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Japan's 'Naked Hermit' Pried from Island Utopia After 29 Years
- dang 8y agoUrl changed from https://gizmodo.com/japans-naked-hermit-pried-from-island-utopia-after-29-y-1827205991 https://gizmodo.com/japans-naked-hermit-pried-from-island-ut..., which points to this.
- kwhitefoot 8y agoIt's sad that they didn't respect his wishes.
- jpgvm 8y agoIt seems very cruel to deny him the only thing he seems to want and that has negligible effect on anyone else.
- bitL 8y agoBut he seemed to have fun! Why isn't he miserable like everyone else? Society can't function if people are having fun, can't you see that?
- wu-ikkyu 8y ago"They're about to start piss testing for adrenaline in the workplace, that's how sad this country's gotten... 'Is that yours Donnie? It looks a little cloudy, have you been having fun on the weekend? Are we not enough fun for you here at the Verizon Wireless family that you need to seek it elsewhere? I don't think you're a team player.'" -Doug Stanhope, No Refunds https://youtu.be/YmzKmTIe_m4 https://youtu.be/YmzKmTIe_m4
- ur-whale 8y agoHis big mistake was he neglected to pack a cannon when he moved there :D
- puzzlingcaptcha 8y agoA real commitment to “the nail that sticks out gets hammered down.” https://www.tofugu.com/japan/conformity-in-japan/ https://www.tofugu.com/japan/conformity-in-japan/
- robin_reala 8y agoI found out recently that the Chinese have an equivalent phrase: “The fattest pig gets eaten first”.
- setr 8y agoThat sounds more like its about showing off and such, than it is about generally not following cultural norms
- Angostura 8y agoSee also, "the tallest poppy"
- gaius 8y agoSee also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Jante https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Jante
- DavidNielsen 8y agoPeople cite Law of Jante to be anti exceptionalism when in reality it is meant and generally used as a means of reminding high and low alike that we are in this together. We are different, but do not think that your view point on our difference makes you inherently better than me. We are both human, we both share this place called Earth, could we be productive and not turn life into a weirdly specific genitalia measurement contest.. por favor? You are allowed and encouraged to be exceptional, just like everybody else. You should just recognize how you got there and how other people got where they are. In essence, Jante, is a teaching tool regarding inequality. Denmark is a lovely place, in part, because of a general adherence to following those guidelines. Therefore as a Dane it pains me to see it cited as a bad thing and as justification for actions and behaviors Law of Jante which are in direct opposition to how it is de facto taught and applied in Danish society.
- icebraining 8y agoEffective ad, even gets linked on HN.
- singularity2001 8y agoad?
- icebraining 8y agoYes. No fewer than five links to their site and two videos of their channel.
- Jaruzel 8y agoI read the whole article without following any further links, or clicking on the videos. No-one is making you click on them either. On topic though: It's 100% wrong that a person who is zero threat to anyone, is not allowed to live out their life how they see fit regardless of whether it is considered 'normal' or not.
- barrkel 8y agoThe economics of these things are based on 1% or so people clicking on the links - you alone are not proof that nobody looked into it further.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- trentlott 8y agoI'm sure Cerezo will fully incorporate his "friend's" story into the marketing package when he begins renting out the island. Welcome to the NHI! Live naked in nature with seventeen of your closest hermies! Dine on exotic turtle eggs and local sashimi with our Nowhere/Outtatime champagne service, available anywhere on the island at the press of a networked coconut. Remember: please litter! We don't spoil the natural surroundings with trash recepticals, so leave all refuse on the beach for our "permaHermies" to happily pick up. (Nudity optional- there is no uniform!)
- danieka 8y agoI find this really depressing, that he is forced to abandon a lifestyle that he himself choose. I can't help but think of Ted Kaczynski who wrote along the lines that we are cogs in the social machine deprived of dignity and autonomy. The industrial society and its future: http://editions-hache.com/essais/pdf/kaczynski2.pdf http://editions-hache.com/essais/pdf/kaczynski2.pdf
- mihaifm 8y agoYea, I don't understand that either. They forced him to hospital supposedly for his own good, but it's obvious that it will do him more harm than good. Depression would probably sink in, he might even get sick faster due to exposure to humans after all these years. He just wanted to die there, why not just let him be...
- ekianjo 8y agoThe attack on individual freedom knows no limits unfortunately. The authorities should have nothing to do with this, unless you actually ask for their help.
