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Comment by SapporoChris | Hacker News Reader

For those that prefer to reading versus video. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2019/04/20/lifestyle/tokyo...

From the video, I laughed at the comments of hearing the other tenants.

With my windows open in Sapporo Japan during the summer I can here conversations clearly. I think from the floor below, guessing it bounces off the next building which is but a couple meters away. I know every time the baby wakes wet. During the winter with double windows I don't hear as much but I do hear my neighbor belting out the songs in the shower. Like the commentator in the video, it does create a sense of connectivity. If he's happily singing in the shower then I'm happy for him and it makes me smile every time.

However it makes me a little self conscious and I try to be quiet as possible.

Also very surprised to see a guitar in the video. Most agencies will ask if you have instruments and likely deny or limit your apartment choices.

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The thing that really jumps at me is: don't get injured, disabled or just old. If you're going to have problems with ladders you're going to have problems living like this.

On the other hand, some things that take a lot of space are easier to replace these days. Books? I have a lot but I'm not buying a lot of physical books these days. Video collections? How many DVDs have you bought in the past year? TVs are thin, headphones are common, no need for that big multimedia cabinet that used to hold a TV, stereo and media storage.

This is also going to tend to push some people towards "third spaces" for socializing with friends. There's a very active Starbucks near me that's open until midnight, always packed, and which in addition to a bunch of tables full of laptops has several divided off areas with armchairs that regularly have small groups chatting.

Coffee shops being third spaces more than half a thousand years old, starting from coffee shops alongside the Bosphorus in Istanbul in 1400s, before it jumps to Italy via the merchants of Genoa and Venice.

Coffee shop + armchairs you mention is also a time-honoured tradition: the TV show ‘Friends’ is effectively just a camera pinned to that armchair. It’s probably the most famous TV series in the whole western world. People don’t change all that much!

Things don't take up much space in themselves, activities do. What you lose when living smaller aren't the things themselves, but a kitchen were it is easy to cook healthy food, a kitchen table to discuss politics at or a workbench were you can leave your tools out. There isn't really much of a replacement for those spaces. While I do think some American concepts are outdated the idea of having capabilities in things like a larger home and a car wasn't unfounded. One of the best ways to not be part of something is simply to miss it. Having a lower standard of living is one easy way to do that. It tends to be hard to explain way things happen, but fairly easy to explain why they don't. People not having the time or space for them tends to be a common one. (Of course it is still always hard for people to accept). The 'next big thing' is unlikely to be created at starbucks. They will be created at kitchen tables and in garages and bedrooms like they always have been. Because that is where you don't have to ask anyone for permission.

> Because that is where you don't have to ask anyone for permission

Some cities have hscker or maker spaces, but the result is similar (at least what I've seen) : you can't leave you stuff out (it'll get stolen), make too much noise etc. Nothing like a garage where no one will get on you for cutting bricks with a chainsaw.

More simply we miss paying some bills by living in a small apartment where there's not room enough for a desk to out to do that so they end up on the kitchen table covered with kids' spaghetti etc

There is of course also the opposite problem of having a lot of space but ending up in essentially a house size cubicle without connection to other people.

But it seems like the larger problem today is that it is hard for people to wrap their heads around that when something becomes available, or even common, whatever enables or let's you explore it becomes more important.

It used to be that to be a musician you had to end up in a studio or a stage (or at least in lessons or rehearsals). People would fly across the world for auditions and recordings. Today everyone can have their studio or even stage at home. But that makes your home so much more important. If you don't have the space, the time, if it is too costly, not connected to a community or unstable then it is a lot harder to become a musician.

And that isn't just true for something like being a musician but everyday things like cooking, reading or exercise were we now have more possibilities than ever. Virtual cycling is for example a thing now.

Some cities have hscker or maker spaces,

Within reason, check out what your local library may have. It's not going to be a workshop, but some of the same kind of things have been showing up at local libraries as they shift to meet changing usage patterns.

