3 ms·

I love Japan, I just wouldn't characterize it as a paradise. Though I admit your criticism is apt if we're purely speaking about pubic spaces. I think most peo

by c420 3y ago

I love Japan, I just wouldn't characterize it as a paradise. Though I admit your criticism is apt if we're purely speaking about pubic spaces. I think most people are now aware of the yearly dolphin drive hunt in Taiji and how the whaling industry continues to harpoon hundreds of whales every year under the guise of studying their migrations, even with demand for the meat dropping every year. Scroll down to the "pornographic censorship" section: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_Japan https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_Japan Yeah, I'm American, but I never said this was paradise. On the contrary, I could give much better reasons why it's not than your example of open carry laws. But let's not play "whatabout", as your public spaces argument is legit.

shiroiuma 3y ago
I'm not going to defend the whaling and dolphin or censorhip stuff, I'm just pointing out that when we're talking about people mistreating public spaces/property, public behavior, etc., these things really aren't relevant and every country has its policy flaws. Women in Japan don't have any trouble getting an abortion if they need one, and don't have to worry about one part of the country trying to prosecute them for going to another part of the country for a medical service that some religious politician has banned. And no one in Japan has to worry much about people with automatic weapons going on shooting rampages.
- c420 3y ago
  To your primary point, public spaces in Japan, or the ones I see portrayed in the media, are very very cute (for lack of a better word and I don't mean that in a condescending manner. I think the term is kawaii?). That would never fly here. Even with fences and guards that stuff would be covered in graffiti if not just broken. As for the abortion reference, it wasn't long ago that we too were filled with that same confidence. And we're learned it only takes a single election to undo decades of progress.
  - shiroiuma 3y ago
    >To your primary point, public spaces in Japan, or the ones I see portrayed in the media, are very very cute (for lack of a better word and I don't mean that in a condescending manner. I think the term is kawaii?). It sounds like you've never been here. Yes, some public spaces are cute ("kawaii!" I'm impressed!), but that's not really the norm. There are places where anime characters are shown, there's a godzilla statue in downtown Tokyo, there's a giant electronic billboard with a cat, etc., But it's not like you'll see anime stuff on every street or shopping area. Many places are quite old-fashioned looking (as in Edo-era, pre-war). Other places are just ultra-modern, like in central business districts: you'll see huge steel-and-glass skyscrapers, but there's nothing cute about them or the interior design. >That would never fly here. Even with fences and guards that stuff would be covered in graffiti if not just broken. Yeah, that's the big problem. That kind of thing just doesn't happen here. There is graffiti, but it's rare, and very confined to certain places. I rarely see it; offhand, I know of the underside of an elevated highway that has some (i.e., a rather ugly, out-of-the-way place where people don't often go). You certainly don't see it in any high-pedestrian-traffic area. The most annoying things I've found here as far as delinquent young men are motorcyclists who drive around the highways on late weekend nights revving their engines, and also very rich young men driving customized Lambos and Ferraris in Shibuya and revving their engines (seemingly with no mufflers). >As for the abortion reference, it wasn't long ago that we too were filled with that same confidence. And we're learned it only takes a single election to undo decades of progress. I completely disagree here. It wasn't a single election; the GOP was trying to undo Roe v Wade for decades; it was long a campaign issue for them. It's been a constant struggle for ages; various states passed laws banning it long ago, even though Roe v Wade overruled those laws, just because they knew if the decision was overturned, those laws would come back into effect. Republican Presidents have tried to install SCOTUS justices for decades to overturn RvW, with varying success. Trump just got lucky by getting to install 3 justices at once, but that wasn't enough; pre-existing justices also voted with them, remember, and they were installed by previous Republican presidents. This fight has been going on for a long time. By contrast, there's is NO such thing going on over here (or most other developed nations that aren't heavily Catholic). It's not a political issue here at all, so there's really no risk of anyone passing such a law. (Plus, law here isn't made by the courts, it's made by the legislature, since the system isn't based on English Common Law.) Similarly, there's no constant political struggle over gun legality. No one wants the laws to become less strict than they already are. The politicians here just argue about things like how to deal with population decline, labor shortage, the weak yen, etc., i.e., important issues that face the country and its citizens today, rather than ideological wedge issues.

by c420 3y ago

shiroiuma 3y ago

I'm not going to defend the whaling and dolphin or censorhip stuff, I'm just pointing out that when we're talking about people mistreating public spaces/property, public behavior, etc., these things really aren't relevant and every country has its policy flaws. Women in Japan don't have any trouble getting an abortion if they need one, and don't have to worry about one part of the country trying to prosecute them for going to another part of the country for a medical service that some religious politician has banned. And no one in Japan has to worry much about people with automatic weapons going on shooting rampages.

c420 3y ago
To your primary point, public spaces in Japan, or the ones I see portrayed in the media, are very very cute (for lack of a better word and I don't mean that in a condescending manner. I think the term is kawaii?). That would never fly here. Even with fences and guards that stuff would be covered in graffiti if not just broken. As for the abortion reference, it wasn't long ago that we too were filled with that same confidence. And we're learned it only takes a single election to undo decades of progress.
- shiroiuma 3y ago
  >To your primary point, public spaces in Japan, or the ones I see portrayed in the media, are very very cute (for lack of a better word and I don't mean that in a condescending manner. I think the term is kawaii?). It sounds like you've never been here. Yes, some public spaces are cute ("kawaii!" I'm impressed!), but that's not really the norm. There are places where anime characters are shown, there's a godzilla statue in downtown Tokyo, there's a giant electronic billboard with a cat, etc., But it's not like you'll see anime stuff on every street or shopping area. Many places are quite old-fashioned looking (as in Edo-era, pre-war). Other places are just ultra-modern, like in central business districts: you'll see huge steel-and-glass skyscrapers, but there's nothing cute about them or the interior design. >That would never fly here. Even with fences and guards that stuff would be covered in graffiti if not just broken. Yeah, that's the big problem. That kind of thing just doesn't happen here. There is graffiti, but it's rare, and very confined to certain places. I rarely see it; offhand, I know of the underside of an elevated highway that has some (i.e., a rather ugly, out-of-the-way place where people don't often go). You certainly don't see it in any high-pedestrian-traffic area. The most annoying things I've found here as far as delinquent young men are motorcyclists who drive around the highways on late weekend nights revving their engines, and also very rich young men driving customized Lambos and Ferraris in Shibuya and revving their engines (seemingly with no mufflers). >As for the abortion reference, it wasn't long ago that we too were filled with that same confidence. And we're learned it only takes a single election to undo decades of progress. I completely disagree here. It wasn't a single election; the GOP was trying to undo Roe v Wade for decades; it was long a campaign issue for them. It's been a constant struggle for ages; various states passed laws banning it long ago, even though Roe v Wade overruled those laws, just because they knew if the decision was overturned, those laws would come back into effect. Republican Presidents have tried to install SCOTUS justices for decades to overturn RvW, with varying success. Trump just got lucky by getting to install 3 justices at once, but that wasn't enough; pre-existing justices also voted with them, remember, and they were installed by previous Republican presidents. This fight has been going on for a long time. By contrast, there's is NO such thing going on over here (or most other developed nations that aren't heavily Catholic). It's not a political issue here at all, so there's really no risk of anyone passing such a law. (Plus, law here isn't made by the courts, it's made by the legislature, since the system isn't based on English Common Law.) Similarly, there's no constant political struggle over gun legality. No one wants the laws to become less strict than they already are. The politicians here just argue about things like how to deal with population decline, labor shortage, the weak yen, etc., i.e., important issues that face the country and its citizens today, rather than ideological wedge issues.