- Rainymood 8y agoThe Netflix "documentary" (Manhunt: Unabomber) is a great watch. While it's a bit dramatised it's still a good (and short 9eps) watch.
- Krasnol 8y agoTry this ARTE documentary "The Net": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIfc5KpomGQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIfc5KpomGQ It goes deeper, features Kaczynski, some Silicone Valley elites and Heinz von Foerster.
- amorphid 8y agoI liked it, too. I didn't expect to feel anything for Ted's side of the story, but I felt the series did a good job of making him come across as a human being (who just happens to blow people up by sending them bombs in the mail).
- deleted 8y ago
- setquk 8y agoWe had our own local version of this a few years back in London: http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/london/hi/people_and_places/newsid_9020000/9020539.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/london/hi/people_and_places/news...
- ashtube 8y agoSome say he is the inventor of bitcoin.
- tinus_hn 8y agoSome say that he sucks the moisture from ducks, and that his crash helmet is modeled on Britney Spears’ head.
- lazyeye 8y agoProbably my most favourite book is "An Island to Oneself" by Tom Neale. I even visited the Cook Islands because of it. You get a real sense of how wonderful the simple life is without all the complexity of modern life. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Neale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Neale https://www.amazon.com/Island-Oneself-Tom-Neale/dp/0918024765/ref=sr_1_1 https://www.amazon.com/Island-Oneself-Tom-Neale/dp/091802476... I guess Im an islomaniac.
- icebraining 8y agoPrevious discussion on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15773056 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15773056 It's a good read, but it didn't really make me think how wonderful it was, though it does have its upsides.
- dmichulke 8y agoBe careful with that last word, it could get you on a terror watch list :-P
- ionised 8y agoSo he was forcibly removed from an uninhabited island paradise where he was happy and bothering nobody? What the fuck?
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- potatopolis 8y agoI can see how someone might believe he can/should be forcibly removed in order to address his apparent health issues, but why not allow him to return afterwards? Seems a gap in the story.
- phonebucket 8y agoSerious kudos for him braving Okinawan typhoons by himself like that! They can be intense, and there can be several in a year.
- Timpy 8y agoImagine feeling completely one with nature, making your position clear that this is where and how you would like to die. The time comes for you to wrestle with your mortality, you've worked for 30 years to do it with dignity. You've rejected man's system, because you know it's not right for you, and in your final moments it comes for you, steals you away, and forces you back into the machine. This isn't a morally imperative prevention of suicide. Mr. Nagasaki should be left alone.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- ebbv 8y agoImagine some mentally ill person decides he wants to be at one with nature on your property... There's two (or more) sides to everything. The people who own the island have the legal right to kick him out. I get your perspective but if he really wants to get back to nature he should find a place where he is welcome to do so. EDIT: For all the people asking about the details of the property owners asking him to leave, read the article linked in the next top level comment by doall.
- ionised 8y agoThe fact that you equate wanting to be alone in nature with mental illness highlights how fucked up we have become as a society.
- dvtrn 8y agomentally ill person How did you discover Mr. Nagasaki has a mental ailment?
- dapole 8y agoI wouldn’t jump the gun on that. OP was clearly trying to create a worse case scernaio so that a reader may see the story from the perspective of a land owner vs the first comment which while a beautiful sentiment doesn’t really take practicalities like liability into consideration.
- zawerf 8y agoThe items he's using in that video don't look like they are 3 decades old. Searching a bit, I found a wiki with more info about him: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sotobanari https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sotobanari > Sotobanari had one human inhabitant, a eighty-two-year-old man named Masafumi Nagasaki, who had lived there in semi-isolation for three decades (1989 - 2018), nude, and bought food and water from a settlement an hour away by boat weekly with ¥10,000 sent by family, fully clothed. Vice video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBtBePnUOZU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBtBePnUOZU
- ape4 8y agoAnd he mentioned using a lighter. Of course it would run of fuel.
- spraak 8y agoWell, that does make this less romantic, but personally that was a romanticism that I put over the situation from my own bias rather than anything in the article. That is, there are many stories with idealists that use no modern tools, but I don't see that Nagasaki made any such claims to be fully self sufficient, only that he enjoyed where he lived.
