Since I grew up with a single parent, I had to do a lot more on my own as a kiddo than North America's infrastructure was set up for. Groceries, town crossing bike rides, even some smaller trips on buses that happened to go pretty far out... stuff like that! A huge part definitely came from community - I think it becomes essentially mandatory in the poorer sorts of neighborhoods like I grew up in, especially between single parents and their kids. I think it made me less afraid to ask for other folks to help as "checkpoints" in other towns, too, as well as when I ended up moving long distances as a young adult. So this definitely hits home! Here's hoping for some improvements as more and more folks desire walkability, less cars, and the like. :>
"travel is important to give people other perspectives" as an advocate of "if we could, we should totally put every person into space looking down at the Earth for a hot minute", I agree! On a more serious note (not that the above wouldn't be a profound life-changing experience, it just lacks the cultural element lol), it wasn't until my 20s, but I've done a handful of relatively long-distance trips by myself, where I did them primarily because I've simply felt the need to JUST FINALLY TRAVEL SOMEWHERE away from the familiar, rather than because of something specific at a destination. And it felt so good... it made me wish I would've felt safe doing that years sooner.
I haven't travelled totally by myself…probably ever. At least not beyond going for a hike or a bike ride for a few hours. Most of my trips have either been with people or meeting someone at my destination. But travelling by myself, even now, sounds like an experience worth having!
@@UmbreonLibris Traveling on your own for a day or two rocks! It gives a bit more time to really think through each activity, sight, even food. Even though I'm usually a more-the-merrier type, it does really have a different kind of magic to it. :>
A lot of my independent travel included other people, or had me share encounters with others, or spend some time with friends, strangers and the like. But the process of going somewhere, organising everything, planning the trip, getting from A to B...that was all me alone. I've spent time wandering streets by myself not really knowing where I am or what to do, having conversations with strangers, eating out some, and they've generally been great experiences. Though I certainly don't feel as well-travelled as many others. I would certainly recommend a weekend trip alone, though. ☺️
I think that it's a real shame that saying hello to people you don't know on the streets seems so frowned upon, I personally do it often to randos walking by and my teachers at school, and often my friends and family will be like, "You don't know them, why are you saying hello?" And I always say it's because it's nice to be nice.
I've been making more of an effort. At least I smile at people, and if they make eye contact, then I'll say good morning or hi or whatever. I think for us who are not used to it, it can still be awkward, so the eye contact lets people decide whether to engage.
This is second nature in the north of England. A little less so now that people tend to be buried in their phones, but as a child, I remember seeing people chatting at bus stops who only knew each other through being in the same place waiting for the same thing at the same time. 😅 Even now, when I take a walk in the park (usually playing Pokémon Go), I'll say hi to passing dog walkers (almost always the friendliest) or general walkers. People just tend to greet each other. And you always thank the driver when you get off the bus. 🚌 But you head south (specifically southeast) towards London, and saying hello to a stranger will earn you looks of, "what institute did you escape from?" 😒
19:19 with regards to public transit in the Pokémon world, we can't forget the Mt. Chimney cable car in the Hoenn region! I'd argue cable cars should constitute a form of public transportation. In NYC, there is a cable car connecting Roosevelt Island to Manhattan's Upper East Side.
There are definitely some cable cars that are public transit, though I'm not sure I'd count the one on Mt. Chimney. Seems more of a tourist attraction to me.
I think grouping West Europe and NA/Brazil is kind of an overlook : In Europe walkable neighborhoods and less distance between school and home is way more frequent than in America and thus kids here are oftentimes more independant than in America it's still less than Japan but EU is like its 3rd category because our historic centers are for the most part saved from cars influence on infrastructure (no highways midtown) and public transit is very common (and in Netherlands they even have separate bike lanes all over) Adam Something and NotJustBikes have insightful videos comparing Europe with the USA in terms of infrastructure EDIT after completion : Netherlands are the most advanced in terms of public transit / bike accessibility but the rest of Europe is also doing that : France for example has seen a resurrection of trams in cities which from my own experience made my own city (Dijon) way more accessible : I remember when I was 8, before the tram was there the place Darcy was filled to the brim with cars, now it's filled with trees and walkable parts with just 1 lane on each side for cars and the whole center has been a pleasure to stroll in for the last 10 years
I read a few studies specifically comparing multiple countries and their findings were quite clear: children in European cities have a higher degree of independence than those in North America, but Japanese children are _significantly_ better off even than they are. So yes, there are notable differences between North America, Europe and Latin America-and plenty of differences between countries or regions within them too-but Japan is the outlier, no matter how you look at it.
