Hacker News Reader

Comment by sjm | Hacker News Reader

Totally agree. Japan is also incredibly safe. I've just spent a couple months there (now in Seoul), and you get the sense that people really trust each other there. It's not uncommon to see people leave their bags, phones, wallets, etc. just lying around in a cafe; bikes unlocked everywhere. It's a really calm place to be in that sense.

I've been doing the "digital nomad" thing and jumping around a lot of countries — Japan was very different in this aspect to pretty much everywhere else I've been.

View on HN

I had left my Nikon camera in a shop, when I've realized and ran back, a shop associate was trying to knot it to a chair she just put outside of the shop (so it can be seen). It was amazing! --- Other story I had in Japan. That I lost direction in Kyoto and had no money since all ATM is closed (at night).At some point somebody just stopped his bike and asked where i go. When I told him, he said that I should wait a bit, he will pick up his car and bring me there (in the middle of the night!) .. and so he did.

No place like japan (or at least very few)!

More than one person I met in Japan told me a story of someone accidentally leaving their wallet on the seat of a train, only for another passenger to chase after them to hand it to them as they left.

For what it's worth, I had this happen in Denmark last month.

During the couple of years when I lived at the end of a metro line in London, I must have found about 5 wallets left on the train. All but one were the type that just holds the transport card and perhaps a credit card, but still.

hahaah that happened to me at least twice with my cell phone when I was living there. One of the times a girl missed the train she was taking to return it to me.

I think people are afraid to do this in the US because they will be suspected of pick-pocketing it or some other form of liability.

This doesn't make any sense. If you run to return a dropped phone/wallet to someone they don't accuse you of pickpocketing them. Not unless you maybe drained the wallet of cash first.

I've handed people stuff they've dropped many times and usually get a polite thank you for the effort. The idea that they would be hostile to you is just crazy.

No good deed goes unpunished

When I was traveling in Japan, even in some of the sketchier areas my only worry was that I might get yelled at or maybe at worst get in a fight if I started something. Not once did I fear for my or my wife's safety even late at night.

There is something magical about living somewhere like that which I can only fantasize about as someone who grew up in Chicago taking the 36 to school and having to avoid crazy people and always looking over my shoulder. And that was in a nice part of East Lakeview.

Yeah, to get in trouble in Japan you have to either be actively looking for it or be an idiot.

Curious to learn about your experiences as a digital nomad in Japan. Did you rent a place? Did you have to pay the rental gift for renting the place?

What did you do about working - would you work from home or out? What sort of places would you frequent if working away from home?

I rented Airbnb apartments in each city I visited (Tokyo a couple times, Osaka, Kobe, Hiroshima and Kyoto), which was pretty painless and not too expensive. Definitely better value for money outside of Tokyo -- probably Osaka or Kobe was the best in that case.

I mostly worked from cafes, but I'm a bit of a coffee snob so I spent a fair bit of time and energy finding the perfect combination of coffee, wifi, and comfort. I've definitely got some suggestions if it's something you're interested in.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com