A 25-Year-Old Dinosaur Jr. Song Is a Hit in Japan. Nobody Knows Why (article here from pitchfork).

Wow

I’ll bet they’ll brush up on that one and cash in in Japan

I didn't know much about Japan, so I decided to educated myself with this video:-



Five mins later and I have my own set of expert opinions:-

1. Smart buses, but funny writing
2. Nice hills, but too many trees to see them properly
3. Grey seems to be the preferred colour for concrete and lamina alike, which makes the buildings look simultaneously drab and shabby imo
4. Complete failure to understand how practical and attractive a proper sidewalk is. Instead of employing a change of level to divide pedestrians and buildings from the road surface, their sidewalks look like spilled over bits of tarmac, which occasionally have an isolated kerb that sticks up out of the ground. The intention of these seem clear enough: pedestrians trip over them and fall into the path of oncoming vehicles.

How to do countryside properly:-

With great education comes great snottiness

^ Yeah, three mins of education is all it takes to become snotty!

Rural Japan has narrow roads that weave through mountains often terraced for rice farmers. The stores and domiciles often are cross between an oriental New Jersey and rustic charm. And once you get on the northern side of the geographic boomerang you can expect 4 very distinct seasons.



I know that picture lacks the uniform, and very attractive, results of European urband planning, but I’ve spent some time in this particular town and found it visually pleasing in its still MILFY urban decay. Although come to think of it, it looks a bit spruced up here.

Neat.

Yes, that's a nice photo; beautiful mist on the hills and some of the buildings look pretty good too. Of course being in a country will give you a better perspective than a 3-min video. I wonder what you were doing there, OH?

I taught English there and in Pusan (now to my annoyance Busan), Korea for about a decade total. Most of the time in rural Japan.

Oh you poor man.