Comment by csa | Hacker News Reader

Comment by csa | Hacker News Reader

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This article strikes me as a bit of orientalism used to pimp a personal finance blog, but I guess it strikes a chord with some folks.

To be specific:

1. These aren’t philosophies, they are words. The ideas behind these words exist in other cultures as well — they aren’t unique to Japan. If one really wants to push the point that the Japanese version of these ideas are actually different (I could see an argument for that), the difference is not reflected at all in the article.

2. Related to 1, I don’t think that these ideas/“philosophies” are particularly prominent in modern day Japan. Maybe… maybe in some circles, but I don’t think that these ideas broadly represent the current zeitgeist.

Maybe I’m just too cynical about the personal finance blog genre, but I don’t appreciate the author co-opting a rich culture in such a vapid way.

I totally agree, imagine an article like this:

Western philosophies that’ll help you spend money consciously: 1. Contentment 2. Asceticism 3. Frugality 4. Sustainability 5. Etc

Sure, there may be something specific to the Japanese thought that is actually different from the Western ideas, but that article looks like a list of quite banal things wrapped in a Magical Asian trope. (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MagicalAsian)

>This article strikes me as a bit of orientalism used to pimp a personal finance blog, but I guess it strikes a chord with some folks.

Take a shot every time anything Japan-related is front-page'd to HN. Your liver will be unhappy.

Unfortunately I frankly need ancient and wise cultures learnings in order to fold my t-shirts the right way.

Totally agree with you. I remember reading somewhere (maybe on HN) that Japan is an extremely consumerist society. I don't know how true that is but, like anywhere, some are going to be more conscientious than others and I've heard all these same ideas on western blogs.

One of the Japanese textbooks I read long ago had a survey with on Japanese ppl for the question:what is the meaning of life. I think 25% of all answers was: possessing a lot of things.

I didn't see the author explicitly state how prominent these philosophies are, nor that they are unique, he just made a list of them. I think you are being very cynical in that regard.

Exactly. I might as well just use amazon leadership principles.

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