I know that the Zelda themed Switch 2 for example was scalped before anyone had the opportunity to even place a pre-order. During the anticipation of the original Switch 2 (日本語・国内専用) in Japan on 2025, at the time: you can only register via a lottery system (you must have an active NSO membership and 50+ hours of gameplay for eligibility) and the retailer will only respond if you’re being selected via the raffle.

The lottery system is standard in Japan for basically anything on demand, to curb scalpers and FOMO meaning its complete RNG if you’re even going to receive the product in question. If not, you re-register in a second lottery at another merchant or try your odds. Do you think the same or similar approach will work in the US or is it going to fail if a store were to do this since they’re not used to that form of item acquisition?

I’ve seen posts online or memes about it, mainly discussing American people who think the internet as a whole is US-centric despite the topic at hand taking place in another country (nothing to do with America), for example: someone wrote the date format as 30/10/2020 (using the EU format) but some American was like “THE CORRECT WAY IS 10/30/2020” when they fail to realize that user is not American at all.

Is US defaultism real when they travel abroad? They assume the $ is legal tender worldwide in countries where their own currency is used more (the only thing that’ll work is exchanging it but not for direct transactions). I’ve heard an American woman went on a tirade whilst in France as the cashier refused a $20 bill when the prices are in EUROS (WTF?) or being like “SPEAK ENGLISH!” in non-English speaking countries.

I know that there’s people who are at least 100 years old or above in Japan, as their life expectancy is higher. The shortest answer is diet & portion sizes: since Japanese cuisine consists of seafood, rice, soybeans, and seasonal vegetables. Most portion sizes are controlled and turn out being smaller with a cultural practice of 腹八分 (はらはちぶん) or eat until about 80% full. (They opt for cold, green or hot tea rather than sodas).

There’s universal health care coverage in Japan at least while in USA people stress about medical bills a lot. Exercise is incentivized in Japan via active movement (not as car dependent) from walking, cycling, and using stairs are built into everyday routines keeping people mobile into old age. That’s the opposite of US since they’re heavily dependent on “the car” as opposed to public transit, bicycles or walking on foot.

Is it because of the existence of 漢字 (known as Kanji in JP while it’s Hanzi in ZH) in both despite being different languages even though they’re unrelated? However, some words & nouns outright look the same in writing (警察、死亡、軍人、明治維新、仲見世商店街、歌舞伎町) thus making it somewhat mutually readable although they don’t inherit the same pronunciation. Does the same form of confusion also happen with languages with the same alphabets (English > French & Russian & Ukrainian for instance…)?

I know that in Japan, China & Korea along with SEA including the Middle East, it’s definitely criminalized and you’ll get arrested for bringing in weed (they’re indifferent whether its for medicinal or recreational use) since they do not allow it on their turf. In some countries, that guarantees a death sentence as they have zero tolerance on allowing those substances. It’s not like let’s say Canada or Germany where weed is tolerated.

Travelers who are weed users aren’t stupid to travel internationally with cannabis as they’re aware the rules are different across borders. Then, if they crave for weed (but can’t consume that as it’s a crime in those countries) what’s the alternative? Over the counter pills, maybe? Other valid substitutes that may give off similar vibes. I’ve heard a case where an American couple had their weed confiscated in Australia, where it’s illegal.

The same can be said in reverse for Japanese people on how they see the Western world: Do they assume the USA is like Hollywood or the UK being like British Television? They perhaps assume that all Americans live in a large home with a white picket fence depicting a nuclear family as if its 1950.

All they talk about US is California or New York since most movies and TV shows use either as their main setting. Is the US in real life similar to Hollywood (everyone having a nice car, big home & white picket fence)? That’s the kind of response from non-Japanese assuming Japan is like anime.

Consider that Sony is phasing out discs on January 2028 and beyond, meaning any upcoming game after then is no longer being released as a physical copy (neither will the future PS6 contain a disc drive at all) marking the PS5 as the final iteration within the generational lineup on having a disc. All versions of the PS5 inherit the same performance regarding games but the PS5 slim is compact while the PS5 Pro has a better CPU.

Instead of giving visitors visa free access who hold strong passports, rather make them require a visa prior to entry (meaning they can’t just pack their bags and go, now having to pre-plan in advance and line up for getting a visa & paying money for it, they’re not alone since hundreds more are doing the same thing. There’s also the guarantee whether they’ll be eligible or get rejected on the spot).

It may cause strain on visa applications that’ll lead to mass rejections due to overload. If I were a country that’s suffering over tourism, just rescind visa free access for ALL nationalities (including those who have strong passports like US, UK, DE, FR, AU or CA to name a few) as in when they check visa requirements: it’ll be rewritten as “visa required” rather than “visa not required” prior to entry.

Or, they can apply for a tourist visa many times as they’d like but reject them. (Basically a real life travel “shadow ban” if that’s the right way to say it), leads to them giving up as they’ll know a visa will never be guaranteed regardless of numerous attempts. However, would this move alone reduce over tourism? Since you can’t just show up in someone else’s nation uninvited (illegal immigration).

First, if it was the CIA or NSA themselves in conjunction with the Feds or State LE conducting mass surveillance on the population rather than outsourcing it to either Flock or Palantir: they have the legal precedent on fabricating charges they deem as “dissident activity”, imprisoning protesters including vigilantes who are critical of the state. Usually it’s a politician who passes legislation under the guise of “protecting kids”.

Second, if let’s say Flock or Palantir is the one conducting mass surveillance: they can’t arrest people themselves since they are not law enforcement. They would collect someone’s data but still, cannot put people behind bars themselves. All they’re doing is data harvesting rather than pursuing people based on their social credit score, but vigilantes who oppose mass surveillance can at least still roam around in the street.

I’ve heard a case about a group of vigilantes taking down Flock cameras since it has become another flashpoint of growing bipartisan anger against the tech industry (that’s only speaking of tackling on a corporation spying on people) rather than the government themselves doing that to the population.

However, what happens if they did the same with government surveillance (as in the cameras are operated by the CIA / NSA in which they alert authorities)? The response is different since authorities & government can arrest, imprison or kill vigilantes on the spot if caught on tampering with the cameras.

Fr. 1000 equates to $1,235 (and yes, there’s a single bill worth that) along with the second highest being Fr. 200 ($247) since the cap in USD maxes out at $100 (Fr. 81) in the US today. There were once $500, $1000, $5000 & $10,000 bills printed in 1928 but ceased reappearing since 1934, only sole collectors have them but they don’t use it for transactions (the $100,000 bill depicting Woodrow Wilson is obscure and not possible to obtain).

What would it be like if suddenly a $1000 bill reemerges from its older design from the 1930s tweaked with modern security features inspired by the Fr. 1000 bill stronger than ones present in the $100 bill? That’s up the Federal Reserve to decide, there’s issues dealing with counterfeit $100 bills, in which the Swiss managed to prevent by making their Fr. 1000 bill difficult as hell to counterfeit. (It’s hard enough to find one the first place).