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Comment by mrhappyunhappy | Hacker News Reader

Interesting how in US I always see articles talking about how to find happiness. Ever since I moved to Japan I haven't heard this theme yet. I am made to wonder if consumption based societies have a bigger issue with being unhappy than those that strive for conservative lives. One one hand the author has a point. I can think back to activities where I was happiest that involved being consumed wholly by that activity. On the other hand, there are moments where I think I'd be better off if I didn't focus so much on that one thing. I'm not sure where I'm going with this other than I'm tired of these articles that seek to define ways to be happy. This really says something about our society or perhaps about the nation. Is there a happiness crisis? I don't see it happening here in Japan but perhaps I'm disallusioned as I have not fully integrated into this society.

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"Interesting how in US I always see articles talking about how to find happiness."

One of the things worth remembering sometimes is that technically, what you're seeing is the media culture of a country, not necessarily a country's culture, in articles like this. They are certainly not unrelated to each other, but they are not the same, either.

I've often thought, for instance, that part (not all, but part) of the reason so many of our journalists are down on capitalism is not just political belief, but the specific fact that they are in an industry being actively disrupted by it. Of course they're a bit dour about economic issues, they're not exactly looking ahead to great prospects. I expect there's an ongoing selection process where anybody who has any reasonable chance of getting out mostly already has, so a lot of who is left is precisely the ones who are trapped there.

Are Americans actually obsessed with seeking happiness all the time, or is just our happiness-starved writers? I mean, it's not a topic I hear come up in my casual conversations very often. I know self-help books sell, but there's also a bit of difference between buying one on a whim and scanning it, and obsessing over it.

Rising income inequality means bleaker prospects for most. Things are pretty nice in high-tech because it pays well (probably too well for what we actually do).

Your examination of the media is astute.

Part if the problem is businesses wanted more tabloid journalism because they wanted to make money. The real journalists fought it but apparently lost, or gave up, or did something else. Now that all news is essentially tabloid, they're not distinct enough to not be aggregated.

I mean with Trump, it's even happening to the papers that have good journalism. They've all turned to Chicken Little and the sky is falling. I mean I can go anywhere to read about the part where Trump said something stupid. I want them to analyze everything he said.

The newspapers were one of the latter industries affected by globalization and disruption. Had they been one of the first, and complained when globalization and automation was in it's infancy, a lot of people wouldn't have embraced it so and the wealth gap would be a lot smaller. Who knows?

>I mean, it's not a topic I hear come up in my casual conversations very often. I know self-help books sell, but there's also a bit of difference between buying one on a whim and scanning it, and obsessing over it.

Well, judging from sales volumes of self-help books, storage space in bookstores (when those were a thing), success of such shows, motivational speakers, the whole alternative lifestyle industries, and even all the sects and BS "religions" and evangelists to "change life", etc, yeah, the whole nation is "obsession over it", much more than any other place on earth.

Why do you think Japan is less of a consumption based society? Not saying you are wrong, but would like to hear why. I have heard things like they buy new cars every five years and don't like "used" houses and instead opt to tear down and rebuild houses when they buy them, not to mention there fascination with new technology. So I have never thought of Japan as being less consumption based.

Yeah, one of our favorite things was to walk around on gomi day and pick up all the lightly used kitchen appliances thrown out.

Japan does not seem like a happier place by any stretch of imagination.

I reckon it isn't. All I'm saying is that people or should I say media, are not obsessed with the subject. Perhaps life is more about fulfillment and less about how that makes you feel? Can anyone truly maintain happiness as a state of mind? Is that even possible?

Japan has the highest suicide rate in the world and many heavily discussed social issues related to happiness, including salarymen, hikikomori, decreased rate of marriage and childbearing....I think you might just not be tuned in there yet.

yeah, but do they write articles on happiness all the time?

>Japan has the highest suicide rate in the world

Actually, no. From the WHO 2017 data it's #26 with a rate not that much higher than the US (15.4 vs 12.6 /100k/yr).

Interesting, looks like it's not the highest, but the Japanese government stats say the rate is much higher than that (about 19) http://www.newsweek.com/japans-suicide-rate-finally-falling-...

Japan seems to have given up the idea of happyness for indirect proxies like a good job etc.

US, has gone down a similar path, but has this crazy idea you should be happy and successful. France IMO is closer to the ideal that happyness should be the goal not a side effect.

>I'm tired of these articles that seek to define ways to be happy

I don't think it's seeking to define anything, just saying that people are sometimes happiest focusing on what they are in to. One reason you see these articles in the US is that people there have been pioneering the scientific study of happiness, or "positive psychology" as it's often put, which only really kicked off in 1998 or so as a proper science. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_psychology)

I'm kind of a fan, partly because I think it could lead to a better way of governing/society. Rather than shouting yay left wing vs yay right wing, you could try to maximise happiness which could become more an engineering project than a shouting thing.

No the US is just irrationally obsessed with happiness.

Decades of advertising created a deep connection between happiness, individualism and consumerism. Related: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Century_of_the_Self

Yes. It's mainly that happiness is being used to sell stuff to people (that will "make them happy").

And it's not much better when they are selling them "experiences".

It probably has more to do with individualism rather than consumption-driven economy. Eastern cultures put less emphasis on personal happiness.

Japanese culture is deeply anti-individualist and frowns on excessive displays of status.

It's interesting to compare the countries distribution of wealth. Japan has the lowest wealth Gini coefficient in the world (aka more equality) while the US is the 5th most unequal country:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_distribut...

It is the same - maybe to a lesser extend - in Europe. People should really stop telling others how to be happy

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