Why I left Japan after 10 years - <AUTHOR> http://blog.uchujin.co.uk/2017/07/death-thousand-cuts-1-year-later-series/ <comment><USER3> I have had approximately 10 involuntary interactions with the Japanese cops over the years. Here's my typical advice for foreign residents: you can pick your battles but you can't pick your police counterparties. The overwhelming likelihood if you are arbitrarily stopped by a police officer is that you were stopped for a reason which is outside the parameters of the law. Being vindicated by the law is something which is going to be extremely difficult and high-stress for you. There exists the non-trivial chance that you will not be vindicated even if you are in the right.

The officer expects nearly instant, ingratiating compliance. If you perform instant, ingratiating compliance, you will likely exit the conversation quickly and with your safety intact. If you consider your dignity more important than your safety, that is your call, but know that you are making a high-variance decision.

The intermediate steps of escalating a routine police encounter into a non- routine police encounter, for example with the eventual goal of being vindicated by the legal system, may involve legally or socially significant events such as an arrest. You very urgently do _not_ want to be arrested. It will have outsized social impacts on e.g. your employment and housing situations and will be looked on with extreme displeasure by Immigration.

<comment><USER4> Within a month or so of purchasing a used bicycle in Tokyo, I had been stopped more than 5 times by police. I guess the sight of a foreign guy on the cheapest bike I could find screams police magnet. It was cute at first and I was super polite and it would end quickly, but after a couple that resulted in patdowns, searches, and 20+ minutes answering questions about my presence in the country, I now make an effort to ride past the police if they're around. It's also made me more aware of the need to be a bit more cautious as a foreigner here than I thought

<comment><USER3> I had been wondering whether it was just Tokyo being more cosmopolitan but I'm now wondering if the reason for less adversarial encounters is simply that I haven't purchased a bike since leaving Ogaki.

(If this sounds dumbfounding to folks with less context: bicycle theft is near the top of police priorities and they have the impression that foreigners are the primary cause of it. "Suspicion of stealing my own bicycle" has historically been the most common thing which attracted me adversarial attention.)

<comment><USER5> I had the same feeling. Personally I've only been stopped by police once (randomly, to show the gaijin card) in 15+ years, and similar is true of most of my friends. But I've occasionally met people who talked about getting stopped a lot, and they've all been people who biked in the city.

<comment><USER6> Certainly to a degree it depends on the police district - here I've only been stopped once and they were stopping everyone randomly due to some incident nearby. I initially gave them my residence card but they didn't know what to do with it and were a lot happier to see my driver's license. My bike wasn't even anti-theft-registered (which is required here as anywhere else) but they didn't seem to care and just noted the frame number without a comment.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> It's kind of ironic how much he generalises Japanese people.

See bad thing - link to Japanese people as a whole or in general, rather than the individual.

It's an easy mistake to make. Especially if you do ever hear it in the inverse direction. "Foreigners do X or Y", etc.

If he aimed to replace generic instances of 'Japanese people' or 'in Japan' with specific reference to the instance or person, I think he'd have had a better time in life.

And yes, it's difficult to encounter any amount of racism and not feel that the group of people that the racist person came from, do not in fact as a whole demonstrate racist behaviours in general. Obviously not at a higher cognitive level, but at an emotional reacting to a certain way of having been dealt with or treat.

But it's absolutely necessary to stop the generalisation, even if only for one's personal mental health. It serves no purpose other than wiring our animal brains up more strongly, to think of us vs them.

And try and notice it more often in Western media too. Any time there is a mention of someone's race, see whether it would look out of place with Black or Latino or Asian replaced with white.

It's often a completely irrelevant piece of information.

As the use of the word Japanese is often irrelevant in this post.

Yep lot's of terrible people in lots of places in the world, and the fact that they were Japanese in this instance is more related to the fact that they were born and brought up in Japan than some inherent generic flaws with an entire country of people.

And yes Japan has problems that aren't in other parts of the world, and vice versa. It still doesn't befit using `X people do Y` type generalisations.

<comment><USER8> > As the use of the word Japanese is often irrelevant in this post.

You think the word "Japanese" is irrelevant in a post describing Japanese culture?

Cultures have traits. Some of those traits can be good. Others can be bad. It doesn't mean all of those people exhibit those traits. We shouldn't judge individuals based on those prejudices, but it's equally mistaken to fault people from talking about cultures generally.

Half of his post is about the Japanese penal system, which is known to be extremely unfair and broken. This isn't an over generalization. It's a reality, and one that should be discussed soberly.

<comment><USER7> It's a difficult nuance in the point I'm trying to make, so I apologise.

It's probably not a great analogy but, I think that if you were in e.g. the USA and there was use of White American Judicial System, or White American Police Force or something along those lines it would really scream out at you.

I realise he is out of Japan now and the blog post is not necessarily targeting people in Japan, but a lot of foreigners in Japan will prefix Japanese things, people, institutions etc with the adjective Japanese, particularly when talking about negative experiences or encounters.

When really the adjective should be redundant in those environments.

And yes I agree that the Japanese penal system is terrible. But the problem is more the continual strong association and reinforcement with everything and everyone Japanese.

He could have explained why he chose to leave Japan and then stop the continual references. I'm positing that the continual references, throughout the article, to Japan and Japanese people etc are both overkill and could reflect inherent biases. I'm not saying they definitely do, but I think he'd have an easier time if he stopped associating the negative things in general with Japan and Japanese people and attributed them more to the specific situations, institutions and people.

Within context: "The police are awful" is better for your mental health than "The Japanese police are awful".

<comment><USER8> > Within context: "The police are awful" is better for your mental health than > "The Japanese police are awful".

Except the entire purpose of that section of the post was to describe Japanese police.

<comment><USER7> My point is that the context there being 'in Japan' and so the adjective is redundant (and exhibits the problems I've mentioned earlier).

And in that context he could say "The British police are awful" vs "The police are awful"

To compare. And then, yes, when it becomes necessary then yes, prefix with the adjective. In some cases it does make sense and aid communication.

I'm saying the blanket prefixing with the adjective is the problematic part.

It's fine if you don't agree, it's just a communication pattern I have noticed that doesn't seem to benefit anyone.

<comment><USER9> Isn't it just nitpicking? I have seen similar pattern when people talked about German police in context of Germany and Switz school system in context of Switzerland.

People who switch countries often talk that way without it being an insult.

<comment><USER7> I'm not asserting people should stop this communication anti-pattern for the sake of others or that it's an insult.

I'm saying that framing things in this way can be bad for the mental health of the person who says it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Most of thos stuff, you work out after a few months in Japan. I get the feeling there is more that the author's personal situation that he isn't saying. After 10 years, I really expect a deeper and more nuanced critique. The most difficult experiences in Japan come from not really knowing people more than what they want to show you. The Japanese are masters of the 'public face'.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honne_and_tatemae](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honne_and_tatemae)

<comment><USER11> > I get the feeling there is more that the author's personal situation that he > isn't saying

Yes, I definitely think so too. And the article about cycling in tokyo he links to [1] hints at this more. I've cycled very extensively in tokyo over the years i lived there and the experience he describes sounds, ironically, totally foreign to me. Tokyo's a wonderful and extremely safe place to cycle, which is of course why millions of people do so. To see such an inexplicably and exaggeratedly negative rant about something I rarely had anything but positive experiences with makes me think there's more than a few personal issues colouring the author's viewpoint.

> "the vast majority of cyclists in Tokyo are criminally irresponsible"

I mean that is just a ludicrous assertion which basically makes me ignore whatever else the author has to say. No wonder he gets dismissed in arguments if that's the sort of thing he comes out with.

There are plenty of examples in the article which are equally foreign to me (repeated intimidation during gaijin card checks? Huh? I had one, ever, and they were unfailingly polite). Japan isn't perfect, not even close, but it's not _this_ bad.

[1] [http://blog.uchujin.co.uk/2012/07/cycling-in-tokyo- irrespons...](http://blog.uchujin.co.uk/2012/07/cycling-in-tokyo- irresponsibility-incompetence/)

<comment><USER12> I had the same reaction reading their cyclist rant. Even the video made no sense. It show a couple of cyclists committing minor trafic infractions, but apparently those are "criminally irresponsible" acts.

It's their blog, so they're welcome to bitch and moan as much as they want. But this strikes me as one of those people who are frequently told to lighten up.

<comment><USER10> As someone who lives in the UK and has spent a lot of time in Japan, I can promise you that it's way more dangerous to be a pedestrian in the UK. Pedestrian crossings mean nothing to the zooming, lycra-clad morons who think the roads are their own private velodrome.

<comment><USER12> That's not my experience in the UK. In my experience there are very, very few cyclists in the UK. To the point that anything they do wrong is pretty much irrelevant.

Disclaimer: I've spent most of my life living in areas where bicycles outnumber cars, so my standards are likely different from yours.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> I haven't spent ten years in Japan, but I have spent some time there. Some of his complaints do ring true especially around civil rights, however his experience of it feels very weird. I was praised for my language skills, accepted and invited to family outings, never had issues with restaurants that had no foreigner signs (after I spoke Japanese even badly it was all fine so long as acted within their cultures manners) and the police were nothing but helpful, gave directions etc, outside of Tokyo they even gave me a ride when I miscalculated a hike. So yes I agree Japan has huge issues... however I can't really explain the toxicity of his experience. Yes I'm white non Asian, pretty tall, and pretty certain they won't ever mistake me for a local. They also always used the San or other appropriate honorifics, it helps if you adopt a 'japanified' name and introduce your self that way.

