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Why Japan has so many ‘never travelers’

cnn.com

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Re: Why Japan has so many ‘never travelers’

#81

Post by red-iron-pine »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #31

I had a job that had me traveling a lot . I got very used to international travel, alone. I thought I’d miss it, when I retired. That turns out not to be the case. The thought of getting onto a plane, turns my stomach. I like being other places, but the process of getting there , has become a nightmare. I’ve been traveling internationally, since I was a child. Things have changed.

i dont know if it would turn my stomach, but i have never had an experience in an airport that i'd describe as good -- best case, described as "not bad".

its a fundamentally miserable experience, and the stealth fees, high costs, and general bullshittery make me hate it.

Re: Why Japan has so many ‘never travelers’

#82

Post by red-iron-pine »

weberer wrote: post #65
jalapenos wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If "we" is Japan, no you don't.

Do you have any proof? I don't trust HN comments to talk about other countries vacation days, since I see too many people here say Americans get no vacation days, yet every company I've worked at in the USA offered 15-20 days.

15-20 days that usually included sick days, and with high levels of pressure NOT to take any of them.

plus this is HN, so "every company I've ever worked for" is almost certainly a white collar STEM gig -- which ain't 90% of the country.

Re: Why Japan has so many ‘never travelers’

#83

Post by red-iron-pine »

bombcar wrote: post #52
Shawnj2 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mexico is culturally completely different than the US and definitely counts as another country lol. Canada mostly doesn’t except for a few regional chains and such but Mexico is very much not diet California in any way

You have to get pretty far into Mexico; Tijuana and LA are more similar than different. (This may be because LA is something like 50% Hispanic)

bollocks. 10km from the border its going to look and sound pretty gringo -- since thats who its catering too -- but leave the tourist areas and its not the same at all.

plus only ~30% of LA is hispanic, which is roughly akin to all of the US, regardless of what Latin country or area they're from. peruvians ain't mexican, amigo.

Re: Why Japan has so many ‘never travelers’

#84

Post by red-iron-pine »

bombcar wrote: post #59
positr0n wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live Dallas area, Texas. The whole area is commonly referred to as "North Texas". A common vacation is to drive to the mountains in Colorado, a state to the north west. To even get out of Texas from my house is an 8 hour, 500 mile (800k km) drive. It is crazy how big the US is.

Texas is big even for the USA; and I believe you can find almost every possible biome there (except polar perhaps) without leaving the state. Whereas some Eastern states are so small that the majority of people leave and return every week.

California and Texas are big enough that you can drive for a whole day and never leave the state; Rhode Island is small enough that you can bike your way out of the state in a few hours.

Re: Why Japan has so many ‘never travelers’

#85

Post by signatoremo »

red-iron-pine wrote: post #82
weberer wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any proof? I don't trust HN comments to talk about other countries vacation days, since I see too many people here say Americans get no vacation days, yet every company I've worked at in the USA offered 15-20 days.

15-20 days that usually included sick days, and with high levels of pressure NOT to take any of them. plus this is HN, so "every company I've ever worked for" is almost certainly a white collar STEM gig -- which ain't 90% of the country.

No it doesn’t include sick days. Not usually, not in the last 20 years. Where did you get that idea from?

High pressure not to take it? I doubt you can say that with any level of confidence.

Re: Why Japan has so many ‘never travelers’

#87

Post by tupolef »

makeitdouble wrote: post #71
wrp wrote: post #27

It's the expected inconvenience. TFA points this out rather indirectly, but I've been hearing from Japanese for years that they are dissuaded from travel by the expected hassles of going to countries that run less smoothly than Japan (which is nearly any place).

That's solved with money. That's how they did in the 90s, with organized bus tours that made sure everything was running smooth. Thing is money is shorter nowadays. (not everyone seeks comfort of course, but they're also short of money either way)

Nowadays, in countries like France even with all the money in the world it gets difficult to get "smooth and secure" if it includes any public place outside of your hotel and museums. And I think that it's getting worse faster for asian tourists than residents, they are targeted.

Re: Why Japan has so many ‘never travelers’

#88

Post by AwaAwa »

red-iron-pine wrote: post #81
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #31

I had a job that had me traveling a lot . I got very used to international travel, alone. I thought I’d miss it, when I retired. That turns out not to be the case. The thought of getting onto a plane, turns my stomach. I like being other places, but the process of getting there , has become a nightmare. I’ve been traveling internationally, since I was a child. Things have changed.

i dont know if it would turn my stomach, but i have never had an experience in an airport that i'd describe as good -- best case, described as "not bad". its a fundamentally miserable experience, and the stealth fees, high costs, and general bullshittery make me hate it.

All my "not bad" experiences from the last few decades of travel, seem like heaven compared to travel today. And I don't think it's rose tinted nostalgia.

Re: Why Japan has so many ‘never travelers’

#89

Post by throwaway33381 »

red-iron-pine wrote: post #80
wrp wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not about the objective(?) reality, but public perception. In my Japan days (1980s-90s), American companies were having a terrible time marketing their goods in Japan, because of the Japanese (often wrong) presumption that foreign goods were inferior. It's true there are inconveniences in Japanese life, but they are generally very predictable. What the Japanese hate is unpredictable inconveniences.

they are predictable because they grew up in japan. they just xenophobic -- literally the fear of the unknown.

No they're not stop making things up. Most Japanese people and families cannot afford to travel. Wages in japan have not risen since the 90s and have actually gone down with inflation.

https://nbakki.hatenablog.com/entry/Changes_Wage-Workers_Sal...

Re: Why Japan has so many ‘never travelers’

#90

Post by midasuni »

makeitdouble wrote: post #77
midasuni wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We coped with that decades ago before handhold computers with connection to enourmous global databases. Nowadays you just put the address into google/Apple/etc maps, or get an Uber.

I love Google Maps, and dealing with local transit is not its forte. Many countries also won't have Ubers, and/or you'll need a local credit card to use the taxi apps. Having a smartphone still helps a lot, I'd probably bet on actually reliable web resouces for standard help phrases

Most cities where intercontinental tourists go to have Uber. And while I use Apple Maps rather than google I’ve used it in dozens of cities in dozens of countries on 6 continents with limited problems. Or of course I’ve just hailed taxied and shown them the hotel business card or location I’m going to.

China is probably the main tricky part, last time I went about 5 years ago I had issues paying with cash, although at least visa was accepted pretty much everywhere.

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