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Yoghurt delivery women combatting loneliness in Japan

bbc.com

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Re: Yoghurt delivery women combatting loneliness in Japan

#91

Post by BurningFrog »

pixelready wrote: post #84
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm so glad I visit different countries to see what they are actually like so I don't get brainwashed into thinking GDP is anywhere near of good measure as people think it is.

The case against GDP, by its own creator: https://gnhusa.org/gpi/the-case-against-gdp-made-by-its-own-... It’s not that GDP is a poor measure, just that it is isolated as the only measure most policy is based on improving rather than being one metric in a portfolio of related metrics that balance technological progress, accumulation of wealth, and human thriving. As Gary Stephenson rightly points out the culture of E…

GDP just measures the average wealth of a society, on the assumption that production equals consumption. Wealth is unambiguously good, but of course it fails at measuring the full extent of human flourishing.

My take on Economists is that they keep desperately trying to make people understand that prices are set by supply vs demand dynamics, while society keeps refusing to understand it.

Re: Yoghurt delivery women combatting loneliness in Japan

#92

Post by Dylan16807 »

lysace wrote: post #80
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Guys look I used /s and like to be snarky. Updoots to the left. Edit: guy has now edited his comment like 5 times as a response.

[flagged]

I don't see a question.

If you're asking about what's better than looking up GDP, they already said visiting the countries.

Re: Yoghurt delivery women combatting loneliness in Japan

#93

Post by ronnier »

paganel wrote: post #81

Sometimes news like this is upvoted, because it involves Japan, towards each a lot of Western techies have an unhealthy obsession on, but the moment when those techies are advised to not use the self-service thing at the super-market they start going bananas.

I also find it odd that there’s daily top ranked Japan related articles on HN.

Re: Yoghurt delivery women combatting loneliness in Japan

#94

Post by alwa »

lysace wrote: post #83
quicklime wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article says this has been running since 1963 though. The program would’ve been running through the post-war period of economic growth, as well as during the lost decades. It also mentions that it was done to drive sales.

https://www.eater.com/dining-out/916976/yakult-lady-japan-yo... goes into more detail. (I recommend reading the entire article, it's excellent and covers a lot.) Yakult ladies aren’t classified as full-time employees, but kojin jigyo usha (roughly “sole proprietors”), essentially making them owners of bicycle-sized franchises. They purchase product from Yakult and make a profit based on what they can sell. Yakult say…

Thank you for sharing that literary and well-observed piece of writing. It is evocative and contemplative, a timely counterpart to TFA, and it is indeed excellent. I’d second your suggestion to others.

Re: Yoghurt delivery women combatting loneliness in Japan

#95

Post by ViktorRay »

nephihaha wrote: post #38
rounce wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The BBC is not state funded, it's a public broadcaster primarily funded by the general public, via the (admittedly outdated) TV licence fee system. Although the media output for the UK is non-commercial, it does have commercial operations and interactions though and they are mostly centred around the content produced for overseas consumption. As this post is on the .com domain where the international content exists (…

The BBC is a state broadcaster which claims to be autonomous, but that doesn't apply when it comes to foreign policy or the royal family.

This isn’t true. The content of the BBC is independent of the UK government. Even for the royal family and for foreign policy.

I am not British so I could be wrong however. If you have evidence that the BBC lacks autonomy when it comes to foreign policy or to the royal family please share it with the rest of us.

Re: Yoghurt delivery women combatting loneliness in Japan

#97

Post by petterroea »

fidicen wrote: post #96

With the automation of some customer service labor in japan, maybe this shows people value at least a bit of customer service interaction as a customer

I think most feedback I've seen regarding automation of customer service labour has been along the lines of "no! Get it away from me! I want to speak to the human!". With approximately that level of frustration.

I thought it was well established that interacting with an actual human was generally preferred to whatever we have to use now.

The automation exists to save money on labour, not to make our lives more convenient

Re: Yoghurt delivery women combatting loneliness in Japan

#99

Post by haunter »

ronnier wrote: post #93
paganel wrote: post #81

Sometimes news like this is upvoted, because it involves Japan, towards each a lot of Western techies have an unhealthy obsession on, but the moment when those techies are advised to not use the self-service thing at the super-market they start going bananas.

I also find it odd that there’s daily top ranked Japan related articles on HN.

HN is the breeding ground of the Thing Japan meme https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/thing-japan

Re: Yoghurt delivery women combatting loneliness in Japan

#100

Post by petterroea »

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm wrote: post #71
lysace wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Low salaries/wages. Decades of deflation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Decades

I'm so glad I visit different countries to see what they are actually like so I don't get brainwashed into thinking GDP is anywhere near of good measure as people think it is.

I moved to Japan and have taken what is now almost a 50% wage decrease on account of the collapsing yen, but my life quality easily doubled compared to Norway. For every year I stay, finances will be more painful if I move back. But permanent residency sure sounds a lot more attractive. YMMV if you're from more interesting places
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