jawa asks...Is Japan living and culture as good as it appears to be?

[Lagamorph]

my best friend went to japan on his honeymoon. however the main thing i remember him telling me apart from the pokemon centre is that there were tea vending machines all over.

Japan is absolutely covered in vending machines, it blew my mind how many there were-they just can't all be viable.

my friend seemed more concerned that you get tea out of them

I tried a hot tea from a vending machine but binned it immediately because it had sugar in it.

[aayl1]

Obviously this is totally unacceptable and would be quite hurtful to anyone white and living in Japan, but I couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Tbf it is strawberry floating hilarious, was thinking about making it my new avatar

Yeah sorry man, didn't mean to drag you into the conversation! Was just that it was something that clicked with what I've seen there when I was over as well.

Nah I was just explaining my previous flippant post. I laughed when I saw Jawa's thread title as it's a complicated question for me where I have a lot to say but be bothered saying it haha.

[shy guy 64]

my best friend went to japan on his honeymoon. however the main thing i remember him telling me apart from the pokemon centre is that there were tea vending machines all over.

Japan is absolutely covered in vending machines, it blew my mind how many there were-they just can't all be viable.

my friend seemed more concerned that you get tea out of them

I tried a hot tea from a vending machine but binned it immediately because it had sugar in it.

That might be the most British thing I’ve seen on this forum

[Victor Mildew]

my best friend went to japan on his honeymoon. however the main thing i remember him telling me apart from the pokemon centre is that there were tea vending machines all over.

Japan is absolutely covered in vending machines, it blew my mind how many there were-they just can't all be viable.

my friend seemed more concerned that you get tea out of them

I tried a hot tea from a vending machine but binned it immediately because it had sugar in it.

Tea then

[Moggy]

my best friend went to japan on his honeymoon. however the main thing i remember him telling me apart from the pokemon centre is that there were tea vending machines all over.

Japan is absolutely covered in vending machines, it blew my mind how many there were-they just can't all be viable.

my friend seemed more concerned that you get tea out of them

I tried a hot tea from a vending machine but binned it immediately because it had sugar in it.

Tea then

He meant it was served in this mug.

[Qikz]

Yeah sorry man, didn't mean to drag you into the conversation! Was just that it was something that clicked with what I've seen there when I was over as well.

Nah I was just explaining my previous flippant post. I laughed when I saw Jawa's thread title as it's a complicated question for me where I have a lot to say but be bothered saying it haha.

[Victor Mildew]

my best friend went to japan on his honeymoon. however the main thing i remember him telling me apart from the pokemon centre is that there were tea vending machines all over.

Japan is absolutely covered in vending machines, it blew my mind how many there were-they just can't all be viable.

my friend seemed more concerned that you get tea out of them

I tried a hot tea from a vending machine but binned it immediately because it had sugar in it.

Tea then

He meant it was served in this mug.

It it wearing one of those AB belts?

[Lagamorph]

my best friend went to japan on his honeymoon. however the main thing i remember him telling me apart from the pokemon centre is that there were tea vending machines all over.

Japan is absolutely covered in vending machines, it blew my mind how many there were-they just can't all be viable.

my friend seemed more concerned that you get tea out of them

I tried a hot tea from a vending machine but binned it immediately because it had sugar in it.

Tea then

There were also vending machines dispensing chilled tea, but I stayed away from those.

Also, Gacha machines everywhere. Including shops that were literally nothing but gacha machines.

[Vermilion]

Also, Gacha machines everywhere. Including shops that were literally nothing but gacha machines.

I bet you didn't get a Sonic.

[Lagamorph]

Also, Gacha machines everywhere. Including shops that were literally nothing but gacha machines.

I bet you didn't get a Sonic.

You'd lose that bet

[Vermilion]

I guess this means you found some sailors too.

[Victor Mildew]

I see.

[rinks]

Related, this situation, which is a bizarre contrast with the UK housing market.

[Qikz]

Related, this situation, which is a bizarre contrast with the UK housing market.

This is true to a point, but akiya are not caused by a declining population it's caused by everyone leaving the rural areas to move closer to cities as in a lot of rural areas in Japan you're in the middle of nowhere and unless you're going to be a farmer there's nothing really to do and it's impossible to get anywhere without a car (unless you have a trainline where a single car train will go by a few times a day to take you to the nearest bigger town). Japan's declining birth rate isn't that much worse than quite a lot of Europe and isn't even in the bottom 10 lowest in data taken by the CIA last year. It's always played up super hard for some reason - but the low birth rate is pretty much caused by people being overworked and a lack of money so people can't afford kids be it with time nor money. Taiwan and South Korea are much worse https://www.statista.com/statistics/268 ... ity-rates/

Regarding akiya as well, not only is it people leaving to go to the city it's also that in many cases these houses are super old and need to be rebuilt to become liveable again due to most of them being built with wood and them slowly rotting away. That's expensive and most Japanese people it seems would rather spend that money elsewhere and given they can't even sell them most of the time they just end up abandoned.

[Henke]

I think my post was quite negative, but for what it's worth I absolutely loved my trip to Japan, and I love what Japan has done for me as well.


Daizen/Kyogo/Hatate/Nakamura

Truly Japan's premier exports.

Honorable(ish) mentions for Mizuno, Ideguchi and Kobiashi

[Vermilion]

in a lot of rural areas in Japan you're in the middle of nowhere and unless you're going to be a farmer there's nothing really to do and it's impossible to get anywhere without a car (unless you have a trainline where a single car train will go by a few times a day to take you to the nearest bigger town).

So it's just like Britain then.

[rinks]

I think the relevant impact is:

UK homeless: 309,000
Japan homeless: 3,824

(Quick search for the figures. Might not be most accurate, but you get the point.)

[Qikz]

I think the relevant impact is:

UK homeless: 309,000
Japan homeless: 3,824

(Quick search for the figures. Might not be most accurate, but you get the point.)

This is all anecdotal of course of stories I've heard from some of my Japanese friends so I can't say if it's totally accurate.

-

I think those figures are vastly higher than they actually are sadly. There's a lot of homeless people who technically have a place to stay which don't likely . Many stay in net/manga cafes which are very cheap to stay overnight in and often offer you your own personal space. They manage to earn just enough money to stay in them and live off of incredibly cheap food.

These people can't really get proper employment due to not having a proper residence so often end up working for basically nothing in manual labour jobs cash in hand and are exploited pretty badly. They're also trapped in the cycle they're stuck in as they essentially make enough to stay where they are but can never make enough to actually get themselves back on their feet. It's better than them being on the actual street, but it's still no life.

[Vermilion]

One thing i have heard about Japan is how a lot of younger chaps have pretty much retreated into their bedrooms and shut themselves off from the world almost completely.

I'm not entirely sure how true or widespread this is, but it does seem to be a thing (apparently it's called Hikikomori).

[Moggy]

I think the relevant impact is:

UK homeless: 309,000
Japan homeless: 3,824

I think those figures are vastly lower than they actually are sadly.