Why do we always need more houses, roads, trains, hospitals, schools?

[potto]

Originally Posted by Bowater

That says but maybe, but you were actually replying to Cnapan's post not mine.

I didn't say he was from Exeter. Read it.

[potto]

Originally Posted by Loathing

None of this is that relevant

The abridged version

[potto]

Originally Posted by Loathing

I'd take London any day.

... but no one else is allowed to (to sum up this thread)!

[Loathing]

Originally Posted by potto

The abridged version

Originally Posted by potto

... but no one else is allowed to (to sum up this thread)!

You're the one who raised Tokyo in the first place! You were implying that because Tokyo has 20m people and functions (relatively) well, London could easily taken on more immigrants.
You have some peculiar double standards potto.

[geogregor]

Originally Posted by Loathing

Heh, that's true: Tokyo does have more houses, roads, trains, &c., and functions really quite well. Although Japanese people generally work absurdly hard (esp. in big cities), there's very little in the way of state welfare, their homes are miniscule, and everything is privatized (including temples!) and irritatingly expensive. People often bring up Tokyo as a model but I get the impression that not many such people have actually been to the city. It's a nice, clean, city, but it has some horrendous problems, particularly if you happen to be black/female/poor. There are also some weird dysfunctional aspects to the place, for example, there's no direct train from the airport to the city centre, the route is split into two/three so that you have to pay three different times to three different private companies. It's a problem all over the country -- often different rail companies will refuse to share the same station, so to switch line you have to leave the building and walk as much as 20 minutes to the competitor's station. There's a lot of little bullshit things like that in Japan. There are also no free museums, and iirc, the "central park" of Tokyo had an admission fee until recently. Also, museums and parks shut ridiculously early (10am-4pm usually; no late nights) and are rarely open more than 5 days a week (sometimes 3 days). Moreover, major public museums shut down for months at a time between exhibits. Four of the best museums in Tokyo are completely private (owned by conglomerates usually) and charge around £10 entry, sometimes more for special exhibits.

One last fun fact: I heard that two of the world's largest organized crime gangs are Japanese (one of them has about 100k members), and they go around getting up to no good completely unimpeded because corruption is so bad. The leader of one of the gangs was jailed for about 10 years recently for killing someone with a katana -- I'm being deadly serious, you can look it up.

None of this is that relevant, but I thought some people might be interested in how Tokyo compares to London. I'd take London any day.

I'm sure some of the problems you raised are serious but they don't seems to be caused by population size or destiny.

And please, don't let me start on British railways. I know there are countries where trains are worse (Poland immediately comes to mind) but British trains are not that good really.

Still, I love it here

[Loathing]

Originally Posted by geogregor

I'm sure some of the problems you raised are serious but they don't seems to be caused by population size or destiny.

Things are interrelated in complicated ways, but the long and the short of it is that Tokyo cannot be raised as a model for London.

[mouldss@hotmail.co.u]

Originally Posted by potto

... but no one else is allowed to (to sum up this thread)!

dont you mean Japan. I would not want to live there in a small box anyway.

[PadArch]

British trains are underrated IMO. I've seen a lot worse, but not a lot better

The pricing system is pretty bad though.

[Bowater]

Originally Posted by potto

I didn't say he was from Exeter. Read it.

As I understand it you may a dig at Exeter thinking it was me you were replying to.

Why else would you reference a city as an example if you didnt know the first thing about that city. That just leaves you looking like you're talking out your arse, which I don't doubt you are but strange to do so in such an obvious way.