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> certain cultural and demographic factors...considered a bit taboo to mention I doubt that these factors (presumably the more heterogenous racial and cultural

> certain cultural and demographic factors...considered a bit taboo to mention I doubt that these factors (presumably the more heterogenous racial and cultural makeup of Japan as compared to the US) have anything to do with the contrasts for operating small businesses that are specifically mentioned in TFA: - For any two-story rowhouse in Tokyo, the owner can by right operate a bar, a restaurant, a boutique, a small workshop on the ground floor — even in the most residential zoned sections of the city. - Liquor licenses are extremely cheap and easy. A liquor license in an American city can sometimes run up to $500,000. - (In the US) Usually for retirement, people are counting on their property values going up so they have a strong incentive to resist changes that might threaten them. A lot of the dynamism we see in the emergent urbanism of Tokyo are things that reduce predictability, which reduce property values. Are there cases in the US where similar liberal regulations for operating businesses have been established, and shown to fail due to demographic or cultural factors? I suspect not. But as things stand now even in small US cities, there is a ton of red tape that stands in the way of small businesses. That has little to nothing to do with cultural and demographic factors; and happens to be largely the focus of the article.

ravel-bar-foo 4y ago
My guess would be that a lot of what makes Tokyo work is its high-trust society, rather than its (homogeneous) demographics per se. Building a society with high trust seems historically path dependent, so a lot of the things that work well in Tokyo might not work well in the US. For example, if you can trust that new restaurants will not cut corners on cost, health inspection becomes more of a formality. If you can trust the building will be left in good condition by businesses, it is more acceptable to rent a place out to whoever wants it, and so you see as time goes by that a small cornerstore becomes an upscale hairdresser, which becomes a laundromat, which becomes a take-out restaurant. Homogeneous demographics might help, but I suspect building a high trust society is more culture than demographics. For example, a religious group may create a high-trust enclave by promising to excommunicate members who violate norms, while a demographically homogeneous country may destroy its culture in civil war and build something low-trust, too (China).
- YorkshireSeason 4y ago
  > building a high trust society is more culture than demographics This is the kind of question that benefits from a probabilistic analysis: does ethnic homogeneity, on average, help or hinder building and maintaining a high trust society? Many conflicts in world history have an ethnic dimension. Many substantial social cleavages, even if they are not ethnically based, over time may evolve an ethnic dimension. For example some religions have an ethnic dimension, most religions require members to marry only within the own religion etc. Moreover, people are more likely to procreate with people they spend a lot of time with. So even linguistic differences can lead to ethnicisation, since it's easier to socialise with people you can easily communicate with.

ravel-bar-foo 4y ago

My guess would be that a lot of what makes Tokyo work is its high-trust society, rather than its (homogeneous) demographics per se. Building a society with high trust seems historically path dependent, so a lot of the things that work well in Tokyo might not work well in the US. For example, if you can trust that new restaurants will not cut corners on cost, health inspection becomes more of a formality. If you can trust the building will be left in good condition by businesses, it is more acceptable to rent a place out to whoever wants it, and so you see as time goes by that a small cornerstore becomes an upscale hairdresser, which becomes a laundromat, which becomes a take-out restaurant. Homogeneous demographics might help, but I suspect building a high trust society is more culture than demographics. For example, a religious group may create a high-trust enclave by promising to excommunicate members who violate norms, while a demographically homogeneous country may destroy its culture in civil war and build something low-trust, too (China).

YorkshireSeason 4y ago
> building a high trust society is more culture than demographics This is the kind of question that benefits from a probabilistic analysis: does ethnic homogeneity, on average, help or hinder building and maintaining a high trust society? Many conflicts in world history have an ethnic dimension. Many substantial social cleavages, even if they are not ethnically based, over time may evolve an ethnic dimension. For example some religions have an ethnic dimension, most religions require members to marry only within the own religion etc. Moreover, people are more likely to procreate with people they spend a lot of time with. So even linguistic differences can lead to ethnicisation, since it's easier to socialise with people you can easily communicate with.