Japan is not so advanced after all

[website]

Japan sounds a lot like China. Check this out:

www.avoidinglife.com/index.php/2005/01/31/memo_to_japan_amazing_new_technologies_t

[外人・・・様！]

I was in Japan in the summer, and one thing not included is the lack of AC in houses! It got really hot.

If you went to Tokyo, you would disregard the topic, however in the smaller cities where things are less western, it is not as high tec as one might think.

But, unlike China, Japan is trying to cut down on pollution. Obviously it is harder for a developing country like China, but...

Also, it is not at all low tec at all, I just think the robot sterio-type is played up so strongly that some people are dissappionted. On the same, yet opposite note, when people don't leave Tokyo (which they should, Nikko is only like 50 miles away!!), they are dissappointed by the lack of traditional things. I'm sure the same could be said for China...

[tokyo_girl]

It's a very predictable article.

Much along the lines of articles that proclaim western superiorty

based on Asian use of chopsticks....

I'd agree that building standards with insulation and the like are poor.

Also things like aircurtains are non existent which means a lot

of wasted electricity.

Complaining about futons - it just a matter of personal preference.

With small houses having space flexibility is great. A bed can't be packed up in the day time to create extra space. I've also had Japanese

people ask me why western people prefer beds because you can't

hang a bed out in the sun to get rid of moisture, dust, mites etc.

For my taste I'd prefer tatami to carpet - esp. when the summers

are so muggy.

Sitting on the floor - well that's personal preference too. Probably the

writer is over weight and out of shape...

I'm not sure why heating all the rooms of a house, even ones that aren't

being used, is superior to heating only the rooms that are being used.

I take articles like this with a grain of salt.

[Jack MacKelly]

I've worked in Japan and know a lot of friends there and I'd say it is an advanced nation in many areas, technology in every day use, high education and some powerful industry

But in other areas Japan isn't so advanced, almost 16 yrs of economic stagnation and we see some Japanese small towns almost shutting down like ghost towns as firms from the bubble days continue to go bankrupt. You can also see a stark contrast to some of the countryside areas with the big cities, families with no means of garbage disposal in Japan, lack of access to a clean water supply, and a huge gap between wages of the people in small towns and the salary of those in Tokyo. In the 1980s folks used to say how powerful Japan would become, but with corrupt banking and the bubble going meant the Japanese don't seem so rich and advanced anymore.

Today China tries to push its industry forward and go for massive economic growth, but will the Chinese bubble go like Japan did ? Building standards in Japan are very poor and construction lobbys that build pointless projects have cost the country a lot of money, the Japanese now have debts that even dwarf that of the USA

[canuck]

I also lived in Tokyo. In many ways it is a country of contradictions. True not all homes have a/c. It's just a matter of buying one! I lived in an older appartment and it had a Japanese-style squat toilet, tatami mats, sliding doors, futon, etc. I got used to it. But first impression was totally different considering I was coming from Canada.

Electronics are very high tech. This includes video games.

Others include late model bullet trains, cars, personal gadgets, cell phones...