Japan is so child-friendly \ stacker news ~earth

pull down to refresh

2591 sats \ 35 comments \ @cryotosensei 10 Apr earth

Japan has one of the lowest birth rates in the world, but that is definitely not because it is not a conducive environment for raising children. Just look at how empathetic and thoughtful Japanese people are in designing their environments and engaging small kids. Let me count the ways:

https://m.stacker.news/26070

Playing at Kumamoto Airport

https://m.stacker.news/26071 https://m.stacker.news/26078

Playing at the food court at AMU plaza, Kumamoto City

https://m.stacker.news/26072 https://m.stacker.news/26073

Playing inside a local train called Aso Boy

https://m.stacker.news/26074

Playing inside the playground AT an ice-cream store in Okinawa

https://m.stacker.news/26077

Racing to get strawberries at a strawberry farm

https://m.stacker.news/26079

Touching marine creatures at Kagoshima Aquarium

https://m.stacker.news/26080 https://m.stacker.news/26081

Feeling assured that your kid’s basic needs (food n lodging) will be well taken care of

I gotta admit that my home country pales in comparison to Japan in a lot of these aspects - which explains why I become trigger happy in Nippon. Anyway, if I get 50k sats for this article, I pledge to do the low time-preference thing and write a long and detailed article on the child-friendly country that Japan is!

view all related items

173 sats \ 8 replies \ @DesertDave 10 Apr

There is so much that I love about Japanese culture. There art seems better. They make better cars. They are super efficient. I had never heard about how they are with kids though. And I love kids, so this just makes me love their culture more. Thanks for the great post.

103 sats \ 3 replies \ @BenAllenG 10 Apr freebie

They make better cars.

Don't tell @south_korea_ln lol I bet he could count the number of japanese cars he sees in a week on one hand. I think I saw more fords than hondas in Korea

49 sats \ 1 reply \ @south_korea_ln 10 Apr

I won't tell him ;)

11 sats \ 0 replies \ @cryotosensei OP 11 Apr

No harm done, huh

11 sats \ 0 replies \ @cryotosensei OP 11 Apr

Burn 🔥

60 sats \ 1 reply \ @john_doe 10 Apr freebie

About efficiency this is the number one thing I struggle to accept. An example: I am taking my license driver for bikes. What would be less efficient than a way to reserve your place for a lesson without reserving for it? This is called kyanseru-machi yoyaku キャンセル待ち予約, takes your time for nothing, 90% of the time you come back after wasting 1 hour. Number two I have heard from tourists, the trains right at time. I can't count how many times the train I took every morning was late during rainy days. So efficiency and punctuality of trains I would say no, however for the rest strongly agree, art, cars, buildings built for earthquakes, freedom in many ways, seasons, variety of natural places from tropical islands to snowy places, etc. So many things.

11 sats \ 0 replies \ @cryotosensei OP 11 Apr

Paperwork in Japan just doesn’t make sense, when they can use automation for so many things. Oh well. Haha

110 sats \ 0 replies \ @cryotosensei OP 11 Apr

I really respect the way they devote their entire lives to mastering one thing. It’s the exception rather than the norm in today’s multitasking world, which is why I find their resolute spirits so admirable. I think given that you are investing your being into BTC mining, you will have a lot of common with their approach towards life xP

11 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 10 Apr

I also really like Japanese art for some reason.

148 sats \ 3 replies \ @alt 10 Apr

I'd love to visit Japan. Seems their culture is ahead of ours in many ways. It doesn't seem perfect and I hear it's very hard to integrate as a foreigner though.

79 sats \ 1 reply \ @gmd 10 Apr freebie

definitely worth a visit! food is amazing and your money will go so far. culture and people are so wonderful.

coming back to dysfunctional ghetto california was a reverse culture shock.

104 sats \ 0 replies \ @cryotosensei OP 11 Apr

It’s really tough to find lousy food in Japan! Even a trip to their combini sparks joy

5 sats \ 0 replies \ @cryotosensei OP 11 Apr

Ya I agree about the difficulty in integration part. I also think that based on my limited experience in regard to living in Japan for two years, the Japanese treat foreigners with more respect and empathy than my countrymen treat their own. Doesn’t say much about the calibre of people in my country huh 🤔

59 sats \ 2 replies \ @MB 10 Apr

I travelled to Japan a few years ago with 3 year old twins. The way we were helped at the time was second to none. So helpful with young children. Often other parents would come and talk to us and make us feel welcome wherever we went while we travelled across Japan.

