being closed for a long time. It is on the minds of many who have been waiting to travel there. That is my guess.
It’s almost impossible to lose anything in Japan
71–80 of 95 posts
Re: It’s almost impossible to lose anything in Japan
#72This article is obviously not talking about bicycles. :) Is there some kind of HN Japanese article trend recently? In any case I appreciate the culture of getting lost stuff returned in Japan much more than “magical” conbinis. The article mentions money so I’ll add my anecdote. Many years ago as a student we had a going away party for some friends who were returning to the US. Someone had a “genius” plan to beat the…
Here's my anecdote: I lost my phone in Japan once, in Tokyo. I was steaming after a night of karaoke and somewhere between the bar, taxi and my hotel, I'd lost my phone. I wandered down to the street at 3am, retracing my steps, and a police officer noticed me and asked what I was looking for. He pointed me back to the hotel reception where where we got on the phone to the taxi company, and then directly onto the driv…
I had a GPS mishap in Nagano that ended up with my rental car at the top of a ski slope. In my defense it happens a lot because there’s a road there only open in summer, no indication it’s not a road after a certain point in the winter (it’s a groomed ski run), and has street lights that sure make it look like the road continues.
The owner of my $50 a night hotel picked us up where I was stuck, insisting we take our skis with us. The next morning he took my keys and insisted we go skiing, and he would take care of getting the car out. He said it would be about $50 (rough conversion from yen) to pay for a tow out with the resort’s groomer. All in all he probably spent 6 hours helping me. The bill was actually $100 (still much cheaper than I actually expected), but he would only accept $50 since that’s what he told me earlier. His wife also called the GPS manufacturer and complained.
Re: It’s almost impossible to lose anything in Japan
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
In my experience, in major American cities, anything valuable left in plain view in a car is stolen within 30 minutes (and that requires breaking the car window or picking the lock). But you're saying that things dropped on the ground will not be stolen, and instead returned to the nearest police station if only there was one not too far? Could you provide any arguments or evidence to support your claim?
It’s not really something you prove. The stats speak for themselves right? Anecdotaly, we’ve lost bags, bottles, wallets and phones, and everything has (so far) been returned. Even a missing hat that had travelled all the way down to the end of the train line. I also left our $200 Strider unattended in the park for several hours, you really don’t think about it too much.
Some friends and I went to a baseball game 2 hours early to get good unreserved seats in the fan club section. It was hot so we had worn only our jerseys and didn’t have jackets or anything to claim our seats. We left watches and smartphones on our seats, left the stadium for an hour to get food and beer. Our seats and stuff were still there when we returned.
Re: It’s almost impossible to lose anything in Japan
#74> Japan’s strong culture of morality. Do sociologists yet understand why some cultures are strong in morality yet some aren’t? Surely if we understood the forces that drive macro behavior we could duplicate desirable attributes like high morality in other cultures. I would really like it if we had this high level of morality in America.
I am not a sociologist, but I would think morality of Japanese, such as returning lost items, is just a particular case of their general propensity to follow rules. It helps explain why we in Japan can have nice things.
> is just a particular case of their general propensity to follow rules.
Fair enough but this just kicks the can down the road. Why does Japanese culture have a propensity to follow rules? How can we duplicate that in America?
Re: It’s almost impossible to lose anything in Japan
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
My nephew is a police officer in the US. The vast majority of his day is dealing with drunks, overdoses, domestic violence, traffic violations and broken down vehicles.
Yeah. Police should never get a pass for inappropriate actions or behaviour, but at the same time, I wonder how I would view the world if dealing with this stuff all the time. Police basically have to deal with people at their worst. Most confrontational. Most violent. Most emotional. I don't think I could do the job, not in a big city, without becoming jaded fast.
You also become a bit of a social pariah, especially if people in your friend group dabble in things less than legal.
Re: It’s almost impossible to lose anything in Japan
#76Centralization of Lost & Found is a Good Thing (TM). The city of Helsinki, on the other hand, has completely screwed up. Splintering of lost & found combined with outsourcing/privatization. Bah humbug.
Re: It’s almost impossible to lose anything in Japan
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am not a sociologist, but I would think morality of Japanese, such as returning lost items, is just a particular case of their general propensity to follow rules. It helps explain why we in Japan can have nice things.
> is just a particular case of their general propensity to follow rules. Fair enough but this just kicks the can down the road. Why does Japanese culture have a propensity to follow rules? How can we duplicate that in America?
For better or for worse, it doesn't seem difficult to attribute them treating everyone like family to the fact that they are essentially a homogeneous population.
Re: It’s almost impossible to lose anything in Japan
#78Re: It’s almost impossible to lose anything in Japan
#79Not a particularly good article so some things that y'all might find interesting: "Honor" and "a sense of responsibility" explains very little and good, widely distributed Schelling points (koban and, to a lesser extent, commercial/transit centers information/etc desks) that both do the right thing for lost/found items and are widely believed to do the right thing explains most of it. You are legally entitled to a re…
>Honor" and "a sense of responsibility" explains very little and good, widely distributed Schelling points (koban and, to a lesser extent, commercial/transit centers information/etc desks) I feel like you're bending over backwards to dismiss that this really does come down to culture. At the very least you need a sizable population willing to forgo the easy, untracable reward of free cash/property. Especially when yo…
Can't be any worse than the boots of capitalism and white supremacy.
Re: It’s almost impossible to lose anything in Japan
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
You mean an event that occurred nearly an entire generation ago, and for which almost none of those responsibile are still living? Kinda shitty to hold that legacy over the heads of an entire people. You're not really making a good case for your supposed moral superiority.
2 uber-dangerous super-violent nukes will turn even the Sardaukar to a peace-loving nation
Posadas was right.