ausvisaissues

With noise, with garbage sorting, etc...

Japanese people tend to follow all rules, written and unwritten. I guess Americans follow only rules that can be enforced (cf. Uber, Airbnb, etc...)

Probably from a culture of rebellion against Britain colonial government... In some cases it is good and in some bad.

In Japan there is also no tolerance for the 1% that ruins public spaces for everyone (compare Tokyo subways against San Francisco subways). This allows true public spaces that can be shared by everyone.

It is also culture that plays a big part.

I've lived in very high density housing in Japan (20 floor manshion type apartment) and medium density in US (2 level apartment).

Higher density in Japan is much more pleasant due to the culture of being considerate of others.

If I have to live in the US, I will choose suburbia for that reason.

Processing time for highskilled visa is 5 days guaranteed. It is a refreshing change compared to US h1b lottery.

Perhaps that is true, but some incremental steps have the possibility of making driving infinitely better.

Imagine cars that refuse to tailgate, drive at excessive speed, drive with drowsy owners, drive on the right-hand side of the road in non-emergency situations, skip red traffic lights, etc...

If you have a highskilled visa with 80 points, it is 1 year (however, it takes 10 months after application to get it).

High-skilled visas are not connected to an employer and there is no lottery system.beats the hell out of US policies...

Most gates are automatic now in Japan (with a conductor sometimes checking tickets on Shinkansen after gates).

When I was in the US there was a guy handing me a towel in the bathroom. That is an incredibly meaningless and superfluous job!

The problrm is that Japanese journals are less competitive. So, second-rate researchers can continue to publish in these and "work" (i.e., look productive).

The biggest problem with Japanese universities is not funding (there is to much), but the old chaff with tenure.

Unfortunately old second-rate researchers has a lot of institutional power (and funding).

Just deleted AccuWeather. I am 100% convinced by the blog post -- but the DarkSky App is unfortunately not available outside USA.

I really wish that the user could selectively switch on or off what permissions an app receives -- Instead of a blanket list of permissions at the install. For instance -- "lie to the App and give location obly within 100m".

I said "just" a rural urban thing. No doubt there are more leftwingers/liberals in cities. But it is not nearly as uniform as your experience would suggest.

Polling also said that Hillary would win the election, and brexit won't happen. People, including me, lie to pollsters.

Don't for a moment think it is just a city/rural thing (with a bunch of conservative country bumkins).

Many people having non-leftwing ideas simply hide it. Since most workplaces have become politicised and hostile to conservative/right/slightly right of center views, people just hide it. Some people (including me) even engage in fake virtue signalling.

I will immigrate to US in Dec. and think it is a vast improvement.

H1b lottery is a broken system which is gamed by outsourcing companies.

The current H1b system has a cap, with more applications than positions. This is resolved via a "lottery". If you apply, you have a 30% chance of being selected. Indian outsourcing firms started to game the lottery (for every position have 3 applicants).

The new system will resolve the above problem by selecting applicants with the most points (giving points for skills, etc...).

From person experience H1b lottery is heart-wrenching, and makes it difficult to plan. The Australian system (which is similar to this system), is much better.

Japan has a backwards view of mental health, and one of the highest suicide rates in the world.

Yet public places are immaculately clean.

The fact is that western people and law enforcement tolerate vandalism, littering and antisocial behaviour.

Recently, on Seattle's airport train, I saw a person openly taking garbage out of their bag and throwing it on the floor. No one said anything - just another day on the dirty train.

I don't think someone would dare do that in Japan or Singapore.