Japanese Culture

[RRW]

Originally Posted by Sumeragi

You know, strangely enough I worry about Quebec more than I worry about Japan.

What happens?

[Zakoo]

Originally Posted by Sumeragi

KiraYamatoFan, you've missed the most important cost: That of education. If anything, that single cost weights everything else down. It might be you're used to your region's relatively "cheap" educational costs. That's not the case in Japan or Korea.

Some countries give money to families with 2+ children to encourage people making some.

Japan really have to change their policies, it's very good to have a strong economy, but if you have a declining birth rate and consider strangers as crap, the country is as good as dead in 20 years.

Hear me god, I pray thee, make World embryo end before it's the beginning of the end!

[KiraYamatoFan]

Originally Posted by Zakoo

Some countries give money to families with 2+ children to encourage people making some.

Japan really have to change their policies, it's very good to have a strong economy, but if you have a declining birth rate and consider strangers as crap, the country is as good as dead in 20 years.

Hear me god, I pray thee, make World embryo end before it's the beginning of the end!

Noticeably in France, Scandinavia and perhaps Germany.

Not only changes in policy are required, but Japan needs to find ways to cut down some of those crazy prices on certain things, necessary or non-necessary. That's why I strongly hope someone or a group of people will boot all the old farts out and push them on the walk of shame soon before they bring the country down with them.

[Sumeragi]

Japan doesn't have crazy prices. I'm not sure where that perception comes from.

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by Sumeragi

Japan doesn't have crazy prices. I'm not sure where that perception comes from.

It's certainly well above average than what I'm used to.... >_>

[RRW]

Originally Posted by Sumeragi

Japan doesn't have crazy prices. I'm not sure where that perception comes from.

Yen conversion

Stuff like Game console and electronic goods is more expensive in Japan comapre to US if you convert it to USD

depend on situation but usually it 50-100 more expensive

[kuroishinigami]

Originally Posted by Sumeragi

Japan doesn't have crazy prices. I'm not sure where that perception comes from.

Well, it's something relative I guess. On one hand, some of the things in Japan(games, fruits, housing) sells twice as expensive compared to the same item in other country(USA, other Asian country). For real example that's easy to be checked, just compare the price of Japanese game to the US localized version. On the other hand, I heard(not close enough with my Japanese acquaintance to ask their salary) that average wage are also higher in there, although I don't have enough data to conclude whether the higher wage cover the price difference.

[DonQuigleone]

Originally Posted by willx

^ Sounds like you had a decent childhood and the grandparents help/support during a time of crisis is fantastic. I actually grew up in an incredibly impoverished household and was an only child, so I'm not even sure how much I personally "cost to raise" ..

Anecdotally, one of my affluent colleagues has two boys and his costs right now include $35K a year on private school. This doesn't include hockey gear and other extracurricular costs. Obviously children of higher income individuals cost more to raise..

My family is a good one, yes.

As for the higher income individuals spending so much on their kids, I think it's perfectly possible to raise kids well without all those bells and whistles. Though Private education is often of a high quality, the deficiencies in public education can easily be overcome by living in the right place and spending sufficient time with the kids. I learnt more at home then I did in school, because of the quality of my home environment.

I think a lot of people spend a lot of money in order to make up for the lack of time they spend with their kids. I think a lot of wealthy middle class parents over budget their kids time with tutoring, soccer practice and musical instrument lessons, all the while they spend all day at work and never have any contact with them. Parenthood doesn't get enough respect these days. You can't buy good parenting. Some of the best parents are the poorest, and some of the worst are extremely wealthy.

That said, you do need to have sufficient money to feed them a good diet, and provide them access to books and a computer. The rest is unnecessary, though nice if you can have it.

Originally Posted by Sumeragi

KiraYamatoFan, you've missed the most important cost: That of education. If anything, that single cost weights everything else down. It might be you're used to your region's relatively "cheap" educational costs. That's not the case in Japan or Korea.

I was under the impression that education in Japan is publicly funded?

Though people do spend ridiculous sums on cram schools. I think it's a bit foolish. For one thing, I suspect that the traditional "college" path to prosperity no longer functions as it used to in Japan anyway. The competitiveness is in the wrong place. Rather then being competitive in education, people should be pushing themselves to be more competitive in their entrepreneurship.