<comment><USER14> I feel the same. I've been stopped by the police 0 times in 7 years, never been refused service anywhere, younger people (e.g. in my old university club) always call me ~san or ~sempai, etc.

There's real issues with things like the legal system and independence of press, but I think this post wildly exaggerates what it's like to live in Japan as a foreigner. I'm not sure how to explain OP's experience. Maybe he comes off too confrontational? He does call the police "fascists" in another blog post...

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> > Japanese people often told me that Kabukicho (...) was the most dangerous > place in Japan and often asked if I wasn't scared of the Yakuza (Japanese > Mafia) who openly parade the area.

> My reply was always a simple one, "The Yakuza and Kabukicho aren't scary, if > you don't mess with them they don't mess with you. The Police? Now that's a > different story. Hands down scariest thing in Japan is the Police & the > Justice system".

So he responded to a low-key compliment by insulting the interlocutor's country? If this is representative of how he interacted with people there, I'm not surprised that he was unpopular.

Criticising the police is an exercise in civic bonding in the Anglo-American sphere these days, but I don't think it's much of a thing in Japan (and they tend to be very proud of their public safety climate). Was the author simply unaware of this, did he think that only his own culture's priorities regarding what it is okay to criticise matter, or did he not realise that people tend to identify strongly with at least some aspects of their countries at all? (Certainly, the UK has its own set of holy cows: back when I lived there, I learned of one the hard way after suggesting during a casual conversation that the political system of the UK would have turned out better if it had gone through at least one violent revolution in the past two-or-so centuries as all the other European countries did.)

</comment><comment><USER16> I suspect that feeling of being unwelcome would strike you in many countries. As far as I can tell, there's only a few cities around the world where my being foreign was a non-issue.

I lived in Switzerland for a good few years, but although there are plenty of friendly people, the few people who weren't so friendly soured things. I suspect a different roll of the dice would have made it a much nicer experience.

You could tell you were getting the "foreigner rate" on quotes to fix things around your house. How do you know? You get a person who speaks the local language to ask for a quote.

People didn't trust me either. I got sued because a guy who I'd contracted to do some work wanted to get paid. He hadn't done the work, another guy had. But that didn't stop him from suing me. When I got to the pre-court hearing I found out the arbitrator was a friend of his.

You also get it thrown in your face that "this is how it is around here". With the understanding that of course you are only there for the tax rate and the skiing. This was particularly scary as a colleague of mine had his kids bullied in school, and was somehow expected to climb out of that hole himself.

But I doubt this sort of thing is particular to any country. People will always deal with the unfamiliar with some caution. You're always going to have language and cultural disadvantages.

<comment><USER17> In Europe, Switzerland is known to be particularly unwelcoming to foreigners.

"Out of 67 countries, Switzerland ranks 64th for friendliness and making newcomers feel welcome"

[http://lenews.ch/2016/09/02/expats-in-switzerland-arent- feel...](http://lenews.ch/2016/09/02/expats-in-switzerland-arent-feeling-the- love-says-a-new-survey-measuring-quality-of-life/)

<comment> saiya-jin Disclaimer - I am a foreigner in Switzerland.

It's a bit distorted - it is a country with by far the highest immigration population in whole europe, if not whole world.

If they simply didn't want foreigners in their country, they can tweak working/residence permit situation so that most wouldn't qualify. They do and welcome them/us, BUT - you have to adapt and learn the language(s). Many, especially english-speaking expats, do have serious issues with this.

If you just roll in arrogantly and expect that your english will be enough and people will be coming to you in crowds to be your friends, then it it might not (or it might, depends). Simply because most of the country is full of similar people. Don't expect magic in some remote tiny valley, like anywhere.

That said, I am one living in french part who doesn't speak French properly, and I am just fine. It will help me a lot to learn it properly, my biggest TODO for near future. If I would be almost anywhere in France for example, I would be properly screwed without +-good level of french.

<comment><USER18> As a Swiss - thank you for seeing it like this! I do think that Switzerland in general should be more welcoming to immigrants, but at the same time I'd say that the somewhat more forceful stance towards integration has proven more successful compared to what's happening in neighbouring countries. Being treated with the same harshness as Swiss treat other Swiss can be quite shocking at first, especially compared to the warm welcome extended in many other cultures, the US included - but at some point you start appreciating it. I've also been in Japan now for years and I'm well aware of the fact that I could never fully integrate here, while vice versa this is luckily not true for my Japanese wife in Switzerland.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> The "JAPANESE ONLY" sign was probably meant for chinese tourists. The kanji below it, "謝绝中国人", translates roughly to "decline chinese people" which is understandable given their notorious behavior abroad:

[http://shanghaiist.com/2016/12/30/shanghaiist_2016_embarrass...](http://shanghaiist.com/2016/12/30/shanghaiist_2016_embarrassing_tourists.php)

[https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/11/world/asia/bad-manners- ch...](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/11/world/asia/bad-manners-china- tourism-blacklist.html)

[http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2016/10/07/commentary/wo...](http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2016/10/07/commentary/world- commentary/chinese-tourists-badly-behaved/#.WW8YmHXyttg)

<comment><USER20> I'm trying to avoid commenting on this thread because I think it is impossible for me to write a nuanced enough response that will give people a closer understanding of what it's like to live here (I moved here 10 years ago, though I spent 2 years in the UK, so 8 years total).

However, I can comment on the "Japanese only" signs. I've never actually seen one myself, but I know they exist in some places. An acquaintance of mine is well connected with a particular sumo heya (a "heya" is essentially a group of sumo wrestlers who live and train together along with their trainers and staff). It is popular (and fun) to go and watch the wrestlers train in their heya, but one is sometimes confronted with the "Japanese Only" sign at the entrance.

My acquaintance is not Japanese (he isn't even a resident), but like I said, he is well acquainted with the heya. One time, he asked some visiting foreigners if they wanted to watch the training and they were delighted to accept. When they got to the entrance they saw the sign. "Is it really OK?", they asked.

"It's fine. I've made arrangements. As far as the heya is concerned, if you know how to make arrangements to visit the heya, then you are Japanese".

Living in Japan can be very difficult for people who are not culturally Japanese. There is a weird inside/outside culture where either your are inside with a bunch of strange rules that you have to follow (and know to follow, somehow) or you are outside (where you don't really need to know or follow any rules). What "Japanese Only" means is that they only want people who know what the rules are, know how to follow the rules, and most importantly, are willing to follow the rules to the letter even if they think the rules are stupid. If you can do that, then you are "Japanese enough".

Generally speaking, there are few cultures in the world with the same kind of byzantine rule following culture that Japan has. Many cultures are literally morally opposed to blindly following rules. People from those cultures often have great difficulty in certain circumstances in Japan. However, if you show that you are willing and able to surmount those hurdles, my experience has been that most people have no trouble accepting you as Japanese.

<comment><USER21> As a fellow expat in Japan, this was the best explanation I've seen for a while! Kudos.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> It is extremely difficult to integrate in a foreign society. Even a good language level will only carry you so far.

In my opinion, Western Europe, US and Canada are quite open, and let people, if not integrate, at least mind their own business.

Immigrants are usually also to blame, since often integration is not a priority. I've lived in several places around Europe, and usually foreigners stick together: it is easier to become friends with a German in France than it is in Germany, maybe because immigrants have similar mindsets, and experience similar problems.

What worries me is that it seems these relatively open societies are rapidly closing: nationalism is on the rise everywhere.

<comment><USER23> And here I was thinking the exact opposite would have happened due to the Internet.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> Having lived in Japan, there's this weird curve that people go through when they move.

Most people love Japan at first, and then, particularly if they're middle-aged and white, the frustration of being in your late thirties and living in a tiny house, not being able to progress in your career, and not having a social life begins to kick in.

At that point, little things which shouldn't bother you - like the word gaijin which although unpleasant to Western ears is purely a descriptive term and the ignorance about the rest of the world begin to bother you. You also come to understand enough Japanese to understand what people are really saying beneath the surface.

For what its worth, I found Japan incredibly safe, welcoming and unfailingly polite. I went to get my hair cut and by the end of it once the hairdresser had taken my number and offered to take me to Tsukiji fish auction!

I think it is possible to go through an extended period in Japan without being consumed by bitterness like the OP, though it is a pattern I see quite often.

<comment><USER25> > without being consumed by bitterness like the OP, though it is a pattern I > see quite often.

I've lived in Japan for over a year and have experienced these people sometimes. Generally it comes down to them being an overall bitter person in general.

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> Some interesting parallels with Thailand. Like with the use of language. I'm pretty fluent in Thai and older than many of the people I meet but they still refer to me as คุณ which means "you" when you are speaking to a peer when it would be more appropriate to use พี่ when speaking to someone older. And the word for westerner ฝรั่ง, while not an insult, is used to clearly identify someone as an outsider and not "one of us Thai people". Seems similar to how "gaijin" is used in Japan.

There's also that same attitude about being superior than others - <USER2> western countries are particularly crude because they don't even have a royal family. Yet they are extremely sensitive about being looked down upon and pretend that the many vulgar behaviors that are so common don't even exist in the country.

Off topic, I know, but some of the parallels are interesting.

</comment><comment><USER27> Sounds like Japanese are happy with their culture and don't want it changed especially not by foreigners.

It seems like a reasonable enough position, but I wonder if there a way to express this desire in a way that couldn't easily be criticized as being "xenopohbic"?

