It is broken in many countries including India and China. The issues are the duopoly over global transactions, the monopoly over the transactions, and the dominance of the US dollar in situations where other currencies would be more efficient.
Both Japanese men and women drink more alcohol than their American counterparts. Average consumption of pure alcohol in liters per year among all adults aged 15+ in 2019:
Japan Men 15.58, Women 4.93
United States Men 15.44, Women 4.69
It's tough to compare averages across populations when the people who don't drink really don't drink. Something that takes into account number of drinks per drinking occasion might paint a different picture.
This article might be alluding to an age difference since I am in my early twenties, but I can attest that I am a weak drinker but I drink more alcohol than virtually every Japanese person I have known - only Westerners and a number of Asians such as Koreans can drink in the same pattern as me. If you are an older person then it is common everywhere for married men to drown their sorrows in bars and pubs etc...
I think this is more age related. I am actually in Japan currently and I can attest that no-one I know will drink daily like in Europe, possibly weekly but the weekly drinks tend to be far stronger and bigger. A European will have a couple of glasses of wine a day and go clubbing every week, Japanese on the other hand tend to only drink occasionally, attend one of the work parties at work with the older guys who don't want to go home - the idea of the older men who don't want to return to annoying homes is common even in Europe
Can public transport be a cause though? I’ve definitely didn’t hold back my drinking as much when traveling somewhere I didn’t have to rely on driving.
In my case, the meals were long and mixed with alcohol. It was like a "tasting menu" type of restaurant, with the booze proof increasing, as the evening wore on.
Lunches are a different matter entirely. They would wolf down their meal in ten minutes. Not a drop of alcohol, until the day was done. Lots of energy drinks; even before the US had them.
I also drink a lot of alcohol with my meals, but I find that often Japanese people who eat with me refrain from ordering alcohol because the next day is a work day - so Fridays will be a day that everyone orders alcohol for example. I have also been in the accompany of plenty of Japanese who get "Asian flush" and a worried about any effect on their health.
In comparison Koreans will nearly always drink alcohol on a daily basis and to a stronger concentration than what Japanese drink - even the Koreans in Japan.
That was not necessary. I have nothing but respect for the people in our team.
I worked with them for decades, and they were (still are) some of the finest engineers and scientists in the world (not hyperbole). They, in turn, had a great deal of respect for us.
It upset me to see the level of drinking, because I am quite aware of the toll it takes. These were my friends.
well, my brilliant friend went to Japan while working at Apple, made lots of money, pounded alcohol, and came back to mature as an American loner alcoholic. So its all true - is truth necessary ? more can be said but nothing will be solved here
thank you - I am upset about my ex-friend; I myself have been to both urban and coastal Japan on tour; I am concerned for the Japanese people, and for USA.. both ways are turning sour in modernity; Alcohol is not "the solution" and as noted here, a giant serious problem for many.
I think most are not actually alcoholics. They drink a lot, but it doesn't take over their lives, in the way that alcoholism does.
They are back in the office at 8AM, the next day, and it's as if nothing happened.
But a lot of my friends did suffer some serious health problems, and I suspect that drinking played a part. Japan has a pretty good healthcare system.
The stress level of a salaryman is pretty much "off the charts." The management practices are brutal, and the days long. On Saturdays, they work "half days," which means they work for six hours.
The company I worked for was a pretty "high achievement" company. I suspect the pressure was higher for our folks, than at other companies.
Definitely possible, but hang out in Shinagawa Station, on a Wednesday night, between 2200 and 2300. It's fairly common to see men in ten-thousand-dollar suits, kneewalking drunk.
This is not true. If you go to Japan you will see an army of extremely drunk salarymen every night, and statistically Japanese people do consume a ton of alcohol compared to most western countries.
As someone who is living in Japan, I would say that Japanese drank less than Europeans for sure. Europeans will drink a couple of glasses of wine every night for example.
> Europeans will drink a couple of glasses of wine every night for example.
I'm from a wine-producing region in Europe and I would not consider this normal in any way. Not even my parents drink that much, and they have a dedicated wine cellar.
While this source seems to have valid numbers for wine consumption (based on the 2016 numbers available on Wikipedia), but the jump from liters per year to glasses per day is not coherent at all.
60 liters per year =
1.15 liters per week =
164ml per day
That is a not 2-3 glasses nor the "couple of glasses" I was calling out - that is what I would describe as "one generous glass" or ~1.3 UK standard wine glasses of 125ml.
I only visited Tokyo. That's like saying I know the US, because I've visited New York. I did go, every year (sometimes multiple times per year), for over twenty years.
I also live in Japan currently and I find the drinking culture to be weak. I've met a few people who drink daily but they tend to come from other parts of Asia (Korea etc...) where drinking is very common. This article might be alluding to a age difference considering I am in my early twenties.
[Ibn Khaldun] widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest social scientists of the Middle Ages,[13] who made major contributions in the areas of historiography, sociology, economics, and demography.
It needs to be mentioned that casteism is less of an issue in the major urban areas and in South India. In these places it is possible to grow up and live your entire life without having to deal with caste, and Bengaluru is of the biggest urban areas in South India.
Casteism is generally a smaller problem in urban areas and in South India, so technically casteism is a smaller problem in places like Bengaluru where the IT tech companies are based. A major reason for the issue might be based on the fact that there was a major immigration of upper caste Indians to the US around the time of the Cold War who kept to their old ways.
It seems likely that they simply designed it for a max expected water temp and they're exceeding that max. If you need more water to cool the same amount, you're gonna need some bigger pipes.
It's not an issue of being unable to cool the plant, it's an issue of the plant being prohibited from heating up the river too much. Apparently this is done for ecological reasons, though seeing as it results in more fossil fuel emissions it might be better to hear the river.
The tragedy is that people who want to use the railways are put below freight in priority - whereas other countries such as Russia and India are capable of mixing both.
Something I learn in Japan was that you also need to have friends/people who share the same ideology as you. In Western Europe there would be people who support you making a startup but also EXPECT you to have free time outside working hours. If you work the entire time in Western Europe then you might be considered an outcast.
100% true. Luckily for me, I live in Sweden and work life balance here is great, we get +four weeks of vacation and many benefits. So far, I haven't met anyone with the "hustle hustle hustle" attitude that you can find in other parts of the world, and I'm saying that as something positive!
Lazy West. Leading into already visible decline. I have 30 days regular vacation here in Germany. Plus additional 4 from Big corp I work for. Plus take all overtime as vacation days giving me another dozen free days. Basically no time for work. Days with meetings or time off. My boss from Asia shares my “hustle hustle hustle” attitude and I love it.
If you're challenged to fit a year's worth of work into 9½ months and are still bored, that sounds like a fantastic opportunity to build something you're passionate about.
The social structure and how you view friends or make friends are different in all cultures including Japan.
Japan does not have the concept of "casual friends" or "light hearted friends" in the same way that places like the US have, but more similar to the way friends are viewed in the UK maybe, and friends take a lot of work and time to make.
In the middle of this is that most of your social life and work life are merged into one, which is different to countries like the UK and US, and you will be expected to work very long hours to show your love of the company.
I also live in Japan but I wouldn't use the term "kissa" outside MangaKissa or a traditional coffee shop (and who goes to a traditional coffee shop on a normal occasion?)?
