My experience at a coworking space in Osaka, Japan

http://www.whosbacon.com/welcome-to-osaka-n

by whosbacon • 12 years ago

62 36 12 years ago

usaphp• 12 years ago

Looking at the photos, I started to think, is there any young developers who use PCs instead of Mac's, any photo of a coworking space I saw lately shows that everybody is using Mac.

PeterWhittaker2• 12 years ago

Macs just work. I was an Ubuntu user for over 10 years, first on an older Thinkpad (rock solid but eventually slow), later on a decent HP (with a little hardware problem).

I bought Airs for my wife and daughter. I would help them with something, then return to my machine, and feel a little more frustrated each time.

Airs have better hardware, better software, a better user experience, and are rock solid (if you don't hit them too hard). They don't get in your way, they just do their thing.

Macs are no-fuss machines that allow you to do your work without requiring you to babysit the machine. I'm no fanboi, I just recognize quality when I use it.

toomuchtodo• 12 years ago

I've been doing IT for ~13 years.

When I first started in my late teens, I was a hard core Linux user. I then moved over to a Thinkpad T40 (which I loved, and still have in a box to this day, with Windows XP on it).

About 4 years ago, I was issued a Macbook Pro while doing work at a DOE lab; I've never gone back since. It just works (as /u/PeterWhittaker stated). I've since bought my parents and my wife Air's.

I really didn't add significantly to the above comment, but wanted to be more verbose than "THIS". There is so much value in a tool that "just works".

matiasb• 12 years ago

Are Macs expensive in your country/city, related to PC?

I bought my first iMac one month ago, after using HP, Acer, etc. w/ Slackware for years.

Would like to acquire a Macbook Pro soon, just to give you an idea, a Macbook Pro, i7, 16 GB RAM, SSD 512 GB is around 2900 U$ here.

w1ntermute• 12 years ago

I was an Ubuntu user for over 10 years

That's impossible. The first Ubuntu release was on October 20th, 2004 - less than 10 years ago.

lgieron• 12 years ago

Sadly Apple no longer makes laptops with 17-inch screens, which is a deal breaker for me.

greggman2• 12 years ago

Wow, I wish my experience was like yours. I've found my mac laptops no less frustrating than my windows laptops. They crash just as often, they lock up just as often, they have strange issues that have me digging through apple support websites just as often. The finder still drives me nuts even after having been on mac for 6 years now.

And worse, the 2 or 3 times a year I want to play a game they don't run it. I managed to play through The Stanley Parable in VMWare Fusion but the game froze around once every 1 to 3 mins. Switching in/out of fullscreen mode would unlock it.

I'm not planning to switch back .. yet .. but I do think about it. Especially as a game dev, unlike webdev most game devs are on Windows.

wrl• 12 years ago

More than "none", at least. My main machine is a Thinkpad T430s running Arch, and no matter how many times I've tried to flip over to a Mac, I don't like it and come back to Linux.

Still have a MBP because I need to port software to it, but my day-to-day ops are on my Thinkpad.

melling• 12 years ago

Hopefully, this helps to get more Mac software of the second class citizen list. Microsoft has traditionally lagged with support in Office. Recently, I wanted to buy Dragon Naturally Speaking for my Mac but it's missing the Python support, which I wanted to use to automate to of my work.

cbhl2• 12 years ago

My rationale was always "I can run Windows on a Macbook, but not the other way around, and what if I ever need to write an iPhone app?"

Plus, trying to get Apache configured on a Windows box, and then transferring that knowledge to a Linux machine in the cloud somewhere, and wondering why everything breaks when you put it on production is really frustrating. (The first time you run into this, it's usually case-sensitive filenames...) Cygwin and MinGW can mitigate this, but add an additional level of complexity that really begs you to just run Ubuntu in a VM or buy a Macbook.