Is there something inherently wrong with this attitude? (I personally wouldn't want to be a foreigner living there is what he describes is true, but no one is forcing me to move to Japan).

<comment> amiga-workbench It doesn't ring as being particularly Xenophobic to me, they just have a strong cultural backbone unlike the west.

I wouldn't even consider moving to another country unless I was prepared to integrate and abide by cultural norms.

<comment><USER27> Like I say, it seems like a reasonable enough view, yet I can't find a way of describing that view that couldn't easily be criticized as xenophobic. (If I imagine taking any of the attitudes described in the article and doing the same thing here, many people would criticize them as being xenophibic).

<comment> J-dawg I guess trying to reverse cultural change will always be seen as more xenophobic than keeping outside influences away in the first place.

This is illogical, I suppose, since really they amount to the same thing.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> >The level of English in Japan is shockingly low, despite everyone studying it for 6 years at school. I honestly think it is kept deliberately low

>I honestly think it is kept deliberately low

Is this guy serious?

<comment><USER29> It seems that he is serious. You knew that already. Perhaps you disagree? Perhaps you can present your own findings and contribute to the discussion?

Based on my own fairly limited experience in Japan, English as learned in school doesn't seem to translate (a ha ha) into effective English conversation. It seems that an academic rigor is taught (no bad thing, of course) but practical conversation skills are neglected.

<comment><USER30> I find the attitude of people from English-speaking countries that the rest of the world should speak fluent English quite puzzling.

It is understandable if you are a professional dealing with foreign companies, or if you are involved in the tourism business; that leaves out the vast majority of the population, which is not willing to invest hundreds of hours learning a skill that does not provide any significant benefit in their daily lives.

You are absolutely correct that the English taught is school is nearly useless, considering that in those 6 years my guess that English is taught some 2-3 hours per week.

I would be curious to know how many people in US or UK consider themselves fluent in a foreign language for a class they took for a few years in middle/high school.

<comment><USER31> > I find the attitude of people from English-speaking countries that the rest > of the world should speak fluent English quite puzzling.

I've noticed the opposite attitude. At least among western countries, the opposition to forcing kids to learn English seems to be far more prevalent among Americans and Brits than among non-anglophones.

In my country, English is mandatory in both primary and secondary education and this is not controversial in any way. It is considered common sense. You mention a lack of significant benefits to people's daily lives - of all the things kids learn in school, what is more useful than learning English? Very basic math certainly as it is necessary to function as an adult, but not much else. I don't remember what the anatomy of an arthropod is like nor do I need this information and I learned a ton of stuff like that in school, while being able to speak (and even more so read) English has opened many doors for me and been useful in so many ways. Academically, professionally and privately.

For anglophones, they and their kids are going to speak English and be fine in the modern world either way. So it is easier for them to virtue signal by dismissing the importance of learning English and supporting some misguided idea of "language equality". A lot of anglophones also don't notice the incredible amount of information in English and the incredible amount of people who speak English to some degree because they take it for granted, causing them to underestimate the usefulness of the language.

Japan may be an exception because it is culturally isolated compared to, for example, the EU. But still, I can't help but think investing more effort in teaching kids English would likely be more useful than at least some things they learn in school, even in Japan.

Also, fluent vs nearly useless is a false dichotomy.

<comment><USER9> Pretty much agree. Knowing English if you are not from America is super important - you are limited _a lot_ if you don't know it. Maybe not if you work in agriculture or something like that, but anything beyond that requires it.

And that is just talking about jobs. Wast amount of knowledge and entertainment is not translated to smaller languages and discussion happen in English. Especially in less popular areas.

Includes science and technology btw. If you can not read English blog or documentation, then you will be limited as a programmer.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER32> > I can speak a reasonable level of Japanese

This stands out to me. Raising your spoken Japanese from "reasonable" to "excellent" (especially with regards to accent) makes a huge difference in how people interact with you. Likewise a high level of literacy is required as well to navigate daily life without stress. (Of course if you live in an English bubble then YMMV.)

Anecdotally, I rarely see these Japan ragequits among people with high-level language skills.

</comment><comment><USER33> The article is full of whining about imaginary BS like gender-bias and the writer seems to be doing everything is his/her power to look for problems that really don't exist like complaining about the word "foreigner" and trying to find racism or discrimination in everything.

Japan may have it's problems but this is ridiculous.

<comment><USER34> I'm an American living in Japan (about 12 years now). Most of the stuff he's talking about is totally true. But, like some other commenters have been saying, I feel like: you figure that stuff out after a couple years and make peace with it (or not). There are many good and bad things about Japan. And it's different if you're a foreigner in Japan, yes. And it depends on where you're from and what color your skin is, etc.

My only question is why did it take him 10 years to "get fed up" with it? Most people who leave do so after a year or so. Most people who stay longer than a couple years tend to stay for a very long time.

<comment><USER14> I think some of the points are really exaggerated. Take this:

> That's not to say that some nasty malice isn't present because it most > definitely is. I lost count of the times when, say, for example, politely > pointing out to someone that there was a queue and they shouldn't push in > that the immediate response was a very angry "BAKA GAIJIN" (stupid > foreigner).

Really, that happened often enough that he "lost count"? In 7 years, I haven't seen anything close to this.

<comment><USER34> Hmm, yeah, that's never happened to me, either. I've never been assaulted, either. I have been harassed by other foreigners though, but that's almost always in the "seedy" areas, like Roppongi or Kabukicho.

I rarely, if ever get harassed by the police. But I know some Asian-American friends who get harassed... eg: the cop thinks he's Vietnamese, so starts giving him trouble. When the cop finds out he's from the U.S., all of a sudden the cop starts acting totally nice. I'd call that racism.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER35> I don't understand. Why did the person stay for 10 years? This seems like something you notice after 1 year, or even a few months, let alone 10 years. Is there some family context here that is missing?

<comment><USER36> Yes. You're missing the bellcurve of frustration he described, and I recognize it from other countries I've lived in.

At first, you think you're a bit on the outside because you don't know very much and don't speak the language, and you tend to attribute things to your own ignorance.

As you learn more, more and more of the country opens up to you. You make some local friends, you can survive in a small town where no-one speaks English for a few days, and you can have some experiences not available to tourists.

As you learn even more, you notice little slights you didn't notice before -- he gives the example of honorifics. You understand the nuances of comments people make to you. You realize that you'll never be accepted or taken seriously for who you are, you'll always just be an outside.

</comment></comment><comment><USER37> Just came back after a month of vacation in Japan. Honestly, I saw like 3 police cars on the entire journey and I saw more police officers in the airport than the rest of the trip.

I come from Sweden, a relatively safe country. However, compared to Japan it is not. I felt incredible safe in Japan. Everyone is super friendly but hard to talk to since they don't generally won't speak english.

I wanted to meet some japanese people and make some friends while I was there but it was harder than I thought it would be. This is probably the only critisism I have except that they should install a lot more garbage bins and learn that a sidewalk is not a good place to bike on. Why not make better sidewalks and a bike lane?

</comment><comment><USER38> Except for the police/law part which is obviously scary, I find some of those points to offer quite the silver lining.

I have been in Japan for a while, and the fact that you will never be accepted is totally OK for me. I appreciate feeling like an outsider, and as long as people are polite to me and my friends/family, I have no objections to people not calling me uniclaude san.

You see, when you're not a white male, it sometimes feel like you're an outsider even in your home country (provided the said country is mostly white), so for the first time, in Japan, I'm not the colored dude, I'm an outsider, a foreigner, and that's it. To be honest this is not a "Japan-only" thing, the same point could be made for some other countries like China.

Then, because this is HN, let's bring a second point:

The glass ceiling faced by foreigners in Japanese companies is a dream for us startup founders. It's rare for a potential prospect to have more room for growth in a Japanese company than in your startup if that person is a foreigner. It's sad, but it helps a lot when hiring top talent. Let's also note that the visa situation for engineers is very easy compared to many other first world countries like the USA.

</comment><comment><USER39> I lived in Japan for 4 years, and afterwards felt in many ways similar, it's a place that can take a lot out of you, especially if you have expectations of fitting in.

That said, in my 4 years there, the police was never anything but polite and friendly (I was never once stopped for a bag search or gaijin card check either) and now living in London, I find the police here, while polite and professional, much more intimidating with their open carry of massive guns. (This is not to excuse the very real problems with judicial fairness that have been well documented elsewhere).

I think everybody's experience is different, but most foreigners I know who's stayed there long term does seem to develop a sort of exhaustion with the place.

<comment><USER36>
        > with their open carry of massive guns

This is an odd comment for a country (and indeed city) where the police are not routinely armed.

<comment><USER39> I guess it's largely a response to terrorism, but I routinely see heavily armed policemen at various tube stations.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER40> What an ass. I lived and worked in Japan for several years and I had understood all of the hardness of everyday Japan even before deciding to settle there for a while. To think that it took him several years to get it... and 10 years to decide to do something about it... It's a moron. Nothing else.

<comment><USER41> People that sour about their host country I find sometimes have something relevant in their past missing from the story. Such as externalities that force them to move to or live in current host for longer than they wanted. Still, there is a long discussion in this article about issues with the Japanese legal system that is worth while.

</comment></comment><comment><USER42> My experience was totally different in in the main point: the Japanese were unfailingly polite and courteous with me. But, unlike this fellow, I was comfortable being viewed as a foreigner. And always respectful in my expression.

(I was also younger than him when I lived there, which might also have made a difference.)

