5 ms·

Your theory should apply to any huge city where drinking is not taboo. I've visited a few huge cities in North and South America dozens of times over my lifeti

• Freak_NL 8y ago
  Some background: the chance of getting pick-pocketed or molested is much smaller than in other cities of a comparable size worldwide, and the Japanese practice a form of privacy where such embarrassing scenes are visible but not seen. Those guys will wake up in the morning, purchase a ready-made set of clean shirt, deodorant, and tie in a shop, and go back to the office.
  • Latteland 8y ago
    Wow. Why is that not available in my american city? Spill something on my shirt (yes, I am a cliched computer programmer), and go buy an easy replacement? I want that.
• ekianjo 8y ago
  > If this is specific to Japan There are several additional factors: - social drinking after work is "the norm" in Japan. Not every day, but several times a week is not uncommon. In large companies it is excepted that you would join such events, since it's pretty much a way to talk about work (and other things) in an informal context. - alcohol is produced locally and there a very large industry pushing for consumption (and it is advertised everywhere). - like in many Asian populations, there is a deficiency of the alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme among Japanese, so a majority of people can't break down alcohol very efficiently and could get drink after just 2 beers. I have seen that happening over and over again - it's just genetics at play. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1762903/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1762903/ > Electrophoretic and quantitative studies reveal that 85% of Japanese carry an atypical liver alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH). The frequency of ADH polymorphism is identical with the reported frequency of alcohol sensitivity in the Japanese population. This identity in population frequencies points to a causative relationship between the two phenomena and suggests that alcohol sensitivity might be due to the increased acetaldehyde formation in individuals carrying the atypical ADH gene.
  • Freak_NL 8y ago
    Drinking with ethnic Japanese as a white or black person really does make you feel as if your tolerance for alcohol is doubled; in reality you just drink less and in smaller portions. A common way of drinking together in Japan is ordering a large pitcher of beer and sharing it with small glasses. Culturally drinking still is expected behaviour in Japan. When you can't drink for a while because of medication or whatever reason, you will find yourself explaining and excusing yourself all the time; in part because of the Japanese cultural habit of filling eachother's glasses instead of your own — preferably in order of seniority.
    • ekianjo 8y ago
      Oh and let's not forget the availability of 飲み放題 (drink as much as you want) plans in many restaurants at night. It's cheaper than usually ordering 3 drinks and leads to a higher consumption of alcohol at the end of the day...
  • mantas 8y ago
    On top of that, Tokyo is super safe. It's next to impossible to get mugged or abused. Weather is rather friendly for this behaviour as well.
  • bsaul 8y ago
    i think you forgot that tokyo is one of the safest city. Those people won’t get robbed or mugged. Try that in Paris and you’ll wake up naked on the pavement.
    • SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
      Or dead.
      • simias 8y ago
        Well homeless people do die in parisian streets in the cold winter days but beyond that I really doubt that you'd be very likely to get killed sleeping on a bench in France (or frankly in most civilized places in the world, why would people randomly kill people in the street?). You'd probably end up with a cold though, parisian nights are seldom hot enough to comfortably sleep without any protection. Regardless I wouldn't exactly advise doing it, theft is definitely possible.
• twelfthnight 8y ago
  I agree that with OP that the large number of people in Japan may be part of the explanation. But I think there are a few Japanese specific explanations at well. For instance, - In Japan, sleeping in public is more common (0) - The workplace is more formal, meaning more men in suits (1) - Drinking after work is very common in Japan (2) This means that sleeping outside is less taboo for salarymen, that they are more likely to wear a suit to work and they are more likely to head to the bar straight after work while still in their suit. In other places, I image people might change before heading to the bar or wear something different to work in the first place or might have more inhibition about sleeping in public. (0) https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/16/world/what-in-the-world/japan-inemuri-public-sleeping.html https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/16/world/what-in-the-world/j... (1) https://www.businessinsider.com/differences-between-japanese-and-american-work-culture-2018-3 https://www.businessinsider.com/differences-between-japanese...] (2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomikai https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomikai
• draeert 8y ago
  Happens a lot in Korea. Having traveled extensively in both countries I'd say it probably happens more often in Korea actually.
  • ekianjo 8y ago
    Both Korea and Japan are very high on the "drinking habits" ratio, and that shows in the rate of stomach cancers: both countries have the highest rate of such cancers in the world (as well as digestive tract cancer I think). Pharma companies usually rush to get their new cancer drugs approved in Japan because the market is so huge. Rate of stomach cancer around the world: https://pmj.bmj.com/content/postgradmedj/81/957/419/F1.large.jpg?width=800&height=600&carousel=1 https://pmj.bmj.com/content/postgradmedj/81/957/419/F1.large...
• h1d 8y ago
  How about safety? Hard to think about getting robbed or being shot at.
  • ng12 8y ago
    Yeah, I honestly think Japan is the only country in the world where you could sleep on the street in a suit and wake up with all your possessions in tact.
• mnky9800n 8y ago
  I'm willing to bet all the cities you visited have higher rates of crime than Tokyo.