I think the more common thing is that if you are financially secure enough to quit your day job for four months, you probably have enough saved up to buy a Macbook or top-of-the-line Thinkpad. If you have a $500 netbook and you're in a co-working space, waiting for your computer to compile things might not be the most effective use of your time.

bane2• 12 years ago

Why would you configure Apache on a Windows box? Just set it up in a Linux VM. VMs work in Windows just fine. And Windows laptops with comparable specs to a MBP can be had for cheaper (for the most part).

Still, I love the hardware of my rMBP. It barely takes up space in my backpack, keyboard is good, don't have to worry about breaking out a mouse because of trackpad, battery life is good enough I often forget to charge it, etc.

I prefer Windows 7 to OS X, but in general I avoid setting up things that should be best done in Linux on either platform, VMs are good enough for most of that.

bluedino• 12 years ago

It just depends. I personally use a Mac but I see almost as many hackers using PC laptops out and about. They're usually at the tables next to the AC outlets.

lukasm• 12 years ago

I need a good hardware running Unix and possibility of using Windows.

They really shouldn't sit on those benches and chairs if they care about health.

aspidistra• 12 years ago

You don't know how long they have been sitting there, or whether they are taking regular stand-up walk-around breaks.

It's fine to sit on a bench or a chair for a short period of time. You might as well say they shouldn't all be looking at tiny laptop screens that are not at eye level.

In the back of the photo it looks like there are some chairs designed more with ergonomics in mind -- the black ones with mesh backs.

whosbacon3• 12 years ago

I am developing on a Samsung Chromebook, actually. The weight and price is perfect for travelers. I have felt its limitations, with speed and storage, which I tend to offset with cloud boxes and storage.

existencebox• 12 years ago

I'm exclusively PC/nix. Heavy use of VM's. My main laptop is a reasonable Thinkpad that has had "some issues" with its ancillary GPU but the core has been solid. I used to dev primarily on an EEE PC running mint, but that model is no longer produced, and was the last one that provided the physical robustness as well as the featureset I wanted. (If they still produced that same model, I'd still be using it, even over the thinkpad.)

My laptop is my "interface", far more often than my tool itself. I have powerful servers for building, VM's for emulating other environments, I want my laptop to simply be something I'm _VERY_ comfortable with and able to mangle as needed, which usually ends in *nix for me, out of sheer pragmatism. (the windows is for software I have to run that forces a degree of compatibility.)

ldarcyftw• 12 years ago

I'm using an HP laptop (with Ubuntu/MacOS in VMs). Since I tend to work in different places with different lighting conditions, matte screen is a must for me, and it is not available on Macbooks.

NIL82• 12 years ago

"My weapon of choice is Python." Cool way to put it.

NIL82• 12 years ago

Don't know why my benign comment deserved a down vote. Just thought I'd say something positive.

patio11• 12 years ago

My favorite part about the coworking movement in Japan -- and I don't get much exposure to it since it hasn't arrived in force in Ogaki yet -- is that it provides a community and social reinforcement which says "Just because you're not a salaryman doesn't mean you're a homeless vagabond!" to participants.

Japanese young folks, in particular, can really use that message. It is not a particularly popular message in Japan, which is largely organized for the benefit of salarymen and supports a few variants like "stay-at-home mothers" and "retired people" but institutionally is almost entirely unaware that there are exotic options like "freelancing."

I generally work out of cafes in Ogaki when not working from my kitchen table, and have been told three times by well-meaning cafe owners "Don't worry kiddo! If you hang in there I'm sure one of these days you'll find a job! Just keep sending those emails!"

whosbacon3• 12 years ago

I'm impressed by how many people are working on the side. It's not unusual to see 5, 10 people coming in around 6, 7 pm to work on their ventures or open sourced projects. I never got to ask, but I assume they have other day jobs or duties to fulfill.

golergka• 12 years ago

Well, doesn't the majority of us have some kind of side-projects? If I had a good coworking space nearby, I'd head there after work too, instead of trying to anything at home.

epaladin• 12 years ago

I have a friend who was thinking of starting a company a few years ago, but ended up joining a company as a salesman since that's what he could get. Maybe I'll see if he's heard anything about the growing startup culture.

cgarrigue• 12 years ago

Is coworking a popular thing in big japanese cities? Being a salaryman since arriving in the country I haven't had any exposure to it.