Manchester in the UK has an incredible tram system! And the buses have just come back into council ownership, like in London. I wish more cities here would follow their lead. 👍🏼 But yes, despite the difference between here and, say, the US, Japan certainly sits in its own circle on the Venn diagram. 🇯🇵
Your genuine scholarship is so joy-making to me. As an English major, I have so much respect for your analyses, synthesization of reputable sources with your own arguments, and well-communicated thesis. I am always so excited to see your new content, and to no surprise you delivered once again. Your work matters and I thank you for it
Classic Libris! I love it when you bring the PKMN world and the real world together (which is almost always when it's not a journal or art stream I guess). Also, your guests were great, especially Gano!
From one educator to another, very well done! This video is a delight and I am really impressed by the production quality as well as the way all the concepts are laid out. I definitely agree that part of what made Pokemon so exciting as a kid was 1) the independence to go out on my own, and 2) the ability to have whatever pet I wanted without a parent saying no!
I think it's interesting to consider how the presence of Pokémon changes the culture of their world. As far as I'm aware we haven't seen a single car in any of the games. We've seen them in the anime, but not the games. And why would you need one when you can ride your Charizard or Pidgeot anywhere? Flying would save both time and money. Even an Arcanine or Rapidash can get you through a forest or mountain quickly. The only vehicles we've seen are things like planes, ships, trucks, etc. - large vehicles to carry heavier loads or travel much farther than what a Pokémon could manage. Furthermore, in the games, you can basically just barge into anyone's house and say hello. Now obviously this is just a game mechanic, and is common in all JRPGs, but what if we extrapolated this as a reflection of their culture? Almost everyone owns Pokémon, who are strong and can keep you safe. If your Pokémon are able to keep you safe, there is much less reason to fear strangers. Old ladies on the side of the road let you rest in their house to heal. If so many people in their world embarked on a Pokémon journey at some point, it could be ingrained in their culture to help and welcome those who are currently undergoing one as well. Unfortunately we don't have Pokémon to protect us, so some of these aspects are a bit more difficult to implement in our own world, but I really appreciate how you related it to our society to get a very important social message across.
Heres is a Russian perspective: my grandmother at the age of 5 would run with a group of other kids all across the town, they would pick fights with other child groups on other streets and generally had a good but “unsafe” time. Even my mother would ride a bus to elementary school every day and it was fine. But after the 80-90s period of rapid growth of cities, traffic, organised crime, and general inequality nowadays you rarely see children without a parent nearby. The general xenophobia that was seeded into society to make it more atomised and controllable has become self replicating in this way.
This was one of ur most intriguing discussions yet. And I love the big focus on community this discussion had. Something like this is possible, just needing the changes you mentioned which can be quite difficult. This was excellent
This is a great video. I’ve always been advocating for stuff like these to happen and it’s way worse in where I live to the point where it’s not safe at all to walk or use a bike so I hope more and more countries push for these stuff since not only they’re good for the environment but also empowers people and kids in the right way
YES! It's obviously not to the extent of going and defeating the entire mafia in a hostage situation, but to a certain degree, yes, we can make things like in Pokemon, and that would be awesome! Great video as always Lybris! 👌
This definitely feels like more of a comparison between America and Japan than the west in general. Growing up (and living) in different parts of Europe my experience was definitely closer to Japan (though still lacking in parts!). Things like walking between school/friends houses/shops and getting buses/trains further a field is pretty common. Even for me, who was a pretty shy child. I think one of the biggest differences is jaywalking. I didn't even know what that meant until I was older and its such an odd concept - of course the people driving the dangerous machines should be the responsible ones, not the pedestrians! A few other things, like greeting strangers and giving children more political responsibility, I feel like I've encountered. I think the biggest thing I don't feel as much is a sense of neighbourhood, which hearing from older relatives seems to have been a lot more common in the past, but has reduced in recent years.
