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Yeah yeah yeah, dashi, shoyu, mirin as a pour over bukkake set. How do you like Japan so far? Having fun?

I imagine these have a strong umami flavor

>>846676
Yes, they had a very strong umami flavor, I enjoyed them very much.

>>846673
Twenty years of great food at least.

It's not anime land though.

It's a real county with a real national healthcare system.

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>>846697
I do love the food and yeah it's really good and they take more pride in it there in general.

>20 years

Wow, you've been going there for quite a bit longer than I have. I was 2014. So we both remember the Heisei Era!

Yeah, it's a good country with a favorable exchange rate for us (now). Remember when it was really expensive? We have alot of influence over there.

>health care

I watch NHK world alot and they do have some really innovative stuff but in general along with their auto/tech industry it seems like they've been kinda sliding. I dunno. I know I have a great health care plan amd here in the US we create and have the best machines but luckily enough I've never had to use it much. I do know people often have trouble navigating it.

Hope you have fun on your trip! You wouldn't happen to be the person on the rented scooter near Fujisan who posted here months ago would you? I'm traveling right now too and will be going through the Panama Canal in like a week. Have a fun time! ツ

>>846699
>seems like they've been kinda sliding
The current government is the most xenophobic since the war, and seems to be pushing to restart the war while also tanking the economy by evicting their workforce. I'm hoping it doesn't last and the next government returns to status quo. Japanese people love status quo, so it isn't entirely unlikely.
>the person on the rented scooter near Fujisan
Not me, but that sounds like fun. I gave up riding a gentsuki years ago because I got too many tickets and had too many accidents.

Ahab the Arab - Jimmy Savile 1962
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ou57_ZjqNMs

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>>846789
People who haven't experienced western european capitals and major cities 20 years ago will never experience that ever and now it's gone (I know because I was there to experience those cultures 10-20 years ago). They've been robbed of it in a very short amount of time. Japan is not immune to this. Just because something lasted a thousand years (Japanese culture) doesn't mean it will last the next 20. I'd rather them tank the economy than throw away something they cannot easily or ever bring back... It's like trying to remove a spoonful of shit out of a barrel of honey... Maybe early on you still can... Not saying all indians are shit each culture is valuable in it's own way, but high trust societies get destroyed by a spoonful of low trust, not the other way around.

Also pax americana is over. It's rational for their gov to start building they own capabilities. For all they know it's everyone on their own now. The only military alliance still kinda real (out of necessity) is the european one and europe has it's own bag of shit to deal with internally on top of that.
Japan is not the one being aggressive. they're being realistic about how their neighbors operate.
Maybe to a lesser extent with China, but definitely with Russia - ONLY strength is respected - concessions invite attack. It's an empire of lies from top to bottom. There's still some rationality and honor with the Chinese even though they're generally a lowly people, they want their country to do well at least on paper and they recognize trust and diplomacy is a tool in that.

The status quo cannot be returned to anyway, because of ever growing demographic problem as well as the end of the global/japanese carry trade and the shifts in global economy which is only kinda floating because of the AI promises which most likely will bankrupt most people currently invested. AI will deliver, but not through the current 3 LLM companies. Unless they pivot, assess and acquire fast enough. They're only powerful in the talent that they attracted and the amount of capital they still wield.

>>846839
What you misunderstand about Japan is that while they do modernize rapidly, they also preserve something of their own culture and they gave always taken great care to do so.

There are still people who wear kimono and geta, even if only for their job.

Whatever people did two hundred or two thousand years ago, someone is still doing today.

They never fully discard anything; they never completely let things go.

They have very few cases of lost technology or extinct customs.

It's not just for tourism either. The best market for these things is the ever-older local population who have the money for it.

They don't need the current measures to do this.

>>846845
Most people underestimate the impact having other people (of a certain mentality and culture) has on personal lives as well as societally.

They think it's no big deal to invite someone into your house or spend time with them, but it is. Have you ever struggled with your relationship with your parents and for like 18-20 years and then moved out of their house? It's not a trivial thing.

How does the saying go, you are the sum of the five people closest to you. And it's not that extreme, but there's a reason why that saying exists. It's not just economics or this or that, making or inventing ways for these people to coexist. There's energy, there's culture, there's so much that goes into a human being and just by their presence they are spreading that. This is why I rarely interact with anyone. This is why being a hermit can actually be a very powerful tool. And choosing the people you do spend considerable amount of time with very carefully. It's belief systems, it's world views. Unless you are very conscious of all of these processes, it rubs off, it transfers and not all of it is necessarily harmonious and work one with another. Sometimes it's a good thing to hide a good thing from the mass. To preserve pockets. Anyway, all of this would be already obvious to you if you had the basic ability to think, so I don't know why I'm even talking about it.

>>846846
>Anyway, all of this would be already obvious to you if you had the basic ability to think, so I don't know why I'm even talking about it.
For the odd lurker maybe. I'm noticing lots of people starting to really think lately. Sign of the times. There probably were others like this during the other catastrophic changes that brought civilization backwards time and time again.

>>846845
Yeah, you don't see Western people doing traditional versions of things. Once the new shit comes, the old ways are basically abandoned. Not too many motherfuckers out here using a telegraph, you know? But tons of people in Japan still write on scrolls with ink.

>>846864
This.

Two of my friends and one of my exes teach people how to write on scrolls with ink (made from ash, btw, just like it was in China two thousand years ago--and of course the most expensive brand of it is made the traditional way).