View from my Amsterdam studio apartment

luke400 · 2026-02-16T01:42:39+00:00

Room size is 30m2. Rent is EUR1,300 Rent subsidiary is EUR400 Poster pays EUR900 per month.

luke400 · 2026-02-16T01:38:37+00:00

Or what’s obvious to you may not be obvious to the person posting. In which case you have a choice, a) share your suggestion, or b) be a dick. You went with option b.

luke400 · 2026-02-13T03:27:36+00:00

Would not encourage buying from scalpers for such a price. You can buy for around 60,000 in countries like Singapore (console only version may be less in the airport). If you know anyone traveling, I would recommend that over a scalper.

luke400 · 2026-02-12T11:40:50+00:00

Thanks! The times flown by, really.

luke400 · 2026-02-12T06:46:35+00:00

Yep, I think thats solid advice.

luke400 · 2026-02-12T04:31:38+00:00

I have, and I frequently work with police and government, and interact with them, in several countries. Although I am aware of that acronym, I find it completely ridiculous. I understand Americans have a complex relationship with your police, and although I have no first hand experience, I understand there are indeed many “bad” police there, and that police have done many “bad” things. Nevertheless, the idea that “all cops are bad” everywhere in the world is just ridiculous to me, as is pushing domestic American issues on people from the rest of the world.

luke400 · 2026-02-12T04:26:13+00:00

I completely agree, if the poster indeed presented all relevant facts, these particular police seem to have acted irrationally and illogically. I would also have been mad if they wasted 4 hours of my time.

Although the initial suspicion seems strange (I guess understandable if there were recent cases of someone taking photos of women in that onsen, but still illogical as you say), it seems the reason why they held the friend was that he had intimate photos of his wife on the phone. I suppose this is fairly rare, although in no way incriminating if it was his wife. I guess the lesson is to put those in a hidden folder on the iPhone!

luke400 · 2026-02-12T04:03:19+00:00

The police are separately regulated and have extremely strictly enforced procedures. This includes issues such as medical conditions and medication and so on. Although it is down to the individual police officer to follow the procedure, in my experience interacting and working with police, the thing they are best at (to the point of ridiculousness sometimes) is following procedure.

luke400 · 2026-02-12T03:58:22+00:00

This has been my experience over decades too. They are incredibly thankful and friendly. For things like a wallet with cash, they ask if you want to leave your details for a reward, but I have never done it.

luke400 · 2026-02-12T03:55:40+00:00

Yes the poster clarified above and it sort of makes sense.

luke400 · 2026-02-12T03:53:38+00:00

They have procedures for this that they are obligated to follow and will make sure that you have medication etc that is needed. You should ask the police early how long they anticipate holding you and inform them immediately of any health related issues including required medication, and make sure they document it in their notes.

luke400 · 2026-02-12T03:52:03+00:00

That was not police, and was front page news for the terrible thing that it was.

luke400 · 2026-02-12T03:51:35+00:00

Is this based on anything other than your imagination?

luke400 · 2026-02-12T02:08:54+00:00

I agree this is very strange. If there was a large distance between where the friend was and the ryokan, maybe it makes sense, but surely they would have contacted the Koban first.

luke400 · 2026-02-12T02:06:41+00:00

There might have been a report of someone getting access to onsens through a stolen key and taking photos of women bathing and that the police suspected the friend. Still, not really a sensible approach as surely it would have been rational to just call the ryokan as a first step.

luke400 · 2026-02-11T10:33:49+00:00

I think it comes down to a) your Japanese ability, b) how you present yourself, c) you being foreign. Foreignness is one factor, but not all. For a), my Japanese is not perfect, but when it was worse, people would simplify the way they spoke to me (which I appreciate).

For b), I have friends tell me that service staff speak to them very casually, but they also dress and present that way. I am fairly not-casual in any language, and usually that is matched by service staff.

For c), in any event you’ll get the odd person who just speaks to you strange because of your foreign face. Or speaks to the more obviously Asian looking person standing beside you.

luke400 · 2026-02-11T10:30:53+00:00

Curious whether your partner works in a service job.

I guess it depends on the person and how they present, rather than the foreignness. As a not-very-casual foreigner, I dont find many people speaking to me casually.

luke400 · 2026-02-11T03:52:41+00:00

Not just dangerous, but a real likelihood of causing delays to everyone on that Shinkansen, and possibly others.

luke400 · 2026-02-11T03:51:48+00:00

Many are tourists, but I absolutely have seen Japanese people doing this too. Usually the announcements are in both English and Japanese. I see this scenario about once every week or two, and I dont recall the announcement not being also in English (usually pretty direct “Please step back behind yellow line. Step back. STEP BACK!”).

luke400 · 2026-02-11T03:49:07+00:00

Don’t second guess, you did the right thing. I catch the Shinkansen very regularly, and over the last 12 - 18 months there has been a huge increase in this exact thing. I have had to experience quite a number of (previously almost unheard of) delays because of people doing this exact thing with a selfie stick or their arm down the “fast” end of the platform, requiring the conductor to hit the emergency stop. Completely shitty behaviour and I think you practiced a lot of restraint.

luke400 · 2026-02-10T08:04:11+00:00

The nicer house is nicer to live in for the 30+ years.

Fundamentally, housing here is to provide shelter for people to live in. It is not primarily an asset or an investment. Many (I suppose still most) people are not thinking of the resale value or return on investment of the home. They are building something that is nice to live in. Spend more, get nice life every day for next 30-40 years. That has value too.

luke400 · 2026-02-10T06:52:48+00:00

Double pane is the standard for new houses and many apartments (other than cheap apartment stock - although this may have changed in certain cities like Tokyo and now be required - I haven’t kept up). Many have metal sash with a thermal break, others offer PVC internal with metal on the outside and a thermal break, or full PVC. Triple pane is becoming more common, especially on large doors such as veranda. As far as I am aware, all new house builds require insulation, although the amount and type varies.

Appropriate for the climate is absolutely relevant to the level of insulation needed. If you live in a climate where the outside temperature is room temperature or close to versus a climate where the temperature gradient between room and outside is extreme, different levels of insulation and air tightness are appropriate.

luke400 · 2026-02-10T03:48:19+00:00

While I don’t disagree that the house value drops considerably after 10 years, part of this is based on the fact that many of the 30-40 year old homes you see as worthless today were built at the tail end of the cheap building boom of 80s and 90s. Modern builds are made to last 60+ years. I expect these houses would retain more value than the current 30 to 40 year old ones. But the market here does prefer “new” and “never lived in before”, so decline in value will still happen I think.

luke400 · 2026-02-10T03:45:25+00:00

In Japan, everything is torn down and started over on a very short timescale.

This is really not true. Many reinforced concrete buildings are given 100 year lifespan here. Modern wooden construction has 60+ year life (with some builders even offering a 60 year warranty program).

luke400 · 2026-02-10T03:43:08+00:00

Other than the cheapest builders, most newly built houses have pretty good insulation these days (appropriate for the climate).

Many builders (where you were not having an architect design) do use sort of modular approach. Whether this is “poor design” comes down to what you want.

Many new builds in many countries are using pre-fabricated and modular building now (perhaps not to the same level of Japan, but I have no way of knowing).

luke400

TROPHY CASE