</comment><comment><USER43> Quick remark: the Chinese text on the 5th picture (below 'JAPANESE ONLY') reads '謝絕中中國人'. This literally means 'Decline Chinese people', suggesting that the place is specifically not willing to receive to Chinese visitors.

Thought it might be interesting to point out.

<comment><USER44> Someone else in this discussion has pointed out that it makes sense that the Chinese is targeted at Chinese, as most English speaking folk don't know Chinese. And the English phrase is purposefully broad because English-speaking foreigners could be from a huge variety of countries.

<comment><USER43> Makes sense.

Still, wondering why the Chinese is purposefully so narrow and doesn't read '谢绝外国人' (no foreigners) instead of '谢绝中国人' (no Chinese people).

<comment><USER45> Leaves no room for misinterpretation, like we're already seeing in this thread.

A Chinese tourist, seeing a sign with unintelligible English plus "No foreigners" written in Hanzi/Kanji, could assume they're _not_ foreign, since they're not Anglophone...

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER46> I'll be honest, but I got the feeling right away that his negative experience probably has more to do with his personality than the country in itself.

His "Cycling in Tokyo" post is just absurdly pessimistic and dark, for example. His username is littleblackheart.

When you project negativity people tend to project it back at you.

Most of his criticism is probably valid in some way, but if I were him I wouldn't make them as important to my experience of the country as he seems to have done.

</comment><comment><USER47> I can't agree with all of the author's opinions, though I have lived in Japan for only three years and I don't live in Tokyo. For me the experience has been positive until now. I have met some of the kindest people in the world and I feel welcome in my university and in the research institute I did an internship at.

Japanese society has some social quircks which are kind of unsettling for me as a foreigner, but those have not spoiled my stay here.

</comment><comment><USER48> Many of the problems he describes aren't exclusively Japanese, but a few, like the hierarchical view and casual racism are far more particular to the Japanese.

It's not hard to understand where it comes from, however - Japan is something of a cultural isolate, and resisted European and others' overtures well into the 19th century - at which point they underwent explosive industrialisation and social upheaval.

Then there was the whole mess of their wars of expansion in early 20c., culminating in WWII. Following that, American occupation and control, which ended many decades ago.

What I'm getting at is that there's been a huge amount of technical and societal change in Japan over the last 150 years - but not as much social change. You can change how people make their meals, spend their days, travel to work, but you can't shake notions like bushido or sakoku overnight.

<comment><USER49> Perhaps the gender inequality issue too.

</comment></comment><comment><USER50> Come to Russia instead, it's the best to be for a foreigner

<comment><USER51> Lol. Literally every single one of his complaints is even worse in Russia. Hating foreigners? They teach us that from kindergarten. Police doesn't like you? You're screwed completely. And god help you if your skin is even slightly darker than white (or if you happen to be gay).

<comment><USER52> It might be because I married a Russian but when I visited, Russians were nothing but welcoming, even strangers unknown both to my wife and me.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER53> White text on black background - what a horrible choice of colours. Cannot read it for more than 3 minutes.

<comment><USER54> Right click background, 'Inspect Element' in Chrome, and go unclick all the color properties. And yes, I agree, white on black is always terrible on the eyes!

As far as Japan goes, I've never been there, but I interacted/worked with many and I have to say the only thing that I still find quite disturbing is the 'Yes' problem. I remember extensive engineering meeting where everyone 'Agreed' and a week later, you realized actually they didn't _really_ mean 'yes' when they agreed. Fun.

</comment></comment><comment><USER55> Some of the points he makes are spot on. I've worked with over 1000 Japanese ppl in almost 2 years. They are… complex in a way I can not describe… Some of the biggest cultural differences: 1\. Don't presume they're happy when they're smiling. 2\. Their thank you doesn't mean they are actually thankful, nor satisfied. 3\. If you see a smiling Japanese grandma, run for your bloody life, those are the worst. 4\. If you're not smiling, you're rude. 5\. If someone tells you that you're pretty, you should smile, and say thank you. No, don't respond with: "Umm, can you please stop saying that? What does my look have to do with the way I do my job?" - I've been reported as rude to the QA team because of that.

</comment><comment><USER56> The last photo of the post features a girl giving the finger towards the camera. The author of the blog should know that taking a picture of someone without their consent is considered as quite rude in Japan.

</comment><comment><USER57> So I guess the vitriol didn't have the time to subside after all.

Some interesting points, though.

</comment><comment><USER58> The police situation is something I've never heard of from colleagues who have lived in Japan (5 years ago); is this a recent development?

<comment><USER59> Nope. It's not been my current or previous experience at all. Just two times stopped by police in 20 years.

The diversity of apparently sincerely expressed experience on this and most other matters in TFA, makes me wonder whether one's attitude isn't a major contributor to one's treatment.

</comment></comment><comment><USER60> This was a really good piece. I have also lived in Japan for some time and I can relate to many of his experiences. Unlike some of his critics, I don't think anything he wrote is completely wrong. There may be some embellishment or unrepresentative anecdotes, but for the most part I think he paints a fairly accurate picture, at least from a foreign perspective.

I have met a lot of other western foreigners who have lived in Japan for a very long time. One of my coworkers is an eastern European guy who has lived in Japan since 1994. He absolutely adores everything about the country and its people. When I compare his perspective to that of this author's, an important point becomes clear in my mind: Being a happy immigrant requires a very deep level of assimilation.

It isn't about learning the language or copying the mannerisms. It is also about adopting the value system. Many of the author's complaints demonstrate a preference for a western European cultural value system. For example, he complains about the lack of hate speech laws, the more authoritarian police, the lack of tolerance of diversity, the lack of gender equality, and so on.

He uses phrases like "more enlightened 21st century countries," and makes a lot of sweeping statements about the Japanese people. It's almost as if he's annoyed that Japanese people are Japanese and not British. Cultures aren't costumes. It's not just different foods and clothing. It's fundamentally different ways of understanding the world. In racially homogeneous societies, it's also about an implicit in-group out-group orientation. You'll feel that everywhere from Japan to Nigeria.

I am an immigrant in Japan. I have made peace with the fact that I am always going to be an outsider. I have made peace with those aspects of their culture I find unpleasant. On balance I think the lifestyle and culture is superior to most other places, so I am content.

</comment><comment><USER61> I heard the "if you don't like it, leave line" from people all the time in America. Even with the pettiest of political disagreements, people say it.

So then I went to Japan and haven't received or heard of anyone receiving similar vitriol aside from the OP.

A foreign coworker (same race and nationality as me) endlessly complains about racism, discrimination, and being stared at here. I've experienced none of it.

I'm not here to dismiss the author's claims, but most of the weeaboo to Japan hater crowd I've found is people who lived very cushy lives with close family bonds, and when they put that aside in a somewhat "cold" culture, they take offense to everything. As a cold, unsocial person myself, Japan is incredibly welcoming in that I feel like I can finally be left alone without being isolated. I hated having people randomly start conversations with me in America. I disliked the "not my job" attitude of Americans. I very strongly disliked how confrontational and easily angered Americans were (especially how people complained about restaurant services and the minorest of things, while here, it's practically unseen).

And then there's the people complaining about being a "foreigner forever." Honestly, how many asians in America get asked,"so, where are you from?" whenever they meet someone? I've seen it countless times. It's just a matter of being on the other end of it now.

And then he leads into "I can't believe they don't restrict speech and porn the way we do in my culture." In all honesty, fuck off. This is no better than someone being disgusted by western media showing bare female hair. The standards are subjective.

<comment><USER8> > It's just a matter of being on the other end of it now.

Not quite. It's a different degree. When I was in Japan, for example, no Japanese person would start a conversation with me in Japanese. It was always English. That mostly doesn't happen to Asian residents in the US.

<comment><USER62> Most Japanese I know speak Japanese with me. Of course sometime strangers, usually as a kind gesture, speak to me in English. If it seems the conversation can be smoothly done in English, we continue in English. If not, I switch into Japanese and we continue in Japanese. How is any of that offensive or anything but kind?

Comparing the situation to America seems silly. Most people don't speak to Asians on the street in Japanese because most Americans don't speak Japanese. My Japanese wife, on the other hand, was addressed in Chinese when in china town in New York. Yes, confusion sometimes happens in all countries.

English is an International language and the majority of Japanese known at least a little bit. People of all countries can be expected know some English. If they speak to you in English, they are probably working off the statistically sound assumption that you might not speak Japanese, and are merely trying to communicate.

<comment><USER8> > How is any of that offensive or anything but kind?

When did I say it was offensive?

<comment><USER62> Good point. Apologies if I projected the main post's angst onto your comment.

Perhaps I am little defensive as I often encounter the point of view that if a foreigner is treated any differently than a racially Japanese person, that this is somehow a fault of Japanese or their culture, when really the worst you can say about them on this topic is that they are observant. People get all worked up that Japanese people know they are white.

It's like I'm older and get asked if I have kids all the time. My younger colleagues never get asked that. They get asked where they went to school and such. It's not discrimination, it's people trying to make conversation and making some reasonable assumptions along the way.

Anyway rant over.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER63> What I've found after living in a few foreign countries (originally from the US):

If you balk at minor incidents of xenophobia and in so doing generally act as if you don't belong, it will only make it worse.

If you can take it in stride and keep a stiff upper lip people will assume you've already gone through enough "hazing" and leave you alone/be more welcoming.

Even if you're trying to be polite, being overly apologetic is almost always bad, unless the situation is incredibly dire. It makes people think you are trying to get away with something by being there.

