Good public transit is #1! So much goes into making those trains awesome.
The second one that comes to mind is vacuum tubes. They still keep them in stock. You can just walk into Tokyo Radio Tower and there’s normally quite a good selection – in a brick-and-mortar store. It blows my mind that they are still so readily available!
The car garages. I never drove a car in Japan, but it looked like there was a system and some kind of futuristic hydraulic automation thingy to put your car in an available slot??
But in general, I got a lot of retrofuturism vibes in Japan.
Also, while not technology, it is worth mentioning that people there are incredibly polite and friendly - even in Tokyo rush hour.
They have this in Denmark if I understand correctly. Like you park in on of the robot lifts, there was 5 where I was, then the machine parks your car, and when you’re done it collects it back.
I wouldn’t say they are common but they definitely exist. The new harbour front parking in Aarhus is fully automated; you drive under the public library, which is raised on concrete pillars, and enter into any available “garage” - after you’re out of the car, you press a button to close the “garage” and the floor plate is lowered down for automated storage. An empty plate is then brought back up and the garage is opened again for the next person. It apparently increased capacity 40% to do it this way.
It gets tiring constantly seeing Americans treat the Internet like it’s for them whilst people from other countries have to change the way they type so that Americans can understand better
Americans don’t have to make a US variant of every community though regardless of if the person who created it was from the US or if the topic even relates to the US at all
Fancy Toilets: In Japan, toilets can do everything but take you to the moon. Heated seats, spray functions for cleaning, deodorizers, and even some with sound systems to give you a bit of privacy.
Vending Machines on Steroids: You’ll find a vending machine for just about anything in Japan. Hot coffee in a can, umbrellas, heck, even ties for that meeting you forgot to dress up for.
Convenience Stores That Are Actually Convenient: Their 7-Elevens are like mini-malls. You can pay bills, buy tickets, send parcels, and the food’s not half bad either.
Trains Faster Than a Speeding Bullet: The Shinkansen trains are so fast and punctual, if you blink, you’ll miss 'em. They’re like the Ferraris of the train world.
Robots Everywhere: Japan loves robots. They’ve got robots helping out in stores, caring for the elderly, and even serving up your sushi.
Sleeping in a Pod: Ever wanted to sleep in a sci-fi pod? Capsule hotels are like a night in a spaceship - cozy, high-tech, and definitely an experience.
Magic Taxi Doors: No need to touch the taxi door; it swings open and shut for you. Lazy or genius? You decide.
Earthquake Alerts: Their tech is so advanced they can detect earthquakes before they hit, giving everyone precious seconds to duck and cover.
AI typically doesnt use hyperbole phrases like “magic” taxi doors, or “fancy” toilets or even Robots “everywhere” unless its specifically trained and asked to do so.
I think that Ai would be more likely to use accurate descriptors like “Automated taxi doors”, “high-tech toilets” or “robots are commonplace”
Hehehe yes it’s AI generated. Social news aggregator experiment. Prompt was to be colloquial. The comment got at this point 40 upvotes. And yours, which is true, got downvotes…
For example, most toilet paper holders in Japan have this floating lid that sits on the toilet paper, which allows you to cleanly rip a sheet off every time, and prevent tearing a corner off.
The suica or iccoca cards (trains and subway cards) can be used to tap to pay near everywhere, including vending machines and such. Quite convienent.
You can pay many of your utility bills, in cash, at most main convienence stores. It allows for more methods of payment outside of everything tracked by credit card.
Many shower rooms ( Japanese bathrooms tend to have a full wet room for bathing) often have an advanced fan system, with a dehumidify option for drying clothes you hang in that room.
Many bathtubs have a water recirculate option, which reheats the same bathwater keeping it warm without needing to refill or add water to the tub.
Ah, one of my favorites is in many bedrooms there is a small square panel on an outside wall, and if you click it it vents to the outside, providing outside fresh air without needing to crack a full window. They often have filters built in as well.
Its becoming more common in the US now, but minisplit AC systems are ubiquitous in Japan. Its nice being able to control each bedroom separately.
I could go on. I lived there for a bit with my wife, in Osaka and in her hometown ( in Nagano).
These are all on my list of cool things I tell people about Japan. It really is a bunch of small stuff that I found great.
Another small one - most grocery stores have a packing area past payment and there’s usually a little bottle with a light temporary glue next to the plastic bags. So the line moves faster and you never fumble opening the thin plastic bags
I’ve seen decathlon employ this in their stores as well. Think they’re primarily in Europe.
It’s definitely weird the first time you do it, but I’m assuming they’re using RFID technology, so each product has a little microchip in its price tag.
Much higher quality product options/expectations and far more choice because the consumer makes intelligent choices instead of spontaneous purchases based primarily on price and instantaneous gratification.
It is a reference to US culture’s big box store and monopoly driven markets. The USA has lots of products and niches, but very few people here seek them out.
Retail here in the USA is mostly driven by big box stores and wholesale distribution chains that hold monopolies in every major product category from which consumers make purchases. These outlets tend to offer high profit margin products and limit consumer product availability to just these high profit items from convenient local retail sources. It happens in stores from your local bike shop’s distribution chain to big box home improvement stores to the small business general retail killers of Walmart and Target, or local grocery stores. Either the store chain is as large as the major wholesale distributors, or the small business is dependent on the wholesale supply chain. Product profit margins are always kept low, putting a strain on any small retailers, and the wholesale distributors readily offer credit lines and the convenience of central product ordering and combined free shipping, while general shipping prices in the USA are very high for small businesses.
This complex combination makes the US market mostly a situation where the consumer just goes to a big box store and buys whatever is available without doing any research or shopping around. This in turn has lead to further profit margin optimisation where even the large competing big box stores are all carrying the same physical hardware contract manufactured by the same factory with only different lettering and colors.
This junk is so prevalent that even major Japanese brands like Makita are not the same high quality tools as the ones sold in Japan and are the exact same contract manufactured junk found in every other big box store’s tools section.
There is no path to retail market for grass roots innovations in the USA and therefore no interesting novelties or innovations in niches like there are in Japan. Stuff no doubt exists and many trying to succeed, but the distribution and big box monopolies rarely take on any product unless it is highly profitable in their middle man niches on par with their highly optimised source chain. So the only real products that can break into the market are ultra low quality over priced junk.
I was the wholesale buyer for a chain of retail stores for 6 years.