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A comment on On the Trail of the 'Johatsu,' Japan's 'Evaporated People'. Parent comment

Re:On the Trail of the 'Johatsu,' Japan's 'Evaporated People' by bluepizza on Wednesday May 17, 2023 @03:29AM (#35972270)
Japanese exceptionalism and 日本人論 strikes again! This is the sort of thing that actually hides a lot of the value in some interesting innovations.

Kaitenzushi requires less staff, and is a viable business with clear financial advantages over a full waiter staff. It also happens to be popular every place that there is one, from China to South Africa to Canada.

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Re:On the Trail of the 'Johatsu,' Japan's 'Evaporated People' by bobthepanda on Wednesday May 17, 2023 @04:17AM (#35972542)
Most Japanese innovations make more sense when you think about the implications of a rapidly shrinking labor force. One person can service many vending machines, whereas stores need to be one person at least.

One interesting thing is that as Japanese rural train services disappear due to becoming unaffordable when the countryside empties out, the bus services meant to replace them also have issues finding bus drivers.

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