I have a close friend who returned from getting married in Japan a while ago, and he was regaling me with stories of all the esoteric services Japan has available, among the most interesting is themed "love motels".
After doing some research, the majority of these "love motels" have some kind of gimmick, for instance a water slide inside your suite, or a Jurassic Park theme (complete with the theme music, and animatronic dinosaurs), ect.
These suites can either be rented for a nightly rate, or by the hour. Many of these places have some complimentary beverages, and food for patrons to eat (some even have adult toys).
To me the most surprising thing about these places is how well kept they are, given how affordable they are to rent, and all the amenities they offer.
It's not that we don't have "love motels" in the west, but we certainly don't have ones that are as nice, and affordable as those in Japan.
The hourly ones we have here are shady as fuck, with an exterior that exudes "free hugs" vibes, these places are so repulsive one could not be faulted for thinking they could catch a venereal disease simply by looking at them.
I think if someone were to try to open a "love hotel" akin to the quality of those in Japan in the west, it wouldn't survive the first month, it would be trashed almost instantly.
People in the west simply lack reverence for things, the same way the Japanese do.
Take for instance the new buses for public transit the city of Victoria bought, they're gorgeous; have individual passenger AC, and ports to charge devices in the seats.
Within the first few months they're already starting to show signs of vandalism...
It's equal parts infuriating, and absurd to me that people show such a disregard for public infrastructure, given that it costs the taxpayer money to maintain. Those busses collectively belong to us, the citizens, yet somehow those that use them still see fit to have them trashed.
Sadly, I think we not living in the capital, where extra money is allocated towards maintaining, and cleaning infrastructure; these busses would be even worse off, since there would be less government incentive to keep up appearances.
I think It's easy to point to a country like Japan and say the reason why the country is so beautiful is because it's an etho-state, or because it's financially wealthy (it's not even rich anymore).
There are plenty of shit hole etho-states though, Russia, and China being ones where the infrastructure is not properly maintained, and private infrastructure is also not respected.
As for Japan's wealth, yes it has some financial power, but one must remember the country came from a distinct lack of financial, and natural resources after the second world war.
I think the unique aspect of Japan that has allowed the country to flourish is the cultural, spiritual, and historical importance of Shintoism.
Arguably the most "materialistic" of any religion, Shintoism places a distinct importance on respect for things of the material world, believing ostensibly that even inanimate objects carry souls (or more precisely "kami").
Respect for property, and the preservation of such, is directly intertwined with the Japanese belief system, it's the reason why you'll see funerals for the aibo robotic dog, and why the Japanese have a much more optimistic view of technology.
If you have a positive spiritual belief for something, it's much more likely you're going to treat that thing with respect, and reverence. That in turn means that infrastructure can last longer, and need to be maintained less, since it's less likely to be intentionally abused, which in turn costs less economically.
The west has the opposite view of things, we have eco-warriors willing to trash art, vandalise infrastructure to prove some sort of point about the environment (or "the man", whatever that ambiguous euphemism may mean), these deranged SJW's want stricter polices even though the ones we have now are sufficient.
Environmentalists are supposed to be materialists by the nature of their movement, but they rally against the cause they are supposed to be aligned with. Which is why Greenpeace founder Patrick Moore stepped down, since he's not a fucking partisan Mormon and can understand the cost benefit analysis of nuclear power, but I digress.
Although often conflated, consumerism, and materialism are different, one does not need to be a consumerist to be a materialist.
Materialism is a belief system that revolves around finding value, and beauty in the material world, not some other abstract plain of existence that may not exist (like an inverse "Pascal's wager").
Environmentalists are materialist by virtue of what their stated goals are, yet they hold little regard for infrastructure.
It's not the production of things that's the problem, it's the lack of care for what is created. Japan produces more plastic than the West, but managed to recycle an astronomical 85.8% of it vs Canada's 9%
There is nothing wrong with consumerism, but there is something wrong with a disregard over what you buy, for example fast fashion is an environmental nightmare, because that cheap shit is designed to be disposable.
One shouldn't feel bad over what they buy, but they should at least have respect so it lasts, and can be passed down.
We're being taught that consumerism is somehow wrong, and there is a distinct lack of respect for material things in the west.
That may be a result of an underlying Anglo-Saxon religious upbringing most of the west has been raised with, that places value in an afterlife vs the material present.
Or perhaps the hyper socialist "you will own nothing and be happy" collectivist mantra being shoved down the the throats of the leftist youth of the Americas. Why would I want to share the things I have, when the majority of the people in this country are being taught have no regard for it?
As the saying often goes "you can't take it with you", yeah that's true, but I can at least leave it behind for my kids.
Of course the culture has become so corrupt that the modern day environmentalists have proposed antinatalism as a form of altruism to protect the environment.
Isn't that psychotic?! Mankind the most intelligent species, and defacto Suzerains of the earth, should stop breeding despite being the only creature in any position to save it, and it's inhabitants; where is the logic in that?
These lunatics act like they want to save the planet, but they really want to hinder progress, and plunge the earth into a dark age like some kind of down syndrome Tyler Durden.
For these reasons we will never have nice "sex motels" in the west, since we have fostered an open animosity towards the material, sex, ourselves, and any future.
Anyway, it's all moot once nuclear fusion arrives in like 5-10 years, hahaha.
To segway, the film is the Toxic Avenger which is a remake of the 70's B movie of the same name, it's going to be shlock, but Peter Dinklage as Toxie, guarantees it'll at least be fun.
Also Lloyd is awesome, and was super nice to me, and helped support newgrounds.com back in the day, so it's nice a new generation will get introduced to Troma, and get properly tromatized.
Uncle Kaufman is a big environmentalist, and I love him, but he follows the golden rule of complaining, which is if you're going to do it at least be funny.
This meetup is at capital 6 theatre downtown, drop me a DM if you're coming, it'll be easy to identify members, since I think at least a few will be wearing club shirts.
Drinks will probably occur before, and after.