However I noticed the place where the Tokyo iOS developer meeting happens every month would be perfect for co-working: many rooms of different sizes, enabling people to set up some group meetings whenever is needed.

gillygize• 12 years ago

Tokyo iOS Meetup organizer here. The place where we meet is a company called Voyage Group, which is actually a proper company rather than a co-working space. It is unique in that, as I understand it, it is made up mostly of small, wholly-owned subsidiary companies, which is why there are all of those different-sized rooms. You are right that it would be good for co-working, too.

Co-working spaces have definitely expanded in the past couple years though. Co-ba in Shibuya and Hub Tokyo in Meguro are two that I have visited that seemed like they had good communities.

yarri• 12 years ago

Osaka, hisashiburi desu!

Thanks for sharing. I really couldn't tell if this was in Osaka until I saw the pictures of takoyaki being shared. Yup. Only in Osaka!

My favorite co-working space in Japan is Super-Deluxe [1] coworking in the daytime, bar / event space at night. Wish there were more funky spaces like that in the world!

[1] https://www.super-deluxe.com/2014/04/

Danieru• 12 years ago

This sounds pretty awesome, does anyone know of a co-working place similar in Tokyo?

new299• 12 years ago

Anyone know if they hold any English/Dual Language events? I'm working for a Biotech startup in Osaka (www.quantumbiosystems.com) and am interested in getting to know the local startup community.

Actually, we're kind of interested in starting a hacker space in Osaka too as a bunch of people we've hired are from the Hacker/Maker/Open hardware community (Bunnie's novena is our embedded compute). If anyone knows of anyone else who might be interested in working on that please let me know (address is profile).

whosbacon3• 12 years ago

There's a HN Kansai that's pretty tech and startup oriented. They meet once a month, rotating between Kobe, Kyoto, Osaka. Most of their events are in English and attendees cover both Natives and Expats. Worth exploring. http://hnkansai.org/

greggman2• 12 years ago

I had a little experience last Nov/Dec coding at/from 2 coworking spaces in Tokyo

One, co-ba (http://tsukuruba.com/co-ba/) I picked mostly because it was closest to where I was staying. They have 2 floors, one of which is open 24 hours. When you sign up full time they give you an RFID card that lets you into the 24hr floor anytime.

On the non-24hr floor they often organize events that start at 7pm. They also organize many social outings which I find a huge plus.

Also, as a programmer they invited me to be part of the "programming section". I'm not sure what all their activities are but one I enjoyed more than I thought I would. That was, every Friday at 4:30pm, if you wanted to you could participate in a coding exercise.

Someone would propose a very simple programming problem like "write code to draw a multiplication table", something that could be done in a few minutes. Their goal was 30 mins or less. We'd then go over everyone's solutions. I got exposure to languages I hadn't had experience with. I got exposure to solutions that hadn't occurred to me. They'd even ask style questions like "why you name your variables like that" which brought up interesting discussion as well.

Now that has me wondering if USA based co-working spaces are similar.

I also helped at some friends who worked from one of the http://co-lab.jp/

Both of them had rented permanent desks. I just sat at an open table when helping them out. I don't really know what that place was like other than it exists. It was much bigger than co-ba.

Not a co-working space but there's also the Pico Pico Cafe in Kichijoji (http://www.picopicocafe.com/). It's run by the guy making Voxatron (http://www.lexaloffle.com/voxatron.php). It's effectively his office. He opens it 3 days a week as a cafe and works on his projects those days as well.

hosh• 12 years ago

Thinking about Japanese culture ... I would think coworking spaces are spectacularly more successful than in America. Even misfits in Japan feels a strong need to bond with their affinity groups, whereas misfits in America can take it as a point of pride.

My experience at a coworking space in Osaka, Japan

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