Google's Streetview Seen As Culturally Insensitive In Japan 524
Jim O'Connell writes "Global Voices has a translation of an excellent open letter to Google by Osamu Higuchi, explaining that Street view is too invasive for Japanese traditional values when used in residential areas.
Having lived here for ten years, most recently in an older residential area, I can attest to its accuracy — Living in such close proximity to your neighbors, it becomes necessary to 'not look' at everything that you might be able see from a place such as the street, where you may have a legal right to be. The cultural boundaries are simply different than those of the US."
It's called having a place to put a fence. (Score:4, Informative)
Re:how do you say (Score:2, Informative)
"baka" or "noroma" are two options....
Japan respects privacy??? (Score:4, Informative)
The addressing system is different (Score:1, Informative)
Japan is literally where the streets have no name. So you cannot just go along a particular road and know that you're headed in the right direction.
Japan divides its cities into various districts/wards/townships/administrative areas, which are further divided into block numbers, and each structure in the block has numbers. But there's not usually any pattern to the numbering. You could have house number 3 between house number 1 and 2, if 3 was built later, for example.
So given an address, it's very difficult to find it in the real world, and people generally have to resort to asking directions at the police station, post office, convenience store, etc.
Re:You conveniently ommitting... (Score:5, Informative)
There, I fixed it for ya.
Re:Japan respects privacy??? (Score:3, Informative)
Entering Japan is voluntary and requires action on my part. Where do I sign to tell Google that it's ok for them to feature me or my property in StreetView?
Re:Hypocrisy is only wrong when someone else does (Score:1, Informative)
I have blonde hair and blue eyes. Every time I have visited China I have been practically assaulted by Japanese tourists. They not only photo me. They try and touch my hair and start posing in front of me etc etc etc. Needless to say this was unappreciated.
My aunt lives in Hawaii and japanese tourists are amazed by the size of her feet. She's been lieing on the beach and had Japanese tourists come up and lay down right next to her and have their pictures taken by their family with their feet right next to hers for comparison.
I wish all my problems were that easy to solve.
For starters, did God not give you two middle fingers to elevate while the picture was being taken? How about standing with your arms akinbo (elbows out, hands on your hips). I understand that's an insult because the Japanese consider it to be an aggressive stance. Maybe point at the tits of any chick they stand near you. Maybe start laughing, too. Or do a Lundie England two-handed point. I believe pointing with the index finger alone is also insulting, though I'm not sure this is specifically a Japanese thing. It is, however, the reason all of the "cast" at Disneyland and other tourist places always point with both the index and middle fingers extended. Single-finger pointing is supposed to be an obscene gesture in some cultures.
Ever heard of blinds? (Score:3, Informative)
In the US, it is customary to hide yourself from view if you are doing something that you don't want others to see. This is for your benefit and theirs. It seems rather silly to do it any other way.
The land of the free (as in beer). (Score:5, Informative)
Being an American who originally came from Europe, I "STRONGLY" disagree.
Here in the US, people never ask permission before taking a picture that you might be on, for example. If you're in the public, you're expected to suck it up. If you don't want your picture taken, you have to stay at home.
Then there's newspapers publishing the name and pictures of crime suspects. Which quite often costs people their job and friends -- even if they are later found "not guilty". In other countries, where privacy is valued higher, this is a big NO.
Then there are the ubiquitous closed circuit cameras in pretty much every store. Even in the goddarn dressing rooms!
Oh, and try to rent a hotel room with cash, without showing a driver's license. Nope, they want your private information, so they can sell it to the highest bidder. Cause there are no privacy rights.
And let me not get started on direct advertising. Wonder why you get all the ads in your own name? Because everyone you trade with will happily sell your personal details. Not only name and address, but what you've been buying or which services you've used, so you can get targeted for maximum effect. Take your dog to the vet, and a month later, you get ads for dog food dumping into your mail box. Subscribe to a magazine, and you suddenly get eight different catalogs in the mail with the same misspelling as the magazine.
Here in the US, privacy is a commodity, not a right. I can think of few, if any countries I have lived in that had less privacy rights. Certainly not any of the European countries.
Re:No addresses in Japan. (Score:2, Informative)
Your main objection seems to boil down to, "names are easier to remember than numbers".
This is possibly true. But numbers do have the benefit of indicating that one is CLOSE to an area.
e.g if I know I am 4 chome 12 (and area indicator signs are liberally placed in cities) and I am looking for 4 chome 13, I know I am in the general area. But if the area has a name, not a number, knowing in "placeX" does not indicate to me that I am close to "placeY"
Being hopeless at remembering both names AND numbers, I tend to write addresses down, or make a link and send it to my keitai.