The focus was North America, certainly, but I also read studies that included European countries. Europe is farther along, which is great, but it was clear that Japan is still an outlier.
Great video Libris! I have fallen a bit behind on your content lately but I will try to catch up! I remember dreaming of doing something like this as a kid, but I honestly don't think I would have if I could, all that walking doesn't sound like something 11 year old me would be up to.
Since my childhood I've always been fascinated by animals, the way they move about & act. I think that's why Pokemon resonates w me so much is cuz creature designs r all very heavily based around real life animals.
Esse vídeo foi incrível! Eu jamais imaginei que as a cultura japonesa podia ser tão mais utópica pro desenvolvimento humano e que isso teria tanto impacto em Pokémon. Aprender tanto assim sobre a evolução das crianças em relação às comunidades é muito interessante. Tendo crescido em uma cidade pequena eu realmente vejo a diferença em relação a cidade Rio de Janeiro, ainda foi longe de uma infância no Japão, mas a oportunidade de ir aonde eu queria sem medo de carros foi definitivamente muito melhor do que sabia.
Algo interessante que eu não incluí no vídeo é que, por sí só, a urbanização tende a ajudar na independência das crianças. Os destinos do dia-a-dia custumam ser mais próximos, e o transporte público mais robusto. Só que o aumento do trânsito vai completamente na contramão disso e acaba sendo um obstáculo muito grande. Cidades com pouco trânsito oferencem maior independência do que cidades pequenas.
Yes! I found out about that show at the same time I found Dr. Waygood: on an episode of the podcast 99 Percent Invisible. I even watched a couple of episodes of the show early on in my research!
Being able to live without a car is one of the reasons I live in NYC. It’s so good for my mental health to have every day to feel like a Pokémon adventure. 😊
The first place that I remember growing up in was a very small milling town, every road had sidewalks and it was easy to walk anywhere in town, in fact there was a small mom and pop store that shared a wall with a pizza and shakes place where there were many candies that were only 1 cent. My mom would let all of us kids who were 'big enough' to ride our bikes by ourselves to the store and pay for our own candy. "Big Enough" was being a First Grader, aka 6-7 years old. Like that would be ridiculous to most people but it's what *everyone* in the town did.... however, once we moved to a city we just didn't have that kind of community anymore and lived in an apartment. It was so much more dangerous to walk or ride your bike around, because while the *apartments* had sidewalks, the other nearby roads were a highway and extremely busy at all times. There were absolutely no walking paths and let's not get started on biking lanes... the city that I still live in btw only has 1 biking area... and it's not connected to anything? It's just one random bike lane for about 0.5 miles.... and it's new.
That's not how I interpret it. There's a different kind of cobblestone on the side of the street, but I don't think that's a sidewalk. It doesn't seem to be raised and is too narrow for more than one person to walk on. And even if it is a sidewalk, pedestrians clearly don't have any problem walking in the middle of the road, it is still a shared street.
Since I grew up with a single parent, I had to do a lot more on my own as a kiddo than North America's infrastructure was set up for. Groceries, town crossing bike rides, even some smaller trips on buses that happened to go pretty far out... stuff like that! A huge part definitely came from community - I think it becomes essentially mandatory in the poorer sorts of neighborhoods like I grew up in, especially between single parents and their kids. I think it made me less afraid to ask for other folks to help as "checkpoints" in other towns, too, as well as when I ended up moving long distances as a young adult. So this definitely hits home! Here's hoping for some improvements as more and more folks desire walkability, less cars, and the like. :>
"travel is important to give people other perspectives"
as an advocate of "if we could, we should totally put every person into space looking down at the Earth for a hot minute", I agree!
