6 ms·

Yes, lived there for 4 years.

• eru 6y ago
  Do you think Japan is a decade ahead of Singapore as well? If anything, I always have the impression Singapore is ahead of the rest of the world in many respects. (Not in all respect. Not in cycling or craft beer.)
  • latch 6y ago
    Yes. And I love Singapore. I'd like to think that cities / countries of the future have lower inequality and are more self sustainable (not too much Singapore can do here, but it might become increasingly important). I don't want to speak too much subjectively. Because I've lived in Singapore and I've only visited Japan. So maybe I just haven't seen Japan's dirty side - which was kind of what I was asking in my original post. I've heard (and seen (maid cafe)) that Japan has a sexism issue, but so does Singapore, and I wouldn't know how to quantify them.
    • x87678r 6y ago
      Doesn't Singapore run on $1/hr workers from other countries? It has much higher inequality than Japan.
      • eru 6y ago
        Global inequality doesn't go away just because we close our eyes to it. Yes, Singapore has special visas for people to come as construction workers or maids. Some Google suggests they make about 800 SGD/month in basic pay in construction Alas, if Singapore wouldn't hire them, not only would the city lose out on infrastructure projects, but the construction workers would lose out on high paying jobs. (High paying relative to the alternatives for them.) Yes, not hiring them would technically decrease measured inflation in Singapore, but that would be functionally equivalent to deporting your poor people in an effort to decrease measured inequality inside your borders.
        • x87678r 6y ago
          I have no problem with how Singapore operates. I thought the post above me said "I'd like to think that cities / countries of the future have lower inequality". I thought Singapore was a poor example of that.
          • eru 6y ago
            Maybe. Though I interpreted that as implying "places of the future help combat inequality" (like that particular policy of Singapore arguably does), not "places of the future sweep inequality under the rug". There are other policies in Singapore that you can argue increase inequality. But giving poor foreigner a chance sort-of does the opposite.
• andi999 6y ago
  Fron when to when? I lived there between 2004 and 2009 and I thought there were a a lot of transitions (like the era matters a lot).