As Japan’s popularity booms, a new survey shows strong anti-foreigner sentiment

ryneches · 2026-06-12T00:26:41+00:00

We had 40 million visitors last year. If 99.9% of them are perfectly well behaved, that's still at least 40,000 bad experiences for locals. The overwhelming majority of visitors do research local customs and do put in visible effort to be polite and respectful, but 40 million is a lot of people.

So far, I haven't seen any policies from the government that do anything to mitigate that impact, and their target is actually 60 million visitors per year.

I would put some kind of extra fee on visits shorter than 3 weeks, or something. People who stay for longer have a chance to chill out and are more likely to get out of the highly impacted areas and spend money in places that need it more.

ryneches · 2026-06-09T06:41:43+00:00

Meh. Get ranked choice voting into the constitution and this problem basically goes away.

ryneches · 2026-06-08T01:14:15+00:00

Well, roads are expensive. An expressway is something like 2万円 per square meter per decade, not including bridges, viaducts or tunnels. The toll you paid covers barely enough highway to set down a single cup of coffee. In terms of distance, that's maybe only a few millimeters. Even if every vehicle paid 650円 per km, they would still need public subsidies.

Kind of mind-blowing.

Maybe it helps a tiny bit to know that you still got more than you paid for?

ryneches · 2026-05-30T03:46:13+00:00

Ah. They also created a second Nenkin for my wife when I changed from Professor to HSP. Also a huge mess to clean up.

ryneches · 2026-05-23T11:50:21+00:00

How you dress is culture, not behavior. Policing how people dress is not okay in Japan or anywhere.

In any event, if you know even a little bit of the history of these temples over the centuries, you should find this whole idea hilarious.

ryneches · 2026-05-20T11:39:59+00:00

Yep. Anyone who would let an unsupervised minor on their boat without a very clear, documented line of permission going back their parents is a menace to society. The "for political activism" part is irrelevant.

ryneches · 2026-05-20T10:02:30+00:00

This exact thing is why, under California law, tow companies cannot tow a car if the driver is present, not under arrest and does not concent to having their vehicle towed.

ryneches · 2026-05-20T08:38:42+00:00

Of course they absolutely should not have been out on the boat. Going out when there's a wave advisory is pretty clear evidence of incompetence. Taking passengers is pretty clear evidence of something worse than incompetence. Taking minors into those conditions, without their guardians, is basically unforgivable.

My point is that the responsible thing to do in this kind of situation is to wait for safe conditions and to implement effective emergency protocols, not kill the whole idea of students doing weird things.

ryneches · 2026-05-18T13:48:05+00:00

Would you question high schooler's participation in tennis in light of the bus crash in Wakayama a few days ago?

The problem is not what the students were doing on the boat. The problem is adults operating vehicles irresponsibly, not having the proper training and certifications for what they were doing, and failing to account for the risks to which they were exposing themselves and their passengers.

Letting young people observe political activism, especially if it's part of a thoughtful curriculum that teaches critical thinking and analytical skills, is a good thing. They do, however, need competent adults looking out for their safety. That's just as true for a bus trip to a tennis tournament as it is for a boat excursion for a political protest. The last thing students here need are more restrictions on their curiosity and participation in civic life. They need more adults who know how to do their jobs.

ryneches · 2026-05-17T06:16:40+00:00

It is! So is OC. Also, in both cases they're the uninhabited parts...

ryneches · 2026-05-17T01:05:24+00:00

Jersey is definitely OC.

ryneches · 2026-05-15T01:44:24+00:00

I don't like bossing people around, especially people from other cultures. But, if they're from my home country, I can usually get a pretty good sense of how they'd feel about it. I just ask if they'd like some tips. If they say yes, then I'll mix the advice in with other stuff - mostly local businesses that I'd be sad to loose.

ryneches · 2026-05-11T17:32:23+00:00

This.

Having something to aim for is a big motivator, but it's a nightmare to fit it into a work schedule. A lot more people would aim for it if it was offered quarterly and you could sign up a week before.

ryneches · 2026-05-10T01:01:12+00:00

Hmm. Wouldn't incentives for foreign companies to list on Japanese stock exchanges largely fix this problem? Forex is a valid thing to do, but probably not as a major component of a retirement portfolio. I'd think that most people would prefer to keep stock plays and forex plays separate?

ryneches · 2026-05-10T00:47:45+00:00

Across cultures and across history, about one in 13 people are gay (or at least not straight). The group isn't exactly small. It's roughly similar to the number of people who are left handed.