On a more serious note (not that the above wouldn't be a profound life-changing experience, it just lacks the cultural element lol),
it wasn't until my 20s, but I've done a handful of relatively long-distance trips by myself, where I did them primarily because I've simply felt the need to JUST FINALLY TRAVEL SOMEWHERE away from the familiar, rather than because of something specific at a destination. And it felt so good... it made me wish I would've felt safe doing that years sooner.
I haven't travelled totally by myself…probably ever. At least not beyond going for a hike or a bike ride for a few hours. Most of my trips have either been with people or meeting someone at my destination. But travelling by myself, even now, sounds like an experience worth having!
@@UmbreonLibris Traveling on your own for a day or two rocks! It gives a bit more time to really think through each activity, sight, even food. Even though I'm usually a more-the-merrier type, it does really have a different kind of magic to it. :>
A lot of my independent travel included other people, or had me share encounters with others, or spend some time with friends, strangers and the like. But the process of going somewhere, organising everything, planning the trip, getting from A to B...that was all me alone. I've spent time wandering streets by myself not really knowing where I am or what to do, having conversations with strangers, eating out some, and they've generally been great experiences. Though I certainly don't feel as well-travelled as many others. I would certainly recommend a weekend trip alone, though. ☺️
I think that it's a real shame that saying hello to people you don't know on the streets seems so frowned upon, I personally do it often to randos walking by and my teachers at school, and often my friends and family will be like, "You don't know them, why are you saying hello?" And I always say it's because it's nice to be nice.
I've been making more of an effort. At least I smile at people, and if they make eye contact, then I'll say good morning or hi or whatever. I think for us who are not used to it, it can still be awkward, so the eye contact lets people decide whether to engage.
This is second nature in the north of England. A little less so now that people tend to be buried in their phones, but as a child, I remember seeing people chatting at bus stops who only knew each other through being in the same place waiting for the same thing at the same time. 😅
Even now, when I take a walk in the park (usually playing Pokémon Go), I'll say hi to passing dog walkers (almost always the friendliest) or general walkers. People just tend to greet each other. And you always thank the driver when you get off the bus. 🚌
But you head south (specifically southeast) towards London, and saying hello to a stranger will earn you looks of, "what institute did you escape from?" 😒
19:19 with regards to public transit in the Pokémon world, we can't forget the Mt. Chimney cable car in the Hoenn region! I'd argue cable cars should constitute a form of public transportation. In NYC, there is a cable car connecting Roosevelt Island to Manhattan's Upper East Side.
There are definitely some cable cars that are public transit, though I'm not sure I'd count the one on Mt. Chimney. Seems more of a tourist attraction to me.
I think grouping West Europe and NA/Brazil is kind of an overlook :
In Europe walkable neighborhoods and less distance between school and home is way more frequent than in America and thus kids here are oftentimes more independant than in America
it's still less than Japan but EU is like its 3rd category because our historic centers are for the most part saved from cars influence on infrastructure (no highways midtown) and public transit is very common (and in Netherlands they even have separate bike lanes all over)
Adam Something and NotJustBikes have insightful videos comparing Europe with the USA in terms of infrastructure
EDIT after completion : Netherlands are the most advanced in terms of public transit / bike accessibility but the rest of Europe is also doing that : France for example has seen a resurrection of trams in cities which from my own experience made my own city (Dijon) way more accessible : I remember when I was 8, before the tram was there the place Darcy was filled to the brim with cars, now it's filled with trees and walkable parts with just 1 lane on each side for cars and the whole center has been a pleasure to stroll in for the last 10 years
I read a few studies specifically comparing multiple countries and their findings were quite clear: children in European cities have a higher degree of independence than those in North America, but Japanese children are _significantly_ better off even than they are. So yes, there are notable differences between North America, Europe and Latin America-and plenty of differences between countries or regions within them too-but Japan is the outlier, no matter how you look at it.
Manchester in the UK has an incredible tram system! And the buses have just come back into council ownership, like in London. I wish more cities here would follow their lead. 👍🏼
But yes, despite the difference between here and, say, the US, Japan certainly sits in its own circle on the Venn diagram. 🇯🇵
Your genuine scholarship is so joy-making to me. As an English major, I have so much respect for your analyses, synthesization of reputable sources with your own arguments, and well-communicated thesis. I am always so excited to see your new content, and to no surprise you delivered once again. Your work matters and I thank you for it
Classic Libris! I love it when you bring the PKMN world and the real world together (which is almost always when it's not a journal or art stream I guess). Also, your guests were great, especially Gano!
