nihonde

> This is why banks are regulated

I can't imagine thinking that banks won't lose your money. You live in a complete fantasy world.

99% sure you passed through a transfer gate in Tokyo station that requires you to produce two "tickets" (physical or virtual)—one for subway and one for Shinkansen. Always plenty confusing. I have to hold my phone (Suica app) and an EX card (Shinkansen card) together for a dual-NFC tap. I always forget one or the other.

For a long time in Japan, the physical cards were limited because of IC inventory shortage. There was a big push to get people to use their phones during this time.

Also, travelers beware: some of the special "Suica" sold at Haneda (and maybe Narita, too?) expires and is completely dead after 30 days, even if it has a balance. I found this out the hard way. Buy a proper Suica at Shinagawa or another non-airport station.

The idea that appetites are assigned at birth is a bold claim. Is there evidence to support it?

Well, you've reduced a rational position to absurdity here. The concern isn't that someone is going to require chemotherapy. The concern is that an asymptomatic condition will go undisclosed until it is symptomatic, at which point preventative treatments are futile.

Even if we accepted your example, there is a fundamental inconsistency, since doctors in America regularly prescribe very serious drug interventions for patients who essentially self-diagnose for being neurotic/adhd/etc.--actually a much worse problem than the one you're so eager to curtail.

Japan has seen millennia of huge cultural shifts. Its strength is its ability to adapt and survive with some measure of continuity, even while embracing the new reality. Go watch some Ozu films. They're all about the "hollowing out" of traditional small-town lifestyle and culture. It isn't so much a problem as a feature of the landscape that reminds people about how transient their reality can be.

> "Hanshin, Hankyu, Kentetsu, Nankai"

Also Keihan. And most, if not all, of these companies have huge land and real estate development projects generating non-rail income all up and down their lines.

Something doesn't add up. The entire Japanese healthcare system is built around the idea that preventative testing for asymptomatic conditions is effective. You can read all about it, if you want.

Personally, I think you've swallowed some kind of health insurance industry black pill, whether you know it or not.

I don't think there's much difference? The technicians that perform the tests are not doctors. You usually see a doc for 5 mins at the end, to discuss any anomalies. Even then, they're just going to refer you to see your GP or a specialist. At the end of the day, the ningendoku is just information that your doctors can access. I'd much prefer a high-resolution full body scan.

Either way, the patient should make the choice about whether they want that info, not an insurance company or a know-it-all armed with a dubious study concluding that asymptomatic conditions are better left undiscovered.

This doesn't hold up for me in Japan. My apartment is in a building that's 10 years old now, and I've been here since it was new. Japan famously builds for a 20-ish-year depreciation schedule, although buildings like mine often stay in operation for 40 or more years. The build quality is honestly through the roof. Even the materials that are "builder quality" like unit kitchen and bath or veneer floors are still built to last, with minimal maintenance, and maximum convenience. As for the neighbors, they're mostly passing strangers. A few of them are busy bodies who love to force management to post "reminder" letters on the bulletin board. In other words, typical ultra-passive-aggressive-obsessive types. But most people that I encounter are delightful, and everyone just stays out of each other's way. Building maintenance is an old lady who tried to retire, and the building residents literally demanded that she un-retire and come back. This building is absolutely spotless and everything is ship-shape at all times. Most people own their units. I rent from the owner. In the time since I've lived here, I've bought multiple other properties, but I remain here because it's so damn easy and great.

Insurance companies dislike paying for procedures instead of passively collecting premiums. Not sure how you missed that.

Rather than dealing with the issue—hypochondriacs or whatever—you prefer to remove the option for the non-hypochondriacs?

The fact that doctors like your wife think that people who are concerned about their health and want more information is a problem tells me everything I need to know about your (and her) worldview. You've dressed it up as being pragmatic, but the reality is that you're arguing for censorship and against freedom of information.