And so my ADD journey began this lovely evening ( or as far as I can remember ) with a click and a screen loading a CNN story about a Japanese forest notorious for its suicides. This was a compelling story, one of many sobering accounts of grief that have been reported due to the flailing economy in recent times.
In the report, there was a man who had failed to kill himself. He talked about how he is coming along after his life took a turn for the worse, but he still thinks about killing himself. But his will to live overcame his mental struggles.
This story got me thinking: What is Craigslist like in Japan? Considering that there has been a lot of social disorder brewing on this heavily populated island, I pondered if there would be a paralell of anger outputted on the popular classifieds site.
My first stop: Okinawa – Rants & Raves. I always cringe at the racist, misogynistic, barbarian diatribes in the freedom forums of the good ol’ US of A. I was a little more wary of seeing something remotely equal. The reason being that, I have been indoctrinated with the stereotype that all Japanese are cool, hip, happy, Gwen Stefani-grouping, Polysics-raging, fun-loving people. As you get older, you find out everyone is the same, and most are unhappy, selfish, or unpassionate. Like Santa’s cookies when you were five, I try to hold on to the myth as I entered the hate-spewing zone.
And….. nothing.
Take a look. It’s breathtaking. There isn’t one person who has utilized this forum to harvest obscenities to their enemies. No fat girl jokes. No Obama bashing. Not even an exploitative spammer.
There isn’t much in the Tokyo section either, although I did find someone post a random article defending Brendan Fraser. Very random.
Which leads me to two conclusions: A) A savvy upstart in the Japanese web development industry has created a website that not only is 20 times better than Craigslist, but is also a robot that can make blueberry pancakes on command.
Or… Craigslist needs to develop its expansion endeavors with the utility of a language translator! I know they have them for some countries, but you can’t just add another country, and tell them to go f*&k themselves when they need a utility to use their service.
But Craigslist rocks; I am just busting its balls.