Comment by andischo | Hacker News Reader

Comment by andischo | Hacker News Reader

This interview makes me wonder where we are heading as the human race. The Japanese society, so certainly very different in some aspects, does strike me as a glimpse into the future of western society. Technology has a much bigger impact on the daily life there and I believe that this is one of the main reasons, why (face-to-face) social interactions are becoming more infrequent. What struck me the most from the article was the impression that the customers of this service seem to feel especially lonely - or even more worrysome - that some of them view social interactions as hasselsome and being work. If that is the way humans as a whole start thinking than we will have a lot of problems in our future.

> For them, it’s a lot of hassle and disappointment. Imagine investing five years with someone and then they break up with you. It’s just easier to schedule two hours per week to interact with an ideal boyfriend.

> I don’t have a real girlfriend right now. Real dating feels like work. It feels like work to care for a real person.

> Technology has a much bigger impact on the daily life there

I see this a lot and I'd like to see what kind of technology you think exists here and has an impact on daily life here that doesn't exist/have an impact elsewhere.

Japanese technology that reaches the west is often the high-concept/prototype kind that definitely does not have any daily impact on anything, urban or rural.

The most ubiquitous pieces of technology I can think of that exist here that do not exist elsewhere are:

1. washlets (fancy bidets)

2. suica (cashless payment via touching a card)

and while neither of those exist as such elsewhere, similar things do... and neither of those really impact Japanese society to such a degree that I would consider Japanese society to be a "glimpse into the future of western society."

To me, Western society seems to be much further along any curve of alienization, with automatic cars and outsourced phone support (Japanese being a niche language, you're almost guaranteed to be talking to a real Japanese person for phone support).

One of the reasons I'm responding to this so strongly is that I dislike the continued "exotification" of Japan as some kind of strange, ineffable future-land and really strive to correct that kind of opinion wherever I can. It's nothing personal, but it only hurts all parties involved when Japan is seen in this light.

if 'cashless payment via touching a card' is what I think it is, it is completely widespread in London, in all shops/restaurants, and also on public transport.

Ah, yeah. Oyster card? Same deal. I guess that just goes to show that Japan really isn't as "futuristic" as people would like to think. :)

> it is completely widespread in London, in all shops/restaurants

Probably needs "major" after "all" there. There's plenty of reasonably sized shops et al that haven't quite got around to contactless machines yet (Holland and Barrett, Ryman, etc.)

> Technology has a much bigger impact on the daily life there

Strange to say technology has no impact on American lives spent entirely in front of TVs and steering wheels.

> Technology has a much bigger impact on the daily life there

Why do you say that? Fax machines are still in regular use in Japan, as are flip phones.

Flip phones are mostly reserved to seniors here. Smartphones are everywhere.

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