3 ms·

At the risk of repeating myself in every thread about urbanism, in asian megacities like Tokyo nature is a train ride away, at any time, any day. In Europe we'v

At the risk of repeating myself in every thread about urbanism, in asian megacities like Tokyo nature is a train ride away, at any time, any day. In Europe we've just been bad about planning and building infrastructure.

ta988 3y ago
The US is even worse. It was entirely planned for people with cars. Some stores you don't even have a way to get to go in by walking, you have to go on the road at some point.
nec4b 3y ago
>> in asian megacities like Tokyo nature is a train ride away Only if you consider nature to be like a city park crowded with people. Real nature doesn't start at train stations.
- bryanlarsen 3y ago
  The Tokyo area has fabulous public transit that will take you halfway up a mountain. It's usually a bus, though. We went mountain hiking every second weekend or so when I lived there. We always took transit.
  - nec4b 3y ago
    That's nice, but you still only saw a small bit around that particular mountain of of thousands that exist in japan, and you probably weren't exactly alone if there is a bus route from the city to there. It is not what I image when somebody says nature.
    - bryanlarsen 3y ago
      We typically went 100 - 200km on those bus routes, so we covered a few hundred square kilometres. Sure the start & end of those routes was more populated, but they drove through lots of unpopulated areas. Being mountainous Japan has lots of those. We often went without seeing a single person once we got off the bus until we got to our destination (usually an onsen).
honzabe 3y ago
I don't claim to know all the Europe but I would disagree at least when it comes to countries I know pretty well - Czechia and Spain. Maybe not as great as Tokyo (where I've never been) but pretty decent. Comparing Czechia (where I currently live) to the US is not fair because we are much smaller and densely populated but one thing I like here is that I do not need a car - public transportation is great (incomparably better than in the US) and I can easily get anywhere I need. Sure, I cannot go to every small village at 3am but I have never needed that - the things I actually need require very little planning. Even the random unplanned trips the parent mentions; when the weather is nice and I have nothing to do, I just look at my phone while eating breakfast and look up the connection to where I want to go - usually there is a bus or train in an hour and I have just enough time to finish eating and go to the station.

ta988 3y ago

The US is even worse. It was entirely planned for people with cars. Some stores you don't even have a way to get to go in by walking, you have to go on the road at some point.

nec4b 3y ago

>> in asian megacities like Tokyo nature is a train ride away Only if you consider nature to be like a city park crowded with people. Real nature doesn't start at train stations.

bryanlarsen 3y ago
The Tokyo area has fabulous public transit that will take you halfway up a mountain. It's usually a bus, though. We went mountain hiking every second weekend or so when I lived there. We always took transit.
- nec4b 3y ago
  That's nice, but you still only saw a small bit around that particular mountain of of thousands that exist in japan, and you probably weren't exactly alone if there is a bus route from the city to there. It is not what I image when somebody says nature.
  - bryanlarsen 3y ago
    We typically went 100 - 200km on those bus routes, so we covered a few hundred square kilometres. Sure the start & end of those routes was more populated, but they drove through lots of unpopulated areas. Being mountainous Japan has lots of those. We often went without seeing a single person once we got off the bus until we got to our destination (usually an onsen).

honzabe 3y ago

I don't claim to know all the Europe but I would disagree at least when it comes to countries I know pretty well - Czechia and Spain. Maybe not as great as Tokyo (where I've never been) but pretty decent. Comparing Czechia (where I currently live) to the US is not fair because we are much smaller and densely populated but one thing I like here is that I do not need a car - public transportation is great (incomparably better than in the US) and I can easily get anywhere I need. Sure, I cannot go to every small village at 3am but I have never needed that - the things I actually need require very little planning. Even the random unplanned trips the parent mentions; when the weather is nice and I have nothing to do, I just look at my phone while eating breakfast and look up the connection to where I want to go - usually there is a bus or train in an hour and I have just enough time to finish eating and go to the station.