25 sats \ 1 reply \ @cryotosensei OP 11 Apr

I salute you! I imagine you and your wife pushing twin strollers and handling all the luggage and shudder haha

Any plans to visit Japan again soon?

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @MB 12 Apr

It was good fun, although definitely we had some challenges as the kids were so small. Planning another trip once the twins are old enough to appreciate everything Japan has to offer!

49 sats \ 2 replies \ @Coinsreporter 10 Apr

Thanks for sharing!I've heard a lot of stories regarding the fun factor they try to bring in the upbringing of kids. For my school, I copy a lot from them, TBH.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @cryotosensei OP 11 Apr

What’s the one distinctive trait about Indian education that you are proud of?

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Coinsreporter 11 Apr

The Danda! The stick of gurus. 😜

Jokes apart, Indian education puts a great emphasis on spirituality alongwith religion, culture, moral values, traditions, and above all creates a lifetime bond between gurus and learners. Gurus are given a place much higher than the God and learners can only find the true learning or self realisation by the help from their gurus.

The only education system that still takes care of the ancient knowledge is in India.

49 sats \ 1 reply \ @PRA3S3NT1A 10 Apr

I neve understood why parents needs to be the boss of their children. It's like role they trapped in.. It is possible to let your children know what is the correct behaviour in a particular situation without you become the boss and giving orders. Some people just don't see the being in humans. Happily see that Japan makes such a difference in this world.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @cryotosensei OP 11 Apr

Reminds me of something I read recently: We have a far greater responsibility to our children than we have for them.

49 sats \ 2 replies \ @john_doe 10 Apr

I agree that it is quite in favor of children, compared to other countries. There are pros and cons to that but definitely children might not feel pressured to finish playing.

10 sats \ 1 reply \ @cryotosensei OP 11 Apr

What’s the one pet peeve you have about Japan?

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @john_doe 12 Apr freebie

Actually I don't really have any about Japan haha. It was perfect at first, then I saw all the negative sides during the following 2-3 years and started to see all the trade-offs inherent to the positive and negative sides after. Since I am paid in foreign currency I even benefit from the yen being weak and thanks to that can stack more sats. I started to read When Money Dies, and all the problems which occurred in Germany are for me extremely similar to the social problems we see popping in Japan here and there. E.g.: foreigners buying more stuff in Akihabara like what happened the Weimar Republic, new form of prostitutions of young girls (tachinbo in Ikebukuro, etc), criticism of prices of hotels being to high for locals but not for foreigners, it is the fault of Putin (the new Jew), etc. So no pet peeves against Japan, just pet peeves against fiat currency (that I benefit from now anyway thanks to Bitcoin)

49 sats \ 10 replies \ @Undisciplined 10 Apr

I'm really interested in the way kids are given so much autonomy and responsibility in Japan. In most of America you would literally be charged with negligence for letting a little kid ride the city bus on their own or walk down to the neighborhood store.

When I was a kid, we had lots of autonomy like that and I want to allow my daughter to experience the same.

93 sats \ 7 replies \ @Bell_curve 10 Apr

High trust society

10 sats \ 6 replies \ @Undisciplined 10 Apr

Yep

50 sats \ 5 replies \ @Bell_curve 10 Apr

It is crazy that Tokyo is so safe that little children ride the subway without adult supervision.

I think Paris was similar 30 years ago.

10 sats \ 4 replies \ @Undisciplined 10 Apr

The thing is, most of America is incredibly safe, too. We've become an irrationally fearful nation. There's basically no chance of a kid getting abducted by a stranger.

50 sats \ 3 replies \ @Bell_curve 10 Apr

During the 1980s and 90s so many TV movies about child abduction. Based on a true story!

Not trying to trivialize real tragedy

10 sats \ 2 replies \ @Undisciplined 10 Apr

As a parent, I certainly understand the appeal of "better safe than sorry", but kids do need those experiences of independence in order to become functional adults.

50 sats \ 1 reply \ @Bell_curve 10 Apr

There was that woman who wrote about letting her child ride the subway in NY.

Reason also interviewed her.

view replies

50 sats \ 1 reply \ @cryotosensei OP 11 Apr

Because I was teaching at an elementary school, I remember watching second graders handle saws and other tools and feeling shocked. This would never happen in Singapore for safety reasons!

I also admire the way elementary schools teach children how to COOK. Miso soup n all that jazz. It’s such an important life skill even if it doesn’t quite translate into revenue making for the country

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 11 Apr

That's interesting. I was using tools like that with my friends at that age, largely unsupervised, but it's hard to imagine that happening in our schools.