Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mises]

After the bomb.

http://yougottobekidding.wordpress.com/2009/10/11/hiroshima-and-detroit-64-years-later/

And now China too:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/along-the-silk-road-at-220mph-chinas-highspeed-rail-revolution-1934738.html

[stilicho25]

That doesn't look like Hiroshima to me. Way bigger than I remember it.

[bucheon bum]

Those pictures are most definitely not Hiroshima. It is a decent sized city that looks a lot better than Detroit, but those photos are a different city (someone in the comments section said they are Yokohama).

[stilicho25]

Despite the city mix up I will agree though, infrastructure is a good sign of how competent the governance is, and ours is terrible. I was hoping that Obama would address this more than he has. I hear alot about a new rail system, but where I am they are widening the roads. I live right next to an amtrak station... where there is 1 train a day going each way. Couldn't make that stuff up.

[mises]

I think they are pics of Nagasaki. I just copy/pasted the title.

If not:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikolaj/2076630631/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/daveekimhock/3631716971/

Same thing.

[conrad2]

Its a travesty that the US doesnt have high speed rail going from San Diego all the way up to Vancouver. The money spent on these two wars could have easily paid for all of it, with spur lines to Vegas, Denver, and Salt lake to boot. hey, but at least we got to show a bunch of goat herders who is boss. or did we?

[jvalmer]

Keep in mind that Japan's infrastructure was pretty much devastated during WWII. Same with Korea.

[roybetis1]

That's Yokohama. Landmark Tower (English language bookstore on the 3rd floor) is clearly visible.

[djsmnc]

Detroit!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2264/2041375188_6622d2a72f.jpg

http://theworldinlight.com/images/Cityscapes/detroit-at-night-large.jpg

http://info.detnews.com/pix/sports/2006/superbowl/nightscenes/5.jpg

http://mavrinac.com/files/photos/detroit_skyline.jpg

http://gallery.photo.net/photo/6455719-lg.jpg

http://www.woodstockstory.com/images/gallery/detroit-skyline-1.jpg

Looks so much more classy and compact than that spread out mess of an Asian city!

[stilicho25]

Wow, you know what? I was totally wrong when I agreed with the whole "america is in decline because of the lack of infrastructure dev" before. Not being sarcastic, but when someone brings up how much Baltimore and Detroit, I always want to talk about how shitty they are, but holy smokes, Japan is totally screwed. I lived near Kagoshima for about 6 months. HUGE swathes of the suburbs and rural areas surounding it were totally denuded of people and returning to forest. Its an environmentalists dream, but there are whole areas of Japan where people are ancient, or just gone. These areas were productive farmland in nation that can barely meet 20% of its agricultural needs. Not cool. Sure Kansai and Tokyo are amazing, but the cost the Japanese way of doing things is killing the country. The gov spends more and more money trying to revive these dying areas but the extra tax burden and the extra debt is murdering the economy, and they have no wars to blame it on. I lived there for 3 years and loved it, but even as a fan I have to say that Japan has to make some major changes, or slide into terminal decline.

Anyway, for some reason your pics reminded me of that djsmnc. I think there has to be some balance between thrift and gov development. High speed rails good, low taxes so people can farm good, building conference centers in the middle of a forest bad, high debt bad.

[bucheon bum]

Good point stilicho25. Japan isn't exactly a model to follow these days. Its debt problem isn't any better than ours. The only real difference of course is almost all of its debt holders are its own citizens.

[The Happy Warrior]

America has the worst passenger rail system in the developed world. But it also has the best freight rail system in the entire world.

And of course China's new infrastructure is better. Its all been newly built.

[mises]

[Steelrails]

[stilicho25]

To me the situation seemed dire. They are paying people to move to rural areas, you can get large tracts of land for free (if your Japanese). I read somewhere that the pop was going to fall from 120 something to 90 something million people. If it was anywhere else I would say the situation was desperate, but the Japanese capacity for endurance and their ability to make the best of the situation makes it a great place to live. And honestly, Kansai and Kanto are still booming, so I dont want to put myself to far out on a limb here.