Great video Libris. My whole life I also assumed cars weren’t in a Pokémon game because they weren’t relevant, similar to the size of towns.
From one educator to another, very well done! This video is a delight and I am really impressed by the production quality as well as the way all the concepts are laid out. I definitely agree that part of what made Pokemon so exciting as a kid was 1) the independence to go out on my own, and 2) the ability to have whatever pet I wanted without a parent saying no!
I think it's interesting to consider how the presence of Pokémon changes the culture of their world.
As far as I'm aware we haven't seen a single car in any of the games. We've seen them in the anime, but not the games. And why would you need one when you can ride your Charizard or Pidgeot anywhere? Flying would save both time and money. Even an Arcanine or Rapidash can get you through a forest or mountain quickly. The only vehicles we've seen are things like planes, ships, trucks, etc. - large vehicles to carry heavier loads or travel much farther than what a Pokémon could manage.
Furthermore, in the games, you can basically just barge into anyone's house and say hello. Now obviously this is just a game mechanic, and is common in all JRPGs, but what if we extrapolated this as a reflection of their culture? Almost everyone owns Pokémon, who are strong and can keep you safe. If your Pokémon are able to keep you safe, there is much less reason to fear strangers. Old ladies on the side of the road let you rest in their house to heal. If so many people in their world embarked on a Pokémon journey at some point, it could be ingrained in their culture to help and welcome those who are currently undergoing one as well.
Unfortunately we don't have Pokémon to protect us, so some of these aspects are a bit more difficult to implement in our own world, but I really appreciate how you related it to our society to get a very important social message across.
Heres is a Russian perspective: my grandmother at the age of 5 would run with a group of other kids all across the town, they would pick fights with other child groups on other streets and generally had a good but “unsafe” time.
Even my mother would ride a bus to elementary school every day and it was fine.
But after the 80-90s period of rapid growth of cities, traffic, organised crime, and general inequality nowadays you rarely see children without a parent nearby. The general xenophobia that was seeded into society to make it more atomised and controllable has become self replicating in this way.
This was one of ur most intriguing discussions yet. And I love the big focus on community this discussion had. Something like this is possible, just needing the changes you mentioned which can be quite difficult. This was excellent
This is a great video. I’ve always been advocating for stuff like these to happen and it’s way worse in where I live to the point where it’s not safe at all to walk or use a bike so I hope more and more countries push for these stuff since not only they’re good for the environment but also empowers people and kids in the right way
Those bicycle shots of residential Japan gave me *major* Shenmue nostalgia!
I was thinking about writing about this concept for the longest time. Glad others are thinking on this wavelength.
LOVED the video AND the comments!! Learning a lot.
Sharing immediately and widely!
Thanks, mom!
Just wanted to say this might be my favorite video from a Pokémon channel. Fantastic work!
Thank you so much!
YES! It's obviously not to the extent of going and defeating the entire mafia in a hostage situation, but to a certain degree, yes, we can make things like in Pokemon, and that would be awesome! Great video as always Lybris! 👌
This definitely feels like more of a comparison between America and Japan than the west in general. Growing up (and living) in different parts of Europe my experience was definitely closer to Japan (though still lacking in parts!). Things like walking between school/friends houses/shops and getting buses/trains further a field is pretty common. Even for me, who was a pretty shy child. I think one of the biggest differences is jaywalking. I didn't even know what that meant until I was older and its such an odd concept - of course the people driving the dangerous machines should be the responsible ones, not the pedestrians! A few other things, like greeting strangers and giving children more political responsibility, I feel like I've encountered. I think the biggest thing I don't feel as much is a sense of neighbourhood, which hearing from older relatives seems to have been a lot more common in the past, but has reduced in recent years.
Can definitely relate to this in the UK. Especially the loss of community and neighbourliness (at least for the most part).
