this post was submitted on 30 Oct 2025
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[–] DupaCycki@lemmy.world -1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

As a European, I find a comparison to Japan a bit offensive. Have we fallen that low?

[–] pathos@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Yes, Japan, economy that almost surpassed US, has fallen that low to be compared to western Europe. 🙄

[–] DupaCycki@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I thought the topic here was quality of life, not economic output. And there's simply no comparison to be made. Westerners like to fantasize about Japan being very cultured and civilized, unlike us barbarians. However, reality couldn't be further from the truth.

No hate towards Japanese people, but the country itself is pretty much a dystopia, close to South Korea. Japanese society is filled to the brim with erotic and pornographic content, to the point where reading/watching hentai is sometimes considered a regular hobby.

They study more, work more and have less free time. "* Full-time workers in Japan typically work 44.9 hours each week." (Source: https://electroiq.com/stats/japans-workforce-statistics/). This is considerably more than all of Europe.

This, and more, contributes to extremely high suicide rates among young people, breaking records every year (Source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20251027/p2a/00m/0na/005000c).

Recommend watching this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUJaRHQhec8. I wouldn't call it amazing, but does a good enough job of highlighting some of Japan's pressing issues, most of which are unheard of in the EU.

[–] pathos@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Yes, go on, tell me how much of an expert you are, even though you neither speak the language and nor experienced life in Japan.

I lived in both western Europe and Japan, multiple cities. Life is great in both places. You highlighted few metrics that Japan is worse in. Can you do the same with western Europe? Otherwise, you sound ridiculously biased and delusional as the Internet expert.

[–] DupaCycki@lemmy.world 0 points 6 days ago (1 children)

You're asking me to put forward arguments against my own thesis? That's your job if you disagree. So far all you've contributed is "ackshually you can't speak Japanese, so you don't know anything".

For your information, I've spent hundreds if not thousands of hours split across several years learning the Japanese language and culture, because in the past I was genuinely interested in moving there.

[–] pathos@lemmy.ml 0 points 6 days ago

It's to help your thesis be more sound and robust.

[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 4 points 1 week ago

44.9 hours each week

That's an absolute dream for a lot of workers, inside and outside the global West.