> The thing that really jumps at me is: don't get injured, disabled or just old. If you're going to have problems with ladders

People with desk jobs often forget this, but that's true of a lot of work, too. If I couldn't climb a ladder, I couldn't do my job. Now, I probably won't be doing this when I'm 80, but I don't want to live every day of my life as if I'm the weakest I'll ever be. Desk jobs and comfy ramblers will still be around when I'm old (or disabled) and can't climb any more.

> This is also going to tend to push some people towards "third spaces" for socializing with friends. There's a very active Starbucks near me

I love "third places" in principle, but I find it funny how many people spend all day sipping coffee in front of a computer ... and then to socialize with friends at night, they go to a place where they pay to sit at a computer sipping coffee. I guess if that's what you love doing, go for it. As Ken Robinson said, "They look upon their body as a form of transport for their heads."

> I don't want to live every day of my life as if I'm the weakest I'll ever be

But even if you're completely healthy and in great shape, you can have an accident or illness that makes you temporarily unable to climb a ladder. If you broke your leg one day, or came down with a nasty flu or stomach virus, would you want to be living in a place where you needed to climb a ladder to travel between your bed and your bathroom? Nobody is healthy 100% of the time.

> Books? I have a lot but I'm not buying a lot of physical books these days. Video collections? How many DVDs have you bought in the past year?

This is observation is unfortunately woefully irrelevant to Tokyo. CDs, DVDs and Blu-Ray are still very much alive and kicking in Japan. Tower Records never closed shop, and Tsutaya (the local equivalent of blockbuster) has stores everywhere. I don't have statistics, but physical books (especially Manga) also seem more popular.

Few architects consider how easily sound can travel in residential buildings - from nearby buildings and closely-spaced balconies for example. Many apartment blocks have adjoining balconies with light partitions that do nothing to dampen sound. The result is having to listen to every neighbour above, below, to your left, and to the right. It's even worse when sound proofing is poor inside the apartment complex.

> Like the commentator in the video, it does create a sense of connectivity.

And/or absolute hell for eg people with difficulty sleeping or early schedules.

Also makes you realise how many weirdoes wear hard shoes and heels inside. Though I guess that’s less likely in Japan given the strong cultural separation between inside and outside.

Very unlikely in Japan.

Ear plugs are an option for that, although I wonder if you can feel the vibrations...

I recently stayed in a hotel that is right next to a very major highway, and they provided ear plugs for free.

I've had insomnia most of my life and am an incredibly light sleeper (not helped by health issues) and the best thing I've found for cutting out background noise when it can't be avoided is silicone earplugs (the type you use for swimming), they are soft, pliable so easily inserted/removed and quickly warm up to body temperature so you forget they are installed (enough that I've made it to work a few times with them in).

Any recommendations?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bio-Ears-Silicone-EarPlugs-Protecti... I use these, they are big enough you can split one plug in half and use them for a few nights so I get a couple of weeks out of a box, own brand ones are no worse, boots in the uk does them at about half the price.

Honestly though they are cheap at 5 times the price for a good nights sleep.

I also have the same issues, but tinnitus on top which makes earplugs unusable for me as they amplify the condition. I've kind of resigned to my fate at this point.

Earplugs are for hearing protection; they will cut damaging volumes down to merely loud, but not interfere with perception that much. What matters is the relationship of the signal to the noise floor, and masking is a lot more effective. A box fan works for me.

> Most agencies will ask if you have instruments and likely deny or limit your apartment choices.

I would absolutely lie if I were asked about it. I don't play any instruments in my apartment except a keyboard with headphones, but I do have a lot of instruments.

That's your choice. If others complain about what is forbidden, you'll have to move out.

How do you like living in Sapporo? I loved my time there through there but found it really hard to find anyone else doing tech. I even resorted to walking around the CS building at Hokkaido University just to see what was going on.

Hoping to come back to Niseko this coming season if you want to meet up!

>Also very surprised to see a guitar in the video. Most agencies will ask if you have instruments and likely deny or limit your apartment choices...

They did limit the guitar owner's choices. If you read it carefully it's saying she has to live in a soundproofed apt.

Very Coasean. The agent who can most easily change the costs of a behavior internalizes it in a functioning market. Instead of neighbors being force to suffer the guitar playing, the effects are removed (via soundproofing) and the guitar player pays the premium.

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