</comment><comment><USER41> the OP was wondering if after a year they would be able to write an objectionable article about their experience... definitely another year might help. Regardless I'm still happy they shared their experiences.

The comments on HN are mostly disturbed by the self-righteous tone of the article. This phrase is probably around the centre of that tone [highlight mine]:

> a poor excuse for attitudes that would be met with derision in more > [enlightened 21st-century countries]

Also the author finds problems in Japan that they seem to ignore in many other places:

> It was somewhere I lived for 10 years, it was never my home, could never > have been my home. Regardless of how good my Japanese language skills became > or how much I had tried to become like them, I would never have been fully > accepted, never been allowed in the club.

Basically it sounds almost like the author is saying that they just like to live where they are part of the native majority. Because, I think you will experience this everywhere. I've seen and experienced exactly the same in the following countries (In order of level disgustingness at which the 'not-part- of-our-society' is shovelled out): Israel, US, Germany.

But still there is a lot in the article worth reading if one can get through the tone. Specifically the legal architecture.

</comment><comment><USER64> > The level of English in Japan is shockingly low, despite everyone studying > it for 6 years at school. I honestly think it is kept deliberately low, > people have access to the web but they can't understand the English 90% of > it is written in so there is no need for Chinese style censorship.

The Chinese style censorship has nothing to do with understanding of English.

</comment><comment><USER65> Lived in Tokyo for 5 years, doing business there for 8. I strongly disagree with many of the claims in this article. Many of them are absurd or simply untrue, so I'll just pick a couple here.

         "At every place I ever worked, however, I was always referred to by my first name "Adrian" or at best "Adrian San" even by much younger staff members."

I worked as a software dev at 2 very traditional Japanese companies. I was usually referred to "First name" - san, sometimes as "Family name"-san. Close friends or colleagues would sometimes call me by first name. I'm quite sure this is due to Japanese people's misunderstanding of first and second names in the West. If you introduce yourself as Adrian, they will probably call you Adrian-san as they may not be sure if it's your first name or family name. That's how their own naming convention works, as you can see by observing how they introduce themselves. They are not purposely trying to offend you or show a "lack of disrespect"!

         "I was stopped many times just walking down a street minding my own business, often surrounded by 3 or more officers who stood within a few feet of me and did their best to be as intimidating as possible. "

I was never stopped once in 8 years, nor were any of my many Western friends. All my dealings with the police were pleasant, they were always respectful and willing to help me.

         "Bag searches are common practice "

No. They're not.

         "a police force that was ordered by 3 time former Tokyo Governor Mr. Ishihara to "regard all foreigners as suspicious"? "

Shintaro Ishihara is an extreme right wing, xenophobic lunatic. This is a guy who also blamed Japanese people for the 2011 earthquake stating, that "punishment from heaven' because Japanese have become greedy", and denies that the Nanjing massacre ever happened. He is unpopular even in Japan and is hardly a credible data point.

         "It is not that uncommon, even in Tokyo, to see shops, bars or other establishments with "No foreigners""

This is also not true. They do exist, but it is not common. (I would struggle to think of anywhere in the thousands of place I've been to in Tokyo and greater Japan).

         "Don't, for example even get me started on cycling in Tokyo."

Have you tried cycling in Dublin? Or Paris? I think the author is just searching for things to complain about now.

         "The level of English in Japan is shockingly low, despite everyone studying it for 6 years at school. I honestly think it is kept deliberately low"

This is the quote that actually prompted me to reply, because it is so absurd and divorced from reality. Does the author actually believe that the Japanese government would systematically prevent their nation in becoming fluent in English? Their domestic market is shrinking and so they need their companies to expand outside Japan if they are to survive at all (just look at the disasters at Toshiba, Sharp etc.)

On the contrary, METI (i.e. the Japanese government) have actually rolled out a new program since 2014 to reform the English education system in Japan to address the poor level of English. Not to mention that Tokyo will host the Olympics in 2020 and the lack of English will be a national embarrassment if they don't get their act together. To suggest that English is "kept deliberately low" indicates that the author is delusional at best.

Some of the points made by the author are valid, particularly regarding gender equality and sexual exploitation. Japan has serious issues there that renders it very outdated and alienated from modern societies.

However during my time living there (and still today as I do business in Japan regularly), I made lasting friendships and formed incredibly close and rich relationships with many Japanese people. I've attended their weddings and dined at home with them and their children. I find Japanese people (for the most part) to be extremely kind, helpful and considerate. Of course there are some unpleasant and offensive people, but that is no different to any other country in the world. Therefore I needed to challenge this misinformation, out of respect for the many Japanese people who have been so good to me over the years.

I'm surprised that the author lived there for so long, and still came away with such a distorted and narrow point of view. Overall, this article portrays years of pent-up frustration and homesickness by the author. I hope that a break in London will help to see things in a different light.

</comment><comment><USER66> I had very similar experience during a week long visit. I just wonder why it took you 10 years to finally decide to leave. 1 month, 2 or may be 6 is understandable but 10 years?!

</comment><comment><USER67> I really hate articles like this. There is no perfect place to live in the world. We are all human, and all societies have fundamental problems that derive from that. There are tradeoffs everywhere. This writer is negative and spoiled.

Some of my favorites places in the world have problems that really really annoy me. But the positives outweigh the negatives for _me_ , and everyone needs to decide what is important to them personally.

To stereotype an entire culture or people like this and focus only on those things which annoyed the writer is a futile effort to make the world something that it isn't: perfect.

</comment><comment><USER68> >If you don't like it leave

As a (European) foreigner living in Australia, I hear the same sentence when trying to discuss a problem...

</comment><comment><USER69> White guy with asian fetish in Japan and using female pictures to disguise his blog post? What a loser.

</comment><comment><USER70> What is up with the text coloring?

</comment><comment><USER71> _" And here comes the first of my problems, almost universally in Japan if one criticizes or wishes to discuss some element of Japanese culture as a foreigner you are greeted with cries of "Why do you hate Japan?" and "If you don't like it leave". There is precious little room for any discussion and more often than not an impasse is reached with the statement "This is Japan. This is how WE do things"._

This isn't exclusive to Japan. I've found English and American people with the same shitty inability to take criticism.

</comment><comment><USER72> This sounds akin to people threatening to leave the US if Trump wins. "This society is not liberal enough so bye". I think part of living in society is accepting not everybody thinks the way you do.

<comment><USER73> Eventually you hit a breaking point when it seems like not _anybody_ thinks the way you do, and leave.

For me, it was (among other things) hearing colleagues joke about murdering bicyclists, while I stood there with helmet in hand, having nearly been killed every morning.

</comment></comment><comment><USER74> ...

<comment><USER29> _I 'm glad people like him weren't allowed in our country._

What country do you come from that denies entry to people based on how they translate Japanese signs? You're full of shit. Not surprised you hide behind a throwaway.

<comment><USER74> Are you for real? Go read the article, he knows Japanese. And there's your civility, acting all indignant and calling people full of shit without bothering to understand what's going on.

Maybe you are the throwaway of author's?

<comment><USER29> Civility? I made no guarantee of civility to you.

I asked you what country you come from that excludes people based on, as you stated, how they interpret Japanese signs. No such country, as we all know. You're talking nonsense, and now that you've been called out on it, you're pretending this is about something else. Look at you now, deleting your comments _even though you 're using a throwaway_! The whole point of the throwaway is that nobody can tie it to the person you usually pretend to be, but you're running away anyway.

Nobody benefits from this; not you, not me, nobody here. God's sake, owning your beliefs is a necessary step to improving them. Not just in this situation; always. Here, look, I'll start; I was unnecessarily harsh in my opening response and could have handled that better. This is an opportunity for both of us to improve. I didn't consider that you might be Japanese and that you might feel defensive; it can be hard to critique your own nation/culture with foreigners (although being from the UK, it's easy for me; sometimes it would be nice to spend a day without having some new clusterf from the embarrassing shambles of a UK government and broader population at large) and perhaps I could have helped you come out of your defensive shell.

<comment><USER75> Rule #1: bow out of situations bearing risks of public shame.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER72> I can understand, bicyclists are fucking annoying, and most of the time they are putting themselves and others in danger. For me, the road is no place for a bicyclist.

And, as you can see, there's no possible debate in the west: you have to have bicyclists, otherwise you're a backwards asshole. And I have to live with that, because that's society: you have to deal with people who don't think the way you do.

(You just have to look at the downvotes to see what I'm talking about ;P)

<comment><USER8> Cars kill far more people than bicycles, both absolute and per capita, so if that's your measure, then the road is no place for cars.

<comment><USER76> Bicycles are far more dangerous. Even more so that motorcycles, most people are smart enough to realize that it's the 20 lb bicycle that loses to 4000 lbs of steel.

Danger is calculated in risk per mile, not per capita / absolute.

I drive a 4Runner because it has lots of steel and is very safe so that when my kids get into an accident learning to drive they don't die.

<comment><USER77> >I drive a 4Runner because it has lots of steel and is very safe

I can't believe I'm seeing this kind of ignorance on HN...

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aht7Sc_J4OU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aht7Sc_J4OU)</comment></comment></comment></comment>


iPad Air 2 Bend Test - <AUTHOR> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nPj9QaXg0E

<comment><USER2> I am not surprised it bent with both the amount and way he was putting force on it, but I genuinely didn't expect it to just "give" that suddenly and completely.

I will say the iPhone 6 "bendgate" issue was completely overblown, but I am happy this issue is getting media attention. Maybe it is something manufacturers will take more seriously in the future.