- doall 8y agoIn an Japanese article the guy says that he was kicked out of Sotobanari island after becoming famous for showing up in a Japanese TV show; many tourists came to the island, the relatives of the owner of the property wanted to do some farming in the property, and some people were concerned that some other street people will do the same thing like him. For these reasons he was asked to leave the island. If you want to read in more detail below is the article in Japanese. https://www.dailyshincho.jp/article/2015/12090710/?all=1 https://www.dailyshincho.jp/article/2015/12090710/?all=1
- executesorder66 8y agoI don't speak Japanese. Can you explain what you mean by "the property"? Is the property the island? And does someone else own the island, and they want to farm on the island?
- grzm 8y agoThe island (or the part he’s occupying) would seem to be the property, as that would be the common understanding in English. Is there another interpretation that would make sense to you?
- executesorder66 8y agoThat's what I was guessing. But since I don't understand Japanese, I can't read the article to check. But looking at photos of the island, it doesn't look like a good place to farm. So that's what led me to believe the island and the property might not be the same thing.
- dahart 8y ago> since I don’t understand Japanese, I can’t read the article to check. Sure you can! https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https%3A//www.dailyshincho.jp/article/2015/12090710/%3Fall%3D1 https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https... * Does my comment seem flippant or 100% unhelpful or something? I’m super confused why it’s getting downvoted to death. I understand the parent might have been asking for nuance of translation, but I meant this to be helpful; you can in fact get a pretty good sense for what an article says by reading via a translation, this resource does allow you to check yourself rather than say I don’t speak X. Now I’m sorry for offering a suggestion, even if it’s obvious.
- justaguyhere 8y agoThere was another story few months ago - someone had made a Instagram account for a beautiful tree, it became famous and one day it was cut down. Moral of the story - if we find someone unique and if that someone wants to be left alone, then we should just respect their wishes and not publicize. I dread the day when someone finds and publishes the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto for you know, a "good story". I hope it doesn't happen
- aaron695 8y agoThat's not really the moral. The person who found the tree got their value from making the tree famous for being famous. They created a beautiful thing by Instagraming it. It was never unique other than the fame....which leads to the part of being cut down which is also part of it's story. And it's journey is not over. https://kottke.org/17/09/rip-the-broccoli-tree https://kottke.org/17/09/rip-the-broccoli-tree I'd stick with respect peoples privacy as you say. And don't ruin exploration for others, not everything has to be slashdotted.
- somenewacc 8y ago> I dread the day when someone finds and publishes the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto for you know, a "good story". I hope it doesn't happen I hope this happen, but long after he is dead. Perhaps in some centuries.
- vortico 8y agoAll sources just say "removed by authorities and not allowed to return" with no other information. Are there court papers or something that reveals the reason behind this statement?
- ljf 8y agoOf you have the time (it is only short) read 'An Island to Oneself' by Tom Neale https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Neale https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Neale Great book and a fascinating insight to living alone. Another worthy solitude read is Shrimpy by https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shane_Acton https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shane_Acton about sailing the world on a very small boat.
- ezoe 8y agoThis dude again? This story is totally false. This old man sometimes visit civilized town, got money from his sister, to purchase modern civilized items. It's not so isolated at all. It's just a weird old man.
- wu-ikkyu 8y agoReminds me of the banishing of Chongo from Yosemite.
- INTPenis 8y agoRegardless of the fact that his family sent him money or that he bought food and water for the money from local villagers, he was maybe our last true old style hermit. There used to be a time when hermits were more common and people largely tolerated that. So I still think it's sad he was removed from the island and not allowed to live out his life the way he wanted.
- trillic 8y agoIf you haven't read 'Brave New World' by Aldous Huxley, you ought to add it to your list. Interesting parallels between this article and the world Huxley predicted nearly 100 years ago.
- Semirhage 8y agoPeople always talk about Orwell and 1984, but it was Huxley who really nailed it imo. I think he appreciated the degree to which a stable dystopia required the consent and participation- even enthusiasm- of the general populace.
- floren 8y agoThese 10 Adorable Kitten Pictures Will Make You Forget The Emptiness Of Your Life
- ljm 8y agoIsn’t it curious that HN throws its arms wide in support for those with mental illness, but as soon as a situation doesn’t fit that mold the compassion completely disappears? Suddenly HN calls the entire life of an unknown man into question, denying any benefit of the doubt. Until the post that provides the real context, of course, which is something completely unanticipated.