Moreover they're basically the only ones in the entire world who make good Photography equipment. (Minus some niche non-consumer German/Swiss companies)

+ Their whole revolutionary industrialization with Deming is something for the history books.

As that one economics joke goes "There are four types of economies in the world - Developed, Developing, Japan and Argentina."

Can anyone talk more to the point about coffee? I’m in Melbourne and I just don’t get how people describe Italian coffee as good. Most cafes in Melbourne serve coffee roasted here and it’s really good. Sweet and acidic without bitterness. But every time I try an Italian brand of coffee here it’s always like drinking burnt dirt. Is the coffee sold in Italy better than the Italian branded stuff sold overseas?

As for Japanese coffee, my only experience has been the canned stuff which was awful.

I don’t get the love for Japanese coffee either - I found one good coffee place in Kyoto and everywhere else was mediocre at best.

It’s like tea in Britain. Almost everyone drinks it — it’s truly a national obsession and we’re proud of it — but the average quality is awful. Even moving from teabags to loose leaf is a vast improvement and yet is still considered a bit too posh/hipster for most.

As you say, same with coffee in Italy. People conflate widespread popularity with deep knowledge.

Italian coffee...in Italy, though? Similar with food: i believe a large part of the 'excellent taste' of anysomewhere is the water used to prepare food and drink.

Strong disagree with he coffee. I've lived here for 10 years, and coffee here is quite generic.

Hmmm. I had better coffee in a Lawson in Shin-Osaka (made by robot machine) than in any Bay Area cafe. Which is unfortunate, since I live in the Bay Area, and not in Osaka.

I've been thinking more about this. I'll agree the base level coffee is higher than Australia.

> Better coffee than Italy/France/etc

I get a macchiato at %[0] about once a week and it’s ridiculously next-level.

But for hanging out, I’d still prefer an Italian coffee bar in Italy. Does Japan have that kind of coffee culture too, or is it all the equivalent of selvedge denim?

[0]: https://arabica.coffee/en/

Colombian coffee is arguably the best, not Japanese, Italian, or French. As for denim I doubt that, any examples?

Not really arguing they are the best ( I don't typically wear jeans so I can't say I'm an expert, but I own some of these, and know a guy who works with them/other sort of hipster-y local Japanese companies that do this sort of thing). And they are pretty nice, and they are very proud of their dedication to the pedigree of their denim/jean making techniques.

https://www.samurai-j.com/en/concept

Looks like good quality from the photos. It's not my style or look either, but yeah I can see the craftsmanship here.

Google Japanese Denim, there are too many examples to list. And a lot of non Japanese brands will have some lines of Japanese denim, even Levis.

> Columbian coffee is arguably the best

How might you go about making that argument

I agree, in spirit, but there are many bad coffee shops and restaurants through out Japan too. They are, obviously, not depicted in the media.

The things that I can praise are mostly things that don’t usually exist outside of Japan, either because foreigners don’t like them or because it’s difficult to make them, some examples include:

- “smart” toilets -- https://jp.toto.com/products/toilet/

- (fresh) もち -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mochi

- 卵かけご飯 -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamago_kake_gohan

- あんこ -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_bean_paste

- variety of 漬物 -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsukemono

- (cheap! fresh and delicious) sushi (the one we find in American restaurants is… well, Americanized, e.g. cucumber, avocado, bunch of sauce, etc.; you may as well buy californian rolls and call it a day). Good sushi in American restaurants is expensive, that’s why I put emphasis in the word “cheap”.

- 神戸ビーフ -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobe_beef which you can easily buy in America too, but somehow the quality is not the same, I am not sure why, maybe the pastures or the way they treat the cows. I have no idea.

- kitchen knives -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_kitchen_knife , for example, e.g. Santoku (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santoku), Yanagi-ba (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yanagi_ba), Nakiri (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakiri_bōchō), Deba (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deba_bōchō), among others.

That said, Japan also produces a lot of silly stuff:

- U$200 (square-shaped) watermelons -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_watermelon

- U$50 (Egg of the Sun) mangos -- https://www.m-tokusan.or.jp/en/main-products/mango/

- U$200 (Yubari King) melons -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yubari_King

- 95 ft² apartments -- https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2022/10/09/general/japan-m... —and— https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/03/business/tiny-apartments-...

Mochi and red bean paste I already enjoy, so I was curious about 卵かけご飯 but frankly it's just made me consider egg fried rice as a legit breakfast option :)

The cool folks refer to it as TKG. ;-)