You can actually make a device fairly bend-proof without adding too much weight, it is just something that has to be given engineering time to accomplish and I hope all manufacturers do that in the future.

With phones getting thinner and larger they will get more bend-able.

</comment><comment><USER3> These are getting a bit out of hand.</comment>


The mathematics of discovering new things - <AUTHOR> http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2014/08/01/the-mathematics-of-discovering-new-things/ <comment><USER2> So if I get it right:

Say you have elementary concepts A, B and C. Combinations of these concepts also give something, e.g. AB, AC, etc. You have tried and exhausted all possible (and sensible) duplets, triples, etc. and now you are bored.

Then something new comes along, D. Now you not only have a new elementary concept, but a whole lot of new possible combinations with previously known elementary concepts: AD, BD, etc.

<comment><USER3> I've observed this with fandom crossovers.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Huh? A common representation of the Polya urn which results in a Dirichlet process corresponds to "novel" colors as well. If you pick a normal color you put it back with another ball of that color, but if you pick the black ball, you can pick an entire new color, hence discovery of a new thing. You can read it on Wikipedia, the source of all knowledge. :-) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirichlet_process](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirichlet_process)

Original link is by the way: [http://www.nature.com/srep/2014/140731/srep05890/full/srep05...](http://www.nature.com/srep/2014/140731/srep05890/full/srep05890.html#affil- auth)

Shameless plug: if anyone wants to work with me on application of nonparametric Bayesian methods to 3D navigation and scene reconstruction, please do so. [https://github.com/mrquincle/octave- scripts/tree/master/thes...](https://github.com/mrquincle/octave- scripts/tree/master/thesis).

</comment><comment><USER5> You can click through the full Nature article, which is nice. I haven't read the article in depth, but it looks like interesting stuff. A bunch of models in Bayesian non-parametrics are, like the described model, based on Polya urns. It should be a simple matter to use this model for some interesting clustering tasks, perhaps as an alternative to the CRP.

</comment><comment><USER6> I love how after I cofounded a math game company, there seems to be more and more math everywhere I look. "Blue car syndrome" at its finest!

For me this article especially rings true with self identity / confidence. Since four years ago I started learning how to program video games, I recognized that internally, "Well if I could totally change my career overnight, and open up a plethora of new possibilities, then I wonder how many additional choices I will now start to see over time?"

I saw it as a graph of my life possibilities, with the first 25 years of my life bumping along in the 1-10 range, then a sudden inflection point to 100. Looking at this graph objectively, one can imagine a second inflection point that goes to 1000, etc.. maybe leading to an asymptote! But I digress.

<comment><AUTHOR> > "Blue car syndrome"

There's a Name for That: The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon[0], also known as the "Frequency Illusion."[1]

[0] [http://www.damninteresting.com/the-baader-meinhof- phenomenon...](http://www.damninteresting.com/the-baader-meinhof-phenomenon/)

[1] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baader- Meinhof_phenomenon#Frequ...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baader- Meinhof_phenomenon#Frequency_illusion)

<comment><USER7> "Blue car syndrome" is also a name for that, and an older one than "B-M".

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Very interesting. Is there a corollary to this? Say, if a person or a bunch of people are curating articles then they will select only those which are _most_ novel and all other related things will get dropped. In that sense, we should not see similar stuff on the front page of HN. Yet, I recall, seeing at least 3 news items about Microsoft retrencing people, on the front page of HN. So should HN consider applying the corollary "correlated novelty".</comment>


Show HN: resvg – a better SVG rendering library - <AUTHOR> resvg [1] is an SVG rendering library that aims to replace librsvg and QtSvg. It supports multiple backends and designed for edge-cases. It doesn't support all SVG features yet, but it's already has the best support for edge-cases [2].
In the latest release, I've added a Windows Explorer extension [3] which can be used to render SVG thumbnails via resvg. Previously, the only solution was to use SVG Viewer Extension for Windows Explorer [4] which use Qt4 SVG module, which is very primitive and outdated.
[1] https://github.com/RazrFalcon/resvg
[2] https://razrfalcon.github.io/resvg-test-suite/svg-support-ta...
[3] https://github.com/RazrFalcon/resvg/releases
[4] https://github.com/maphew/svg-explorer-extension <comment><USER2> How set it to use by _nomacs_ [0]?

[0] [http://www.nomacs.org](http://www.nomacs.org)</comment>


Uber Shut Down in Multiple Countries Following Raids - <AUTHOR> http://tech.slashdot.org/story/15/03/19/0241230/uber-shut-down-in-multiple-countries-following-raids <comment><USER2> Uber is actually providing a better alternative for users of public transportation. Though the legality of the service is an issue for now, hope they will able to find a fruitful solutions with the authorities and continue to operate. More alternatives creates more competition and this will be good for users of public transportations.</comment>


Citigroup's New Office Plan: No Offices - <AUTHOR> http://www.wsj.com/articles/citigroups-new-office-plan-no-offices-1451125806 <comment><AUTHOR> To get past the paywall:

[https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&c...](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjqhvzngvrJAhWDMz4KHUc4AJcQqQIIHTAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsj.com%2Farticles%2Fcitigroups- new-office-plan-no- offices-1451125806&usg=AFQjCNF4uLsB_P8LHibD_H1e2Rw6QtPylQ&bvm=bv.110151844,d.cWw)

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Make no mistake about it this is all about saving money because office space in Manhattan is so expensive. Not that the other benefits mentioned don't count, I just think they aren't the primary motivator of this and it's easier to wrap it in some other gain that doesn't sound as if it's driven solely by profits.</comment>


So you think you can code? - <AUTHOR> https://aerolab.co/coding-challenge <comment> ni-hil So this is your interview technical test/screening process?</comment>


The messy history of medical science and innovation - <AUTHOR> http://freakonomics.com/podcast/bad-medicine-part-2-drug-trials-and-tribulations/ <comment><USER2> (both text and accompanying audio)</comment>


US attack on WHO 'hindering morphine drive in poor countries' - <AUTHOR> https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/sep/18/us-attack-world-health-organization-who-hindering-morphine-drive-poor-countries <comment><AUTHOR> >Prof Felicia Knaul of the University of Miami, chair of a recent Lancet commission on palliative care, said the Congress members' report was not evidence-based. "Actions that are not based in evidence will do harm," she said.

>The stakes were high, she said. "I believe that policies that work to deny access to necessary pain relief medication in low- and middle-income countries because of the situation in the United States are akin to denying food to people suffering from malnutrition because there is an obesity epidemic in the United States.

>"More than 60 million people every year require pain relief and palliative care and we know that more than 80% get virtually nothing. The vast majority of those individuals live in low- and middle-income countries. I consider it despicable from an ethical point of view and completely antithetical to the goals of global health and sustainable development to have children and adults living and dying in extreme pain when we have very inexpensive safe medications that we could offer them. Poor policies in the United States are not an excuse for allowing that to continue to happen."

</comment><comment><USER2> They always start by talking about end-of-life care (and they're right, people at end of life need unfettered access to pain medication), but they're not really talking about end of life care.

They're talking about using opioids for all types of pain, in all people with pain.

> Guidelines on the Pharmacological Treatment of Persisting Pain in Children > with Medical Illnesses

"Persisting pain" is not palliative care. It's chronic conditions. These are echoes of drug company propaganda and we need to be vigilant to tackle it.

<comment><USER3> Except that most people around the globe cant afford the non opioid alternatives. You know the alternatives big pharma is making billions off. Of the 60 million pain patients worldwide 80% get nothing because the US doesnt like when people get high on opiates. I didnt think that i needed to repeat that, but these people are suffering because of the crusade fundamentalists in the US started. The absolute disregard for fellow human beings is absolutely breathtaking.

These people are suffering and dont need to, morphin is cheap enough that any nation can afford it. There is no patent, no big pharma, only fields of poppies. I see no difference to people torturing these millions themselves.

Its a war on the poor. Its colonialism in its ugliest form. Maybe you should reflect for a second on what your inconsiderate US centrist lobbying is doing to the rest of the world.

For 80% of the worlds pain patients the reality is this

[https://youtu.be/QOmEQGvgq4A?t=74](https://youtu.be/QOmEQGvgq4A?t=74)

Its people slowly perishing in screams of agony. Its monstrous. People are so far detached from the consequences of their actions that they dont waste a second thought about quite literally torturing people to death.

<comment><USER2> Again, opioids should be used for end of life treatment, but opioids are a poor choice for many people with long term pain.

Opioids do not work for many people living with long term pain.

Those people deserve treatment for their pain that is effective. For many of them opioids are a bad choice.</comment></comment></comment>


How I Did It: Hartley Peavey of Peavey Electronics - <AUTHOR> http://www.inc.com/magazine/201110/how-i-did-it-harley-peavey-electronics.html

<comment><USER2> I grew up in Mississippi playing Peavey gear dreaming of designing it. Now, I have a PhD in electrical and computer engineering. I don't do audio electronics, but I might not have even considered EE if not for this man.

</comment><comment><USER3> Back in high school in the early eighties I played with a bass player who had a Peavey amp and right in the middle of a concert something exploded and his 4 speakers all blew out. Luckily there was another guy who could loan his amp but our bass player was pretty upset (and broke) so I offered to try to repair his amp and we all chipped in for new speakers.

Anyway, this guy had a bird and its usually open cage was usually on top of the amp, which had a ventilation grill on top. When I opened up the amp it was full of bird poop baked onto everything. I like to think the poop had something to do with the failure because I really like Peavey stuff in general. After a thorough cleaning it didn't take long to figure out that the filter caps after the rectifier of the power supply had blown and a huge 50Hz (Germany) ripple was sent out to the speakers.

