5 ms·

Can you post examples of this ugliness? I’ve never been to Japan and am curious. I had never heard of this.

rippercushions 4y ago
Pick a random spot in any suburb of Tokyo in Google Maps Street View and start exploring. Here's one: 亀戸中央通り商店街 https://maps.app.goo.gl/9yY4Ncb5oM3hXqLY6 https://maps.app.goo.gl/9yY4Ncb5oM3hXqLY6 It's not particularly hideous by Tokyo (or world) standards, it's just exactly what was described earlier, a random mishmash of houses and shops in various states of repair.
- ErneX 4y ago
  I’ve been to Tokyo and other cities in Japan, and I would gladly trade what you consider ugly for their cleanliness. I live in Barcelona and not even Gaudi’s architecture can distract you from the amount of dog feces and piss that are rampant in this city, plus a considerably lack of cleaning in recent years for some reason.
  - midoridensha 4y ago
    >I live in Barcelona and not even Gaudi’s architecture can distract you from the amount of dog feces and piss that are rampant in this city That's become extremely common in American cities too, in the past 2 years or so. Here in Tokyo, I never see dog feces on the ground. Dogs are always on a leash, and their owners always clean up after them. I guess it's a cultural difference: dog owners outside Japan (and maybe Germany) think they're entitled to let their dogs run wild and crap wherever they want.
- kipchak 4y ago
  I don't think it's pretty, but I somewhat enjoy this sort of look. It reminds me a bit of a compressed version of older, less affluent northeastern towns, where buildings are a mish mash of styles and designs. It's an overused term, but it gives a sense of character or that it's a discrete place with it's own history. This building is a good example. https://goo.gl/maps/4ExAzUnFJmez6EPa7 https://goo.gl/maps/4ExAzUnFJmez6EPa7
- jonpurdy 4y ago
  You've just linked to a small, walkable street with slow traffic that has multiple food and shopping options mixed with medium density residential. Zooming out it looks like a quick walk to a metro station and multiple parks nearby. Not to mention how safe these areas are. The random mishmash of houses and shops is exactly the type of place that makes walking viable negating the need for a car (and the expense and waste of space storing one). I wish I could find neighbourhoods like those found in many Japanese and Korean cities; they're very small and hard to find even in Toronto and SF (and not really comparable anyway).
  - rgmerk 4y ago
    Not disagreeing with any of that but it’s still incredibly ugly. Just a planter box or two would be a massive improvement!
  - kiney 4y ago
    for me it's the cables and similiar visible infrastructure. Most european cities I know have most or all of that stuff underground.
- no_time 4y ago
  Having the powerlines underground would improve it a lot. Other than that I wouldn't call it particularly ugly.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- _cs2017_ 4y ago
  Interesting, I find it, while not beautiful, quite pleasant, and in fact enjoy walking or biking on such streets. OTOH, while I heard that Paris is considered beautiful by some people, I didn't like it at all, and no longer visit there even if I happen to be going to other parts of France. Similarly, I would never voluntarily spend a day in SF and several other famous US cities. I guess the idea of "ugly" is quite subjective.

Pick a random spot in any suburb of Tokyo in Google Maps Street View and start exploring. Here's one: 亀戸中央通り商店街 https://maps.app.goo.gl/9yY4Ncb5oM3hXqLY6 https://maps.app.goo.gl/9yY4Ncb5oM3hXqLY6 It's not particularly hideous by Tokyo (or world) standards, it's just exactly what was described earlier, a random mishmash of houses and shops in various states of repair.

ErneX 4y ago
I’ve been to Tokyo and other cities in Japan, and I would gladly trade what you consider ugly for their cleanliness. I live in Barcelona and not even Gaudi’s architecture can distract you from the amount of dog feces and piss that are rampant in this city, plus a considerably lack of cleaning in recent years for some reason.
- midoridensha 4y ago
  >I live in Barcelona and not even Gaudi’s architecture can distract you from the amount of dog feces and piss that are rampant in this city That's become extremely common in American cities too, in the past 2 years or so. Here in Tokyo, I never see dog feces on the ground. Dogs are always on a leash, and their owners always clean up after them. I guess it's a cultural difference: dog owners outside Japan (and maybe Germany) think they're entitled to let their dogs run wild and crap wherever they want.
kipchak 4y ago
I don't think it's pretty, but I somewhat enjoy this sort of look. It reminds me a bit of a compressed version of older, less affluent northeastern towns, where buildings are a mish mash of styles and designs. It's an overused term, but it gives a sense of character or that it's a discrete place with it's own history. This building is a good example. https://goo.gl/maps/4ExAzUnFJmez6EPa7 https://goo.gl/maps/4ExAzUnFJmez6EPa7
jonpurdy 4y ago
You've just linked to a small, walkable street with slow traffic that has multiple food and shopping options mixed with medium density residential. Zooming out it looks like a quick walk to a metro station and multiple parks nearby. Not to mention how safe these areas are. The random mishmash of houses and shops is exactly the type of place that makes walking viable negating the need for a car (and the expense and waste of space storing one). I wish I could find neighbourhoods like those found in many Japanese and Korean cities; they're very small and hard to find even in Toronto and SF (and not really comparable anyway).
- rgmerk 4y ago
  Not disagreeing with any of that but it’s still incredibly ugly. Just a planter box or two would be a massive improvement!
- kiney 4y ago
  for me it's the cables and similiar visible infrastructure. Most european cities I know have most or all of that stuff underground.
no_time 4y ago
Having the powerlines underground would improve it a lot. Other than that I wouldn't call it particularly ugly.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
_cs2017_ 4y ago
Interesting, I find it, while not beautiful, quite pleasant, and in fact enjoy walking or biking on such streets. OTOH, while I heard that Paris is considered beautiful by some people, I didn't like it at all, and no longer visit there even if I happen to be going to other parts of France. Similarly, I would never voluntarily spend a day in SF and several other famous US cities. I guess the idea of "ugly" is quite subjective.