The Ethereum of Japan is a Ghost Town!

English General Discussions
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In the Rewarding Our Community’s Contributions thread, our dear @Afridev said:

this forum is silo-ed based on language, There are parts that are inaccessible to most of us, and these may get very little attention because nobody can read them, yet may possibly yield the most insightful posts

The Japanese Forum is a Ghost Town! His comment was such an intriguing mystery to me; so, I used the Google Translate plugin to read every post in the Japanese forum. I was able to read every post in only about 20 minutes or so because there’s relatively little activity in the Japanese forum, which was surprising given that Cardano has been frequently called the “Ethereum of Japan.” In fact, there is at least 100x more posts and topics here in the English-speaking forum.

Where Are All the Japanese Political Economy Philosophers? Another interesting observation: There is literally no discussion in the Japanese forum about the deeper economic/geopolitical possibilities of Cardano. There, the discussions are all focused on simple small talk and tech support, which would bore me to death. The stark contrast really made me appreciate the community we’re building here.

Virtually all of my Japanese friends over the years have been very thoughtful and community-oriented; so, at first it was surprising that there are not many more Japanese speakers exploring the deeper socioeconomic and geopolitical implications of Cardano like we do here. However, now I have a theory. . . .

The Political Economy of Each Country Shapes Our Perception of Cardano. There is far more systemic economic and political corruption in the U.S. and many other parts of the world compared to Japan. The Japanese parliamentary system of government and proportional representation electoral system produce much more tolerable political and economic outcomes, which results in a much more egalitarian society, less poverty, lower Gini Index (thus, lower wealth/power concentration) . . . all of which leads to much higher citizen satisfaction in their political and economic institutions. That’s probably why the Japanese forum is such a ghost town compared to the Englishing-speaking forum.

Suffering from Bad Government is Worse than Suffering from Economic Recession. As a result of the factors above, even though the Japanese have suffered through some relatively difficult economic times since their economy began to deflate in the early 1990s, it seems they don’t feel the same level of urgency that many of us in the U.S. and in other countries feel regarding the rapid deterioration of our economic and political institutions.

Does anybody have any other insights that would explain this phenomenon? I think my theory is reasonably correct, but I’m open to other potential explanations, too.

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Very interesting. I’m American and have been fortunate to travel through Japan. My experience there was amazing and I can’t wait to go back and spend some ADA! I was pleasantly surprised how helpful Japanese people were on my journey, even if we couldn’t communicate through words. Hopefully their as passionate about Cardano’s future as I am

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I’m not gonna spend time searching my history, but around few months ago I ran across TEDTalk like video, which talked about Japans progress trough mobile tech and app viewpoint.

In that video, it had a section where the presenter talked about how the government has very tight control how tech is used. Just like US seems to cover up stories with fake and twisted news on national TV, Japan straight out deletes the content or outright bans the tech which was used to spread the not so comfortable news.

Talker used an example of some school collapsing news, where the bottom line was that government knew the school was in bad shape, but for years pushed the repair bill forward and took no precaution. This immediately got attention through social media platform wechat?(or whatever they use), but within few days all of it was all deleted and with the “collaboration” with the platform, new related topics were not spread.

So even though I think Japan is and going to be ahead with most tech innovations the common thinker in Japan will avoid sharing his beliefs and ideas just because they respect the law make decisions for them.

But yeah the last is just my thought, never talked with Japanese and never been in Japan. :c one day!

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I had a similar thought. I think Japan’s pro-cryptocurrency stance is because Japan seems to want a sound currency, rather than manipulating the currency for short term political gain and to fuel outrageous deficit spending.

It will be less disruptive in most other ways as well (surveillance, drugs), but primarily, cryptocurrency doesn’t have the potential to topple Japan’s government, because their leaders aren’t selected by giant financial organizations running on fiat currency graft.

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"The Japanese parliamentary system of government and proportional representation electoral system produce much more tolerable political and economic outcomes, which results in a much more egalitarian society "

I disagree. I think of Japan as almost a benevolent dictatorship. The conviction rate in Japan is > 99%… If you are accused of a crime then you will be found guilty. Does that sound " proportional " or " egalitarian " ? The prime ministers there are revered as a deity. Ask a non - Japanese person living in Japan how egalitarian it is. I think the differences in forum chat largely come down to differing cultures.

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What a terrible injustice! Here’s a video from The Economist, which supports your point.

My perception of Japan’s criminal justice system was always based on their incarceration and recidivism rates, which are among the lowest in the world. But now I see that the reason those rates are so low is because their criminal justice system is deeply unjust, which essentially scares the entire population into obedience. Thank you for that interesting revelation.

When I first read your comments, I was thinking, “That makes sense based on the strict hierarchical structure of Japanese society and the virtually unquestioned deference to seniority and authority.” From that perspective, I know there is a lot of unfairness embedded within Japanese society, which is a cultural artifact that has existed for at least 1,000 years.

I totally agree with you that their criminal justice system is terribly unjust, but to clarify one important point: I was using the words “proportional representation” and “egalitarian” based on their strict political science definitions, which defines the actual institutional procedures and structures of the Japanese system of government. Functionally, they use a proportional representation electoral system to elect their politicians to the Japanese Diet (parliament).

Another useful distinction: In every country, the vast majority of citizens never have to deal with the criminal justice system, but virtually all citizens in every country must deal with their electoral system; and when their politicians do not effectively represent the interests of the masses, then that’s when we can accurately say it’s no longer an egalitarian society. Thus, a corrupt electoral system will have a much more painful impact on a larger number of people than a corrupt criminal justice system, even with a 99% conviction rate like in Japan.

That means countries can produce societies that are more egalitarian (in the strict sense) than other countries, even when their criminal justice systems are highly unjust. So far, I still believe this is the case in Japan because most of the data (including the prison population rate) and other quality-of-life factors that I’ve seen ranks Japan substantially higher than the U.S. and many other G20 countries.

Nevertheless, I’m always open to considering more data and logic if anybody has more insight on these topics.

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I agree that a just electoral system is a primary indicator of a just society. Often, though, an unjust criminal system comes is in tandem with an unjust electoral system ( e.g., Russia and China ). I disagree that: " the vast majority of citizens never have to deal with the criminal justice system." I think most do, albeit indirectly. How hard I decide to step on the car gas pedal is partially determined by consequences of our justice system. The justice system in Japan certainly scares many people into submission.
Japanese people do not openly question their government as we do in America. I think that is in line with your theory regarding why they do not discuss the social implications of cryptocurrency. I think another factor is Japan being far more open to cryptocurrecies than most countries.

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I go to Japan often. They are polite people who do not even litter. The most boring job I have seen in Japan is the Police Officers. I think they just have more self discipline to do good as part of their culture, which means don’t harm other people.

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