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Japan drops to 3rd place in U.S. News 2020 Best Countries rankings

13 Comments
By Shannon, SoraNews24

Sure, Japan has its ups and downs, but some things are getting better, right? Despite the harsh working culture, you could say Japan is a great place to live for the most part.

That’s probably why Japan was announced as the third place winner in the 19th annual U.S. News 2020 Best Countries rankings! The Land of the Rising Sun was overtaken by Canada (Switzerland topped the list for the fourth year in a row, by the way). Results were derived from a global survey of over 20,000 people in 36 countries around the world using questions from a research team at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton.

The survey explained that while Japan ranked pretty high in terms of it being easy to start and run a business and cultural influence, it wasn’t so hot in the risk-taking department, and it claimed that Japanese businesses aren’t very open.

Considering that Japan was the only non-European country (besides the United States) that made the Top 10, though, you could argue that they have something to be proud of. When asked what they thought of the survey results, however, netizens had a very mixed batch of opinions.

“Wow, I didn’t expect it to get such a good score.”

“Why don’t you try asking single mothers in Japan what they think?”

“If there was another ranking for ‘dumb citizens that get happy about their high ranking,’ Japan would take first place.”

“Japanese people are so negative. I’m pretty happy.”

“Japanese people are happy because they have anime and manga…”

It seems like some people are still pretty happy in the nation; we’re pretty happy to be able to write about it. If you want to visit the third-best country in the world, here are some of the best places you can go.

Sources: Livedoor News via My Game News Flash, U.S. News

Read more stories from SoraNews24.

-- Balance of intelligence factors makes Japan the world’s smartest country, according to this list

-- Why aren’t there more female entrepreneurs in Japan? Pull up a chair… 【Women in Japan Series】

-- The number 1 ‘most satisfying’ city in the world is….TOKYO!!!

© SoraNews24

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

13 Comments
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Low pay, brutal hours, a terrible journey every day on the train, bullying and power-hara at work, a handful of days holiday per year, no vacations abroad, minimal pocket money, a sexless marriage, huge stress, etc etc

There is nothing stereotypical about this. It's just everyday life in Japan's largest cities where the majority of people live.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

It is pretty disappointing to read all the stereotypical comments about Japanese people in the comments above.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

@rizdown "You see, the thing is that many Japanese become very nationalistic and defensive when asked about Japan by foreigners.

They seem to feel that they must protect "team Japan" at all costs."

This is the most important comment

They also tend to exaggerate their own levels of satisfaction in Japanese variety show surveys.

An easy way to understand it is they tend to act around each other some would at church. You know the place where everybody puts on a happy face dresses up a bit. And they really put on that happy face for visiting non-believers (their foreigners).

2 ( +3 / -1 )

In surveys like this, I always take the data from Japan with a huge pinch of salt.

You see, the thing is that many Japanese become very nationalistic and defensive when asked about Japan by foreigners.

They seem to feel that they must protect "team Japan" at all costs.

So they will convince themselves that "it is great to live in Japan" and answer the survey questions along those lines, even though their lives are in many respects and by any objective measure almost completely miserable.

Look at the lot of a typical male salaried worker in Tokyo...

Low pay, brutal hours, a terrible journey every day on the train, bullying and power-hara at work, a handful of days holiday per year, no vacations abroad, minimal pocket money, a sexless marriage, huge stress, etc etc

But if they meet a foreigner, they will still go on about how wonderful and superior Japan is!

So let's be very aware of the biased data from Japan.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Ranking the 195 countries in the world from numbers one to number 195, with 1 being the worst place to live, and 195 being the least bad place to live, Japan came in at 192. That is not all bad news for Japan.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Japan dropped from second to third? Is that really news? From second to 25th, yes, but not second to third.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

@Patricia

Smoking indoors and on the streets still the norm. Should be lower in the ranking just on this alone. Until this is corrected, Japan remains a great place to live but for this single and huge qualifier.

Agree. Added to that, companies in dense cities should have staggered starting/ending times. Employees should have a set schedule with a start time within 6 - 10AM (having lunch when they please, to match their schedule) and then finish work anytime within 4 - 8PM. Lunch times would no longer be set at noon for 95% of workers, but from 10AM - 2PM, easing the lunch rush. So, there would be FIVE types of work schedules, the earliest would be 6 - 4, the latest 10 - 8. Of course, working from home should also be encouraged. Final thought, staggered VACATIONS (or just have employees take vacations whenever they darn well please). It would also be great if populations were not insanely concentrated in a few cities, but that is a fundamental issue that may never be dealt with.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

but for...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Smoking indoors and on the streets still the norm. Should be lower in the ranking just on this alone. Until this is corrected, Japan remains a great place to live but this single and huge qualifier.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Canada has knocked Japan from 2nd place since legalizing marijuana. "But that's correlation, not causation." Go tell the Climate Change alarmists about the difference between the two. They don't seem to know the difference.

-7 ( +1 / -8 )

If there was another ranking for ‘dumb citizens that get happy about their high ranking,’ Japan would take first place.”

Spot on.

7 ( +9 / -2 )

Despite the harsh working culture, you could say Japan is a great place to live for the most part.

Best places to live are purely subjective. Also, 20,000 people can't answer for almost 8 billion people.

The US in the top 10 ranking heavily depends on many factors. Japan is considered one of the least stressful countries ranking in the top 20. But at the same time, people living here know that is far from true. 20,000 people can't properly answer for the average person.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

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