American entrepreneur living in Japan for 2 years lists out USA's ‘dysfunctionalities'
Nathan Lands critiques the USA's low-quality standards after living in Japan, citing issues like dysfunctional services, poor hygiene, and safety concerns.
American entrepreneur Nathan Lands pointed at the “dysfunctionalities” he noticed in the USA upon his re-visit to the country. Nathan, who was living in Japan for the last two years returned to the States and listed out the issues which he noticed only now. He mentioned all the issues he witnessed in his recent post on X, formerly known as Twitter. The entrepreneur mentioned that he only realised after living in Japan that the States has a “low-quality standard across the board.”
American entrepreneur compares the USA to Japan
The founder of Lore.com posted a long tweet about all the things he realised were proof of a ‘low-quality’ standard of living upon his return from Japan. He began with the “little things that don’t work”. He wrote, “Half the escalators I saw were not working, soap was missing in the bathrooms, etc. Once you notice it, you see it everywhere in America. Things just don't work.” As compared to Japan where everything he claimed works and “it would be unacceptable if things didn't work.”
He highlighted the poor quality of service and the tip one has to pay despite it being bad. He wrote, “We stayed at a nice hotel in Boston, and the workers went on strike. This meant our rooms didn't get cleaned, etc., and they banged on drums outside the window. My wife couldn't believe people would do that.” He then explained it through the “Japanese perspective” as he wrote, “It's like, how could the people we were paying to provide us with service not provide the service? Furthermore, not only did they not offer the service, but they harassed us.”
He then compared the scenario to the Asian country where, he wrote, “While we were in Japan, my wife got gifts for about eight people at her workplace, including her boss, to thank them for letting her take time off.” Nathan added, “The culture and respect for work are just so different... basically, different planets.”
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Daily struggles: USA vs. Japan
The entrepreneur then listed out the struggles that he and many living in the country face daily. He began with the expensive living cost. On X he wrote, “Everything is so expensive. To my surprise, it's dramatically cheaper to live in Japan than most of the US. Waikiki was especially nuts.” Nathan also pointed out there was a sense of threat while going around in the city and the issues of homeless people on the streets.
He wrote, “There is a sense of danger walking around US cities that doesn't exist in Japan. We had two homeless people harass us; one ran in front of us like a zombie, and it freaked my wife out.” Explaining through a situation he added, “On two different occasions, we saw large men threatening women. One was very bizarre. In a mall dining court in Waikiki, a man threatened his girlfriend who was running from him that he would ‘bash her f***ing brains in if she didn't come back’”.
Upon returning to Japan, he “felt a sense of relief” as nothing of such sort is a common sight. He also mentioned that people must be ‘living with anxiety from those kinds of encounters, and they don't even realize it.” Nathan also described the homeless people in the USA as disrespectful as he explained they insult you if you don't give the money whereas in Japan there are no homeless people on the streets to begin with and are “almost always very respectful and don't bother people.”
Another thing he noticed was USA encounters more accidents than in Japan because of which he got stuck in traffic twice. He wrote, “I asked Perplexity and apparently on a per capita basis, there are 2.5x more car fatalities in the USA than Japan.”
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Hygiene and other service issues
Nathan pointed out that delay in flights is a common practice which is “Perhaps this is another quality control issue?” He described the TSA as “rude” and “threatening” while in Japan they are “extremely polite” and “helpful”. He also wrote about the stores in the US, “So many things are locked up in stores in the USA. My wife asked me what that was, but she didn't understand. And when I told her, she couldn't believe how bad it was. It scared her to know that was an issue.”
The Lore.com founder highlighted the immigration issue as he wrote, “Immigration in the US is slow, and they ask you tons of questions, which is wild considering our current border issue and how easy it is to get into the country illegally. In contrast, they asked one question in Japan, smiled, and let me in.”
The hygiene levels in the USA are deteriorating as he wrote, “Public toilets are so disgusting. In Japan, you don't have this problem at all. Oh, and of course, now, USA toilets feel incredibly primitive after living in Japan.” He added, “In cities, everywhere smells like weed. Or worse.” In a separate tweet, he wrote, “The portion sizes are so huge. I gained 7 pounds in 2 weeks.”
It was not all bad for the entrepreneur as he listed some of the redeeming qualities of the States which he enjoyed. Nathan concluded with, “Of course, there are also good things about the USA, like the diversity of food, etc. And there is something a little exciting about the chaos. But I now feel way less interested in moving back to the USA. It feels like something is more deeply wrong than I realized,” but he could not consider living in the USA again.