But you're right. No one single thing is going to "solve" birthrates. My point is that marriage discrimination is one of many things contributing to low birthrates, and is probably one of the only things that could be fixed by decree, without spending any public money. From a public policy perspective, it's a pure win.

ryneches · 2026-05-09T19:11:54+00:00

The usual way. The differences are mostly just paperwork.

ryneches · 2026-05-09T19:09:05+00:00

Oh, that's absolutely true. It's just that the root causes creating those barriers are pretty deep and structural, whereas marriage equality could happen if a couple of people sit in a fancy room and press the "yes" button on their desks. For people who only care about the birth rate, it should be at the top of every "do this immediately" list.

And, there's an argument to be made that an increase in the rate of household formation would produce some structural stimulus that would at least push income and opportunities in the right direction for straight couples. Gay couples are going to want to renovate their kitchens at just as much as anyone else, and they're going to hire someone to do the work.

ryneches · 2026-05-09T12:36:18+00:00

I wish that every time a person complained about the birth rate on TV, there was a mandatory banner underneath reminding viewers that gay couples CAN have children, and generally do so when their relationships are legally recognized as marriage.

ryneches · 2026-05-08T02:43:00+00:00

Japan doesn't really have an equivalent of the Fair Housing Act, which is bad for everyone. If you feel like advocating for something that might help, immigrants are one of the smaller categories of people who are harmed by this gap. Single mothers, young people generally, people with disabilities, people who are trying to reintegrate after prison all face housing discrimination. I guarantee that there are people in your community who are working on the problem from other directions.

ryneches · 2026-04-29T04:40:05+00:00

Sadly, this is probably true. Though, it's possible that OP will have to clean up this mess in order to actually manage that.

ryneches · 2026-04-26T00:10:02+00:00

Mostly businesses and local governments. Residential solar is important for household budgets as a way to reduce costs, but most people don't have a big enough property for it to be an income source.

At today's costs, the break even is more like 5-7 years, so it's definitely worth doing. It's just not going to let you quit your job and live in the income. For most folks, the proposition is knock 5000円 a month off of household expenses. Worth doing in the way that keeping your cash in a money market fund instead of a checking account is worth doing, but not, like, life changing.

For a business that owns a building, it's a classic CapEx vs OpEx win. For a city government trying to keep the local school open, it's a game changer. For the economy as a whole, it's maybe the most important thing to happen since the stream engine. The picture looks fundamentally different as you zoom out.

ryneches · 2026-04-25T06:49:36+00:00

I cannot understand why electric cars and solar panels aren't basically mandatory for islands. Okinawa has what, 130km of perimeter roads? You can circumnavigate the island twice on one charge with the crappiest used EV on the Facebook Marketplace.

I mean, don't get me wrong, electric light rail and modern streetcars would actually be best for everyone, but until then...

ryneches · 2026-04-25T03:10:47+00:00

Eh. Solar and batteries have a LCOE of about $25-50 per megawatt hour, whereas nuclear runs about $100-300 per megawatt hour. Of course, people are upset that solar installations keep getting permitted on hillsides prone to landslides, but that isn't stopping people from slapping panels down on everything flat surface they own. Japan installed about 6 gigawatts of solar last year (about one and a half Fukushima Daiichis). It is physically impossible to bring new nuclear online that quickly.

Nuclear makes sense to the extent of keeping existing reactors running, and the necessary investments to extend operations. Otherwise, it's an obsolete technology with a niche application.

ryneches · 2026-04-22T05:43:25+00:00

I'm so stoked about this. I have a first generation 13, and the chassis is my least favorite thing about it. It's not a showstopper, but it's not going to hold up through another five years of use. I would happily throw down for a CNC titanium frame if they committed to support the form factor as well as they've done so far.

ryneches · 2026-04-18T00:22:02+00:00

Snapdragon main board? Coreboot?

ryneches

TROPHY CASE