Comments on: The Stress of Urban Living

By: Wind

Wind — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:39:04 +0000

i feel ya joanne. i’m kind of dealing with urban living better. namely by avoiding crowded areas and reminding myself to breathe.

big city living is fun. but definitely not healthy.

By: Joanne

Joanne — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:44:14 +0000

Thanks for sharing this piece, I was looking for other people who share the stress of urban living, from living in New York City for about ten years, I have been thinking perhaps it’s time to live somewhere more spacious. Over time I’ve gotten a lot more defensive around people about my space and get tense when someone stands too close when it’s unnecessary, especially on the subway platform or other public areas, I feel like people should have the same etiquette as in an elevator where it seems proper to space out evenly whenever possible, and get tense even when someone walks by too closely on the sidewalk because it happens way too often. Transportation can be crowded but the MTA does a good job of running very frequent trains and buses so it depends on luck and timing, the great thing about living in the city is that it’s nice to have so many people around you 24/7 , the street traffic noise and emergency siren though are also constantly there which can add to the stress.

By: Wind

Wind — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:07:07 +0000

yes, in the end, there’s no excuse for taking human life. but i still think japan on the whole is much better safety-wise than any urban conurbation i’ve visited. i don’t know, maybe vancouver and canada is safer. but tokyo is much bigger.

nevertheless just a tragedy any way you look at it.

By: hildric

hildric — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 05:17:20 +0000

Hey Bru,
It’s on the news everyday. Apparently it’s not just the stress of the city. He escaped Aomori because he owned money to some people. He was also depressed because he didn’t have any friends or girlfriend (according to his blog). He also complained about the fact that he was ugly. Anyway, I think the big problem is education in Japan. Adding to that is the lack of communication. Years ago, families in Japan used to spend time together at least on week ends. Everybody would gather and have a family lunch or dinner. People would share their daily experience and problems. But these days, everybody is busy. Parents aren’t home until late and kids are at clam school. How do you expect to communicate with others when you can’t communicate with the ones you are closest with?
I just can’t accept the fact that he took innocent people’s lives because he is unhappy with his life. What they ever do to him? Crimes aren’t that rare here. They are actually quite a few everyday but it has become common. On top of that they are weird. For instance last year, there were two or three murders followed by hacking the bodies in the same month (by different people!). Killing is one terrible thing to do, but how can you go and hack a body in pieces? That’s just sick.
I think Japan is facing a crisis that people don’t want to face or can’t see. It’s on the news and Japanese are shocked but not affected to the point of doing something about it. It really troubles me.