Police arenât likely to kill you over there. Just harass you if youâre clubbing with their women.
Comment on Cool Japan đ¸
shioprince@nord.pub â¨2⊠â¨weeks⊠ago
and yet japan is still viewed as an utopia by reddit weebs, despite japan being really racist
Duamerthrax@lemmy.world â¨2⊠â¨weeks⊠ago
diffaldo@lemmy.dbzer0.com â¨2⊠â¨weeks⊠ago
But they can force confession out of you. Japan has one of the most conviction rates in the worldâŚ
Duamerthrax@lemmy.world â¨2⊠â¨weeks⊠ago
Thatâs true for everyone though. Their police are equal opportunity bastards.
bountygiver@lemmy.ml â¨2⊠â¨weeks⊠ago
yup the first A in ACAB is ALL
actually no exceptions, because the exceptions all stopped being police very quickly
GhostFace@lemmy.today â¨2⊠â¨weeks⊠ago
Itâs worse than that though. Their court system is entirely rigged against defendants. Conviction rates elsewhere do not match those of Japan.
joshchandra@midwest.social â¨2⊠â¨weeks⊠ago
I went there recently. The organization and efficiency are truly astounding. I felt like the best parts of Japan and the best parts of the US fused together could make a utopia. But itâs never gonna happen because those best parts are direct results of the cultural mindset that leads to each oneâs dark ends as well. Theyâre both sides of their respective coins, unfortunatelyâŚ
blackberry28@sh.itjust.works â¨2⊠â¨weeks⊠ago
The US has âbest partsâ? Really canât imagine anything good about them lol
joshchandra@midwest.social â¨2⊠â¨weeks⊠ago
I know, right? But my trip to Japan made me realize a few, surprisingly massive, key factors that differentiate the US from them are:
- Publicly available drinking water: while the USâs added fluoride is certainly contested by various groups, readily available drinking water is at least present almost everywhere. It is hard to find potable water in Europe, and Japan has zero drinking fountains. There are no water bottle refill stations. They just donât exist at all there. Itâs really kind of crazy given their unbelievably intense, sauna-like weather outdoors for the entirety of their sweltering summers (the humidity made it feel like 110° F in July; you burst into sweat after just a few minutes outside, literally, and many people use portable, electric fans, etc.), but they just expect you to be be self-sufficient carrying with your own water or to just tough it out until you get home or whatever.
- Trash cans: believe it or not, garbage is actually very difficult to dispose of in Japan, to the point of my late sister who had lived there for years advising us to take advantage of konbinis (convenience stores) to dump your trash, because you could literally go to multiple entire stores and not see a single trash can anywhere.
- Americans with Disabilities Act: I was shocked to see how only some of Japanâs numerous, famous labyrinths of subways have escalators or elevators; some had literally none, so if youâre wheelchair-/scooter-bound, you just canât ride trains at all. Additionally, I saw a business that had perhaps 2 dozen workers confined to an insanely tight room for their daily work; there were no cubicles at that place. The computer desks per worker literally touched each other, so you could stretch your arms sideways and youâd already hit your coworkers in the face. I wish I could say I was exaggerating but that kind of crammed, sardine can-level packing was so disgusting and demeaning to the hard workers there that I felt just a little more grateful to be in the US, where that kind of treatment towards employees, who couldnât even walk 2 feet without bumping into a colleagueâs chair, would absolutely not fly with the civil rights lawyers here.
Despite all the amazing things in Japan, from their higher-quality food to the blazing-fast Shinkansen trains and incredibly efficient, bidet-equipped Toto sink toilets, etc., I found just some various aspects of daily life there (especially the lack of easily discoverable water in the raging summer heat) to be quite eye-opening in a reverse way just as much. I do not think I could easily move and live there, even if they all suddenly spoke English.
vantablack@lemmy.blahaj.zone â¨2⊠â¨weeks⊠ago
I felt like the best parts of Japan and the best parts of the US fused together could make a utopia
Big Hero 6 moment
doleo@lemmy.one â¨2⊠â¨weeks⊠ago
Not despite.
SpookyBogMonster@lemmy.ml â¨2⊠â¨weeks⊠ago
I love their trains, the food is good, itâs a beautiful country.
But also, holy shit, Japan has just never reckoned with its imperial past in the slightest.
If you ever see those tourism promotion photos of mt. Fuji with a pagoda in the foreground, that pagoda was built in the 50s, around the end of the US occupation, to commemorate soldiers who fought in essentially every war that imperial Japan got itself into. Itâs very clear political statement.
And I learned this, upon climbing that damn mountain, and reading the plaque in front of the pagoda, only to learn that it was a monument to imperialism the whole time