I got some caps with more margin (the original parts only had 3V of margin over the worst case expected surge) and with the new speakers we were back in business.

Fast forward 30 years and I'm now a bass player myself and I have to say that Peavey is still great for budget gear, especially their basses. Of course there's really nice budget gear in general now, due to China and the general downward prices on electronics.

I go to a country jam now and then and the bass player there has a ton of vintage gear (he's pretty vintage himself) but for everyday playing at the jam there's of course a Peavey combo that works great every time.

</comment><comment><USER4> I like the way this article is written it's very concise.

<comment><USER5> I noticed that too. It seems like it's formatted to make skimming easier, but that actually caused me to read the entire thing.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Peavey writes: _"I go out on the factory floor and I see a resistor on the ground, I pick it up. That's a penny to me. You see a penny on the ground, you pick it up."_

This seems to contradict the saying _'he who thinks in dimes will never become a millionaire'_.

<comment><USER7> For every saying there is a contradictory saying.

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> for me, my first encounter with Peavey was when the rich American kids from the international school came to my school for concerts and sports. They had Peavey speakers and Reebok sneakers!

<comment><USER8> That's funny because (as a rich American) Peavey amps were known for being inexpensive, but LOUD. When you're a 14 year old guitarist and you need big volume without big bucks, you go Peavey.

Rich kids got Marshall. Or Mesa Boogie.

<comment><USER9> I play guitar and this is still very true today - Peavey deals mostly in the lower to medium bracket and their most legendary (and "premium") amp is beloved for just that: (comparatively) cheap, reliable and a distinct sound.

Interestingly enough, another guitar amplifier company that could be considered VERY premium started in a very similar way: modifying and building their own gear just out of frustration with (back then) existing gear and lack of money: <http://diezel.typo3.inpublica.de/history.8.0.html>

Actually, Boogie did too: <http://www.mesaboogie.com/US/Smith/our_story.html>

<comment><USER10> True for any number of companies, including Marshall/Orange/Sount City/HiWatt in the UK, pretty much ALL of which got into business after being recruited to build louder amps for The Who.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Having bought 10's of thousands of dollars of sound equipment over the years, much of which was from Peavey...this is pretty cool.

<comment><USER12> Same here. A lot of the gear I've bought has come and gone, but I've still got my Peavy Backstage 20 ... the first amp I ever owned.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> when i was in a band, peavey was low end. everyone always wanted a mesa boogie or a marshall.

<comment><USER14> Sure, and it's still the same way now, but their stuff is affordable and it works. I like their basses and guitars best, they're a really good value, and they do make higher-end amps that sound pretty good.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> This is a very inspiring "so I just made my own stuff" story but then again, I think the music instrument business and especially the market of guitar players has got to be a horrible example for hackers.

Imagine your customers swearing by and specifically asking you to produce hand-wired tube-based computers with punch cards that run as fast and reliable as modern PCs but at the same time they will shun pretty much any innovation you try to introduce and then just spend 4 to 6 figures on some old tube- thingy from the 50s or they over-spend on some very small boutique shops that swear they are building that tube-computer just like they did in the golden days and they swear they only solder during full-moon and its only done by virgins, so they charge you triple-premium for it. And then they tell you "hey, RMS is actually using that thing" and then they pay RMS lots and lots of money so he will take pictures with that thing while actually working on a small modern *NIX PC behind the stage/under his desk.

Aside from HiFi gear, I doubt there is another industry SO full of emotional marketing, dark obscure magic and so much mis-information accepted as fact as guitars and especially guitar amps.

<comment><USER15> Nice rant, but, what if there's a perceptible difference between tube and solid state technologies?

Just because it cannot be objectively measured doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

<comment><USER16> That's not what he wrote. He's talking about hand-soldering (vs PCBs) and using certain components or technologies that work really well when marketing but have no effect or even a detrimental effect on sound. For example, people want Class A amps, not Class AB ones, even though the designation is purely a technical one and is not correlated with sound quality.

The difference between a tube amp and a solid state one, by the way, is one that you _can_ objectively measure through spectrograms.

<comment><USER17> Re: A vs AB.

The difference is the fundamental mode of operation with different distortion characteristics. Class A amps will have both odd and even-order harmonics but class AB will be mostly even-order. That is both an audible and and electronically quantifiable difference.

If you are talking sound reproduction then A vs AB is insignificant because you only see the difference when the amplifier starts distorting. If you are a guitar player who drives an amp to distortion as a matter of course this difference is germane.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Chrome to become the standard browser on Android 4.0 and above - <AUTHOR> http://androidandme.com/2012/02/applications/goodbye-old-browser-chrome-to-become-the-standard-browser-on-android-4-0-and-above/ <comment><USER2> This is really bad news for Opera. Although they probably won't leave their 1st position in mobile browser market anytime soon, they will feel it. Even more so if Google will throw billions on advertising as it did with desktop version and people with older androids will switch too.

And this will deepen the new IE5+ era which came with* Chrome. Remember those sites which blocked you when you had other browser than IE? Now try to use some non-mainstream browser for a while and you will notice them again. Some might be subtle, just silently blocking features/redirecting you to other versions of sites. But it is the same nevertheless. (And no, I'm not talking about about various tech demos which really only work in Chrome.)

*edit: brought by -> came with

<comment><USER3> > And this will deepen the new IE5+ era which was brought by Chrome. Remember > those sites which blocked you when you had other browser than IE? Now try > not to use Chrome for a while and you will notice them again.

The big difference is that Chromium is open-source while IE was not. Also Chrome devs work with Mozilla and others to create new features, unlike IE vs Netscape at the time.

<comment><USER4> Recently Google has shown little interest in working with others; witness Dart (which essentially nobody but Google wants) and NaCl (which no other browser manufacturer wants).

<comment><USER5> Sorry but I don't see that as them not showing interest in working with others at all. There is a NaCL plugin for firefox written by Google, in both case the specs a open and the code in WebKit is open source. They can't force others into using their stuff. They've been proactive in taking in Firefox's new tech like WebGL and they killed their own effort (O3D) in the process(I depended on O3D for one of my work projects but they did make the transition pretty painless by rewritting O3D's api on top of WebGL). There are many more examples.

<comment><USER4> First of all, NaCl is now Pepper-only, so it is no longer compatible with Firefox. Firefox uses the NPAPI, not the Pepper API. Pepper is itself an instance of Google not showing interest in working with the other browser manufacturers. The other browser manufacturers considered it unnecessary to add two incompatible plugin APIs when the NPAPI already exists and could just be extended.

Second, the position of every other browser manufacturer is that NaCl is undesirable because (a) it's not compatible with JavaScript, so it requires another language runtime and (b) that it locks the Web into x86 and ARM. As bzbarsky of Mozilla posted here [1], if Google had made and pushed NaCl a decade ago, the iPhone would be unable to browse the web. Google ignored the other browser manufacturers' concerns and are now pushing NaCl to gain a competitive advantage.

[1]: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3391747>

<comment><USER5> I appreciate your reply. As far as the Pepper API my understanding is that it was an extension to NPAPI to improve it, not an attempt at creating an incompatible API. I can't find any source on why Mozilla decided to not use it. From the Pepper wikipedia page it looks like some of the goal of Pepper would be very useful to every browser.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Isn't the current stock browser open source, while Chrome is only mostly open source? Does this mean that open source ROMs like Cyanogen won't be able to distribute with a browser?

<comment><USER7> My assumption is that it won't be a huge problem, since Chrome is available in the Android Market. Note that Maps, YouTube, GMail, etc. are already closed source, c.f. [http://source.android.com/faqs.html#how-can-i-get-access- to-...](http://source.android.com/faqs.html#how-can-i-get-access-to-the- google-apps-for-android-such-as-maps)

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> I wonder how this will affect Phonegap.

</comment><comment><USER9> wait, the title seems misleading. Chrome wont be replacing android browser as standard in ics. it has not even been confirmed for any future updates either. "Standard browser" is probably poor choice of words.

</comment><comment><USER10> Will it eventually be available on iOS?

<comment><USER11> No. Apple currently don't allow any browser engines apart from their standardised WebKit on iOS. This is why you can't currently get Opera or Firefox on iOS (leaving aside Opera Mini which skirts the rules by running the engine on a proxy server).

<comment><USER12> not correct, if Google ports their features back to Webkit and they are accepted by the Webkit project than yes you will see it on iOS as Apple uses the Webkit project.

<comment><USER13> But won't the engines have to be identical? Won't Chrome have to use the exact same engine/version as Mobile Safari? Chrome for Android actually uses a newer version of Webkit than Mobile Safari, according to Anandtech, and it has a higher HTML5 score.

And what about V8 and all the other features? Or they only have to use the same rendering engine?

<comment><USER14> V8, as an interpreter of downloadable code (JavaScript), is explicitly and intentionally forbidden by Apple's rules for their app store.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> lets just hope, that google learned on IE errors, and it will be possible to uninstall chrome.</comment>


NYPD Sergeants union boss storms out of meeting with O'Neill - <AUTHOR> http://nypost.com/2016/11/01/sergeants-union-boss-storms-out-of-meeting-with-oneill/ <comment><USER2> Why is this article even on the front page of hackernews?</comment>


Ask HN: Open Source Text Editor - <AUTHOR>

What does this community recommend for a good open source text editor?<p>Many to choose from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_text_editors <comment><USER2> Notepad++

<http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net>

Vim

<http://www.vim.org>

What _specifically_ will you use the text editor for?