[ArchmageXin]

Originally Posted by LeoXiao

Don't worry, the "old farts" will be gone in ten or twenty years.

So just two more lost decade?

[LeoXiao]

Originally Posted by ArchmageXin

So just two more lost decade?

Well they are indeed dying off as we speak, though maybe it's simply more "old farts" replacing them.

[DonQuigleone]

Originally Posted by LeoXiao

Well they are indeed dying off as we speak, though maybe it's simply more "old farts" replacing them.

Old Farts are a renewable resource!

[TinyRedLeaf]

Originally Posted by DonQuigleone

Old Farts are a renewable resource!

In Japan's case, they come in smaller numbers.

[Cosmic Eagle]

Originally Posted by RRW

Yen conversion

Stuff like Game console and electronic goods is more expensive in Japan comapre to US if you convert it to USD

depend on situation but usually it 50-100 more expensive

As someone who just returned from there....Games and shit are of similar price between Japan and where I come from...what's expensive are handicrafts and other small items.

In fact, due to how cheap books are, one can easily overspend...Food items are roughly priced the same as my own country's as well.


Japan wages are higher than most other Asian societies BTW....so that makes up too

[Haak]

Just out of curiosity how accurate is this article about the Japanese attitudes towards the Fukushima workers?

[willx]

Originally Posted by Haak

Just out of curiosity how accurate is this article about the Japanese attitudes towards the Fukushima workers?

Just to be a jerk (not really?) I'm going to say this: "What is the general western world view about investment bankers?"

[DonQuigleone]

Recently I was watching some NHK World documenataries, and I noticed on two occasions the music sounded quite familiar. Lo and behold in the credit sequence I saw on one occasion the music was composed by Joe Hisaishi, and on a second occasion by Yuki Kajiura, two names that should be familiar to many anime fans.

What I'd like to know, is how much crossover is there between the Japanese Anime industry, and other types of Japanese media (Film, Television)?

Also, when we consider that the average Japanese person doesn't hold Anime (particularly late night anime) in very high esteem, would people like Kajiura be stigmatized at all for doing a lot of work in Late Night Anime? Would the work she does for the likes of NHK be considered more "prestigious" then work she does in Anime? And finally, would people like Kajiura be well known in Japan? I'd expect Hisaishi to be well known due to the Ghibli connection, but I was more surprised at seeing Kajiura working for NHK.

[RRW]

pretty sure Yuki Kajiura do many of non anime related like game and such.

I found her to be overated. not by any means bad. it just i dont find her music to be "Very Good". just "Good"

[DonQuigleone]

Not commenting on whether she's good or not (though her music is very recognizable), I'm just surprised to hear her outside an Anime/Game context. I thought that the "Otaku Industries" were a bit of a ghetto, and found it unusual to hear her work in a more "respectable" context, like for a NHK documentary.

[Cosmic Eagle]

Game making...book writing...show producing maybe.

Not in the music business though

[Malkuth]

After spending a month here, I must say that it is definitely cheaper than London (where I was living two years ago) and Paris (where I spent my last summer and visited multiple times), more or less on par with Munich in Germany... don't get me wrong it is expensive (by bankrupt Greece standards), but not the sci-fi cost that some have suggested here, Switzerland and all of Scandinavia are way more expensive. As long as one sticks to what locals eat and drink it shouldn't be that expensive (except from vegans and other perverts that like rotting cheese )

For example, you can get an apartment (without flat/room-mates) for £400-500 north of Yamanote line (<30 minutes time from Ikebukuro/Nippori/Ueno/Akihabara for <£100 per month commuting cost). Books, manga, doujinshi are 5-10 times cheaper here and LEGAL.

But the best thing here is that normal people are so helpful, especially when you are interested in their hobbies... be it a museum attendant talking about Japanese history, a buddhist monk talking about the combo of folk and his religions, the bimbos of Ageha about K-pop, to otaku and fujonshi about their favorite anime and their doujinshi... not to mention authors I had the chance to talk with a little in Comiket

This is really the exact opposite from their politicians who are more retarded and corrupt than any Asian, European and American conservatives