The focus was North America, certainly, but I also read studies that included European countries. Europe is farther along, which is great, but it was clear that Japan is still an outlier.
love the optimism! let's work together to make a better world ☆
This is a really good vid! I love exploring topics of built enviroments and human centered design through a pokemon lense
Super interesting topic, that was a pleasure to watch and listen to!
Great video Libris! I have fallen a bit behind on your content lately but I will try to catch up! I remember dreaming of doing something like this as a kid, but I honestly don't think I would have if I could, all that walking doesn't sound like something 11 year old me would be up to.
What a great video! Your content is always worth the wait
The camera work is especially great, imho. 📹
:hehepult: (wykyk)
This video was suuuuper good! It's fun to have your video essays teach me but be hidden by pokemon. :3 Go walkable cities!!!! :3
Since my childhood I've always been fascinated by animals, the way they move about & act. I think that's why Pokemon resonates w me so much is cuz creature designs r all very heavily based around real life animals.
Esse vídeo foi incrível! Eu jamais imaginei que as a cultura japonesa podia ser tão mais utópica pro desenvolvimento humano e que isso teria tanto impacto em Pokémon. Aprender tanto assim sobre a evolução das crianças em relação às comunidades é muito interessante. Tendo crescido em uma cidade pequena eu realmente vejo a diferença em relação a cidade Rio de Janeiro, ainda foi longe de uma infância no Japão, mas a oportunidade de ir aonde eu queria sem medo de carros foi definitivamente muito melhor do que sabia.
Algo interessante que eu não incluí no vídeo é que, por sí só, a urbanização tende a ajudar na independência das crianças. Os destinos do dia-a-dia custumam ser mais próximos, e o transporte público mais robusto. Só que o aumento do trânsito vai completamente na contramão disso e acaba sendo um obstáculo muito grande. Cidades com pouco trânsito oferencem maior independência do que cidades pequenas.
Loved this video so much
Very interesting video.
Tu é brasileiro nem acredito, acompanho os seus vídeos a algum tempo, a qualidade é dos seus videos é fantástica.
This is a tremendous video.
Great video! I couldn't help but think of the Japanese show "Old Enough!" throughout this video
Yes! I found out about that show at the same time I found Dr. Waygood: on an episode of the podcast 99 Percent Invisible. I even watched a couple of episodes of the show early on in my research!
Being able to live without a car is one of the reasons I live in NYC. It’s so good for my mental health to have every day to feel like a Pokémon adventure. 😊
The first place that I remember growing up in was a very small milling town, every road had sidewalks and it was easy to walk anywhere in town, in fact there was a small mom and pop store that shared a wall with a pizza and shakes place where there were many candies that were only 1 cent. My mom would let all of us kids who were 'big enough' to ride our bikes by ourselves to the store and pay for our own candy. "Big Enough" was being a First Grader, aka 6-7 years old. Like that would be ridiculous to most people but it's what *everyone* in the town did....
however, once we moved to a city we just didn't have that kind of community anymore and lived in an apartment. It was so much more dangerous to walk or ride your bike around, because while the *apartments* had sidewalks, the other nearby roads were a highway and extremely busy at all times. There were absolutely no walking paths and let's not get started on biking lanes... the city that I still live in btw only has 1 biking area... and it's not connected to anything? It's just one random bike lane for about 0.5 miles.... and it's new.
Wow, that honestly sounds like a nightmare! Living near roads that have no sidewalks-and that aren't pedestrian-friendly strees-is so stressful!
10:18 I disagree, look at litleo here, it's near what appears to be a kerb, something that separates the sidewalk from the road.
That's not how I interpret it. There's a different kind of cobblestone on the side of the street, but I don't think that's a sidewalk. It doesn't seem to be raised and is too narrow for more than one person to walk on. And even if it is a sidewalk, pedestrians clearly don't have any problem walking in the middle of the road, it is still a shared street.
interesting idea, amizing execution!!
Thank you so much!
Oh wow, that's what Mom sounds like?!
Oh hey, I know that Utah guy!
You don't get (permission) if you don't ask! 😂