<comment><USER3> Notepad++ is available only on windows.

There's, of course, emacs <http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs>

<comment><USER4> It is possible to run Notepad++ under Wine on Linux, but it's not the most stable.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> KDE/Linux: Kate

GNOME: Geany

Windows: Notepad++

Mac: Buy Coda

<comment><USER6> How have I never stumbled across Geany? Much better than gedit, since all the useful features are built-in instead of poorly integrated 3rd-party extensions. Thanks!

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> ed - ed is the standard text editor.

Barring that, emacs.

</comment><comment><USER8> Just to mention: Recently open sourced (not just open source it's free as in freedom), featured on HN, Redcar text mate like editor.</comment>


An evolved circuit, intrinsic in silicon, entwined with physics (1996) - <AUTHOR> http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.50.9691&rep=rep1&type=pdf

<comment><AUTHOR> Moral: evolved complexity ≠ designed complexity.</comment>


The value of free coding - <AUTHOR> http://newcome.wordpress.com/2010/03/22/the-value-of-free-coding/

<comment><USER2> I believe he's got the "free climbing" metaphor mis=mangled, but oh, well. Even mangled, he's got a point, and it's basically that Charles Petzold did have it right: IDEs rot your mind. I know the author explicitly says otherwise, but if you read the article, that's exactly what he's saying.

</comment><comment><USER3> programming isn't a sport; we create value for money. our high-level tools help us create value more efficiently.</comment>


How 'Human Flesh Search' Is Changing China - <AUTHOR> http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/10/what-is-a-human-flesh-search-and-how-is-it-changing-china/263258/

<comment><USER2> People in China, like everywhere else, want people held accountable for their actions. If government won't do it, they will do it themselves if they can.

I read that people from the provinces experiencing an injustice can go to Beijing to seek justice. But if too many people from a province do that, the province gets in trouble. So the provinces actually send agents to Beijing to kidnap their own people to keep them quiet.

There is no reliable system of courts and appeals and justices that will rule against even the powerful when the cause is just. That simply encourages more injustice.

I think this is China's biggest challenge. It won't change until the rights of the individual are recognized.

</comment><comment><USER3> It sounds like "Human Flesh Search" is just the Chinese word for Doxing.

<comment><USER4> I've never heard of Doxing (and I read HN) while "Human Flesh Search" is a commonly understood term amoung young people in China. That said, China effectively has a single, unified internet culture, not the many sub-cultures of the english-language internet.

<comment><USER5> Human Flesh Search is just "人肉搜索" translated word by word, but literally it just means Manual Search, in contrast with automatic search done by machines.

"人肉搜索" coveres a very wide range of topics from its root <http://dzh.mop.com/renrou> (much like 4chan). E.g. Given the pic with part of a boob and ask for who the celeb is, or some random pic with a nice dress and ask where to buy it. Or you "人肉" the scammer on some Chinese craigslist sites. So later it envolvs identifcation of corrupt official's expensive watch. Theere's a karma-like system to keep the online community engaged.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> It seems to be silly to think this is only a phenomena in China. In the West we have 'doxing'.

That said, this sort of thing is what Internet activists always cite as being what a free internet can do for the world. Citizens can hold their officials accountable by combining their efforts to dig. It is much harder to arrest 10 people in somewhat geographically diverse regions than it is to find one activist.

<comment><USER7> Though, doxing seems to have a peculiar asymmetry. The doxee is revealed but the doxers remain anonymous (in some cases, Anonymous).

It seems that Chinese "doxers" are more open about their own identities.

<comment><USER6> That is a very interesting thing especially considering that one would assume that a western 'flesh searcher' would live in a country where political dissent is not punishable by disappearing.

<comment><USER8> One wouldn't assume that of the USA anymore, I'd think; the US government has been disappearing people since 2001, not to mention killing US citizens with drones who are alleged to have created and published propaganda (but not to have committed direct violence).

So far, such incidents mostly relate to the USA's ongoing state of war, not other kinds of "regular" corruption. However, as groups like Wikileaks and Anonymous butt up against, e.g., the state department and the military industrial complex, I think their members are wise to protect their identities.

I think the difference might stem more from the fact that in the USA (and pretty much all advanced Western democracies) we still have a lot more ability to remain anonymous than do people in China.

<comment><USER9> The origin of 'doxing' on 4chan was to do things like convince a female that was 'attention-whoring' on the forum to do things like post nude photos of herself. Some people would immediately try to figure out who she was, in some cases they would do things like send the nude photos to work, school, and/or family, in addition to telling everyone in the forum the name/address/etc of the target.

In this sense, it makes sense for the dox'ers to want to remain anonymous. You're convincing someone to do something, then turning it on them to attempt to ruin their life.

So 'doxing' is more specifically about _destroying_ someone's anonymity (or pseudo-anonymity if they maintain an alias), at least in it's origins.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> For most of the article, I was wondering how the author could avoid using the words "vigilante" or "vigilantism". It did show up near the end, in quotes, sounding like a positive thing.

It _does_ sound from this article like flesh searches are for comparatively noble causes; but as with any case where vigilante justice is glorified, I have to wonder what proportion of the victims of vigilantism really "had it coming". (To be fair, in a part of the world where rule of law is rather more tenuous, I think there is somewhat more place for such things... but it's a double-edged sword, and the back edge is _very_ sharp.)

<comment><USER11> This is a natural outcome for a system that has a large number of people but poor rule of law and arbitrary justice.

Fix the legal system and reduce the corruption and you will get a corresponding decrease in "flesh searches".

<comment><USER12> I think that sums it up pretty well. The citizen reporter Wu Gan ("The Butcher") who the author interviewed for the piece put it thusly:

 _"Some innocent people have been hurt, [and] personal privacy has not been protected, especially when information is incorrect. This kind of thing only happens in deformed countries. Because there's no rule of law or democracy, the Internet becomes citizens' only means of redress," he wrote to me._

How closely this bears resemblance to what is called doxing here is up for debate; but certainly there is a difference in political import between doxing and this "human flesh search."

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Didn't have time to read the entire story, but I'm a Chinese and I know that story.

So for those of you who didn't know yet, I'd like to point out that, the Internet is currently the only way for people in the "people's republic" to voice publicly and (possibly) get heard and taken cared by the authority.

IIRC, years ago Kai-Fu Lee had a speech at Stanford (?) explained such particular phenomenons (such as why Internet is the only trustworthy news source in China).

</comment><comment><USER14> HFS, I think it's like giving people the right to have guns, lots of potential for bad things to happen, but still a step forward to democracy.

</comment><comment><USER15> I think this more a matter of how it's changing not just China but any modern nation. If you have enough of the populace of the internet it's probably happening there and people are gonna be more wary of what they post online.

</comment><comment><USER16> This came out a few years back on NYT

[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/magazine/07Human-t.html?_r...](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/magazine/07Human-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all)

</comment><comment><USER17> Human Flesh Search, aka distributed vigilantisim

<comment><USER18> I've lived in China for many years and heard countless acts of injustice and corruption through Weibo (Chinese Twitter). There are interesting code-names that people use to keep their accounts from being deleted or blocked. Deng's freedom was absolutely due to weibo preasure. Its all about face, and if it can be covered up, face over rules justice. If it goes public, justice must be given...for face. Unfortunately doxing success stories are the minority.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> In other words, it's also what the denizens at 4Chan do (specifically /b/) when they "Dox" someone.</comment>


Despite What You've Heard, Running a Startup Is Not That Hard - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@robbieallen/despite-what-you-ve-heard-running-a-startup-is-not-that-hard-3c4354e55108#.iajdub7s0 <comment><USER2> This article should be called, "For me personally, running my current startup is not that hard". The generalization is laughable and arrogant.

Here are just some of the asinine and easily-refuted parts of the article:

> _You don't hear about how hard it is to be a veterinarian, scientist or > politician._

YES YOU DO. All the time, if you actually know these people. I dated a veterinarian and have many scientist friends. Those jobs vary quite a bit between people, so guess what? Like any job, some people have a hard time, others have an easy time, and still others are well-suited to the rigors of whatever they're doing. What a completely ridiculous, uninformed generalization!

> _[Running a startup is] hard in what sense of the word? Sure, long days can > contribute to fatigue that make things physically and emotionally > challenging, but how is that different from many (or most) jobs?_

It's different from most jobs because you answer to clients and are on-call all the time. You lose money every minute that you're not working. You are ultimately responsible for the success or failure of the company. That's radically different!

When people like Andreessen and Graham are saying that running a company is hard, I trust them, who have worked with thousands of companies, over some guy who is throwing out his own anecdotes.

Don't tell people that what they do isn't hard or that it could be easier. Your experience is your own. Surveys, better-informed people, and common sense disagree with you.

<comment><USER3> I think the author is using "startup" in the mainstream sense of any new business. The narrower sense in which Graham uses is it is a technical one that outside of the bubble is not worth arguing about.Me and Frank Sinatra Disagree on This Now

<comment><USER2> I definitely think there are many mainstream businesses that are pretty easy, but these are usually rental models. Being a landlord or running a Public Storage franchise would be examples.

What other categories of non-tech businesses do you think are easier to run than tech businesses?

Categorically, startups are dealing with a "lit fuse" in terms of their cash and burn rate. Once they're cash-flow positive, things change, but even then, they still have to pay back lenders or investors and there's an intense pressure to grow and become profitable.</comment></comment></comment>