SuperApples

Nah, it's full-time travel. Most would find it unreasonable, but we find having few possessions liberating. It's strange, but there's a mental load lifted when you don't have a house of stuff to keep track of.

Yes, my wife and I have been doing it since 2016 (with a break in 2020/2021 for obvious reasons).

Usually stay in short-rental apartments rather than hotels as with two people it's usually cheaper than a hotel or hostel, given weekly and monthly discounts that are common.

Most airlines used to have 10kg included but now for most it's gone down to 7kg so we've had to get more creative. 5 shirts, 2 pants (one zip-off for swimming), 8 pairs of underwear and 5 pairs of socks, 2 sweaters. Small bag of toiletries. Winter jacket, thermals, gloves (good enough for Hokkaido in the early spring). Do washing once a week when it's cold, twice when it's hot. Heaviest thing is of course my laptop & brick. Changed bag to a thin canvas one to reduce weight further when the size/weight restrictions went down. Some airlines (such as Ryanair) don't even let you use the overhead bins for free so the bag has to fit under the seat in front.

Simple reason! Check-in bags cost $20+ per flight (most expensive I've seen in $50 for the smallest bag). That adds up quick when you take a few flights each year.

I didn't throw out my razor, I gave it to a friend who has gotten many years use out it now, so it hasn't gone to waste.

Just do note you won't be able to fly with it (in carry-on baggage), if that's an issue for you.

I switched to a safety razor and loved it, but since we change continents several times a year now, it's something I had to leave behind and miss it.

As the oldest Millennial (just scrape in), I insist they peaked at Dragon Ball. A half beaten to death pre-teen launching himself through the bad guy to defeat him? Epic stuff.

(Married at 22. You can marry young and be in your 40's discussing Dragon Ball with internet strangers!)

I learned the language during high school, working in Japan after that, then doing a lot of translation work work back in Australia. In recent years we just visit visa-free for three months each year, and stay in this old house up north in exchange for doing a few jobs around the place to stop it deteriorating further after the winter chill.

If we wanted to live here full-time we'd have to get local jobs, but I have zero interest in working for a Japanese company. Would sooner start my own business, which has gotten easier recently but is still highly monitored for the first few years.

I am currently living rent-free in Japan because there's so many empty houses that just need looking after.

Everywhere in Japan has a declining population except Tokyo and Osaka, and both cities are well designed and don't feel crowded. I think Japan is around the 50th most densely populated country, but the very well designed public transport systems and well planned (and mostly hidden!) highways make it so much more open and walk-able than many less densely populated places.

The only place that feels crowded is Kyoto and that's because it was never built to sustain the level of tourism it attracts.

Japan has a limitless water supply. They don't even charge for the stuff in many places (like here). The agriculture industry is strong and supplies most of the food.

The country is still like 70%+ untouched forest.

Japanese policy and mainstream culture is xenophobic and racist, mostly towards Asians (and indigenous people, and lower caste people), but starting to improve based on sheer desperation because of the declining population and economy. Unfortunately, few have the language competency required to work here, and basically no one here can speak English, which makes it really hard to attract people, as the government has not put in the support measures like Korea (a more densely populated place with an even lower birthrate!). It's not uncommon to see Desi, Vietnamese and Thai workers in convenience stores in Tokyo now though.

Yes, to me, the nuance is what's important here.

"You're welcome" implies you did something good, and you know it. "I am good for doing this for you. You owe me!"

Whereas "no problem" implies it didn't cause you any trouble. "Doing this for you was not detrimental to my life. You owe me nothing."

Akshually, you can often know the pronunciation of a Chinese character from one of it's radicals. I don't know how many characters this is the case for for Chinese (and how it varies between different spoken Chinese languages), but for Japanese it's like 80% of them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_characters#Phonographs

All the Star Trek shows were on free to air TV in Australia, but at 11pm before a school day, so still not visible to kids unless they had nerdy parents that let them stay up specifically to watch it.

If you haven't come across him yet, check out John Francis Peggotty, the (alleged) ostrich riding, blinged-out, Irish little person bushranger Birdman of the Coorong.

I'm from a country with ranked choice voting. We can vote for our preferred third-party candidate and it's not only fine but better. Even if they don't get in, they will get a portion of government money for help with campaigning in future elections, and our vote for the first viable candidate will be counted instead.

In the USA this is totally not the case. Your electoral system is designed to prevent third-party votes from meaning anything. As an anarchist who hates the politics of both neoliberal US major parties, I would still vote democrat, because a third-party vote is literally a wasted vote. It does not influence the 2 major parties in any way. They know there is no real threat from minor parties or independents unless they have massive overwhelming majority support.

Change the system through political action, community engagement, and spreading information. This vote will not change a thing unless it's for a major party, and only really if you're in a swing state. It's shit but true.