'Happiness is a state of mind': X user compares Japan’s 'perfect society' to India’s joy amid chaos

The post prompted several responses on X, with users echoing similar views about contentment and human connection.

A discussion on X (formerly Twitter) drew attention after a user reflected on the meaning of happiness, arguing that it could not be purchased or constructed through wealth and order but existed as a “state of mind.” The individual illustrated his point by contrasting Japan’s social structure with India’s everyday life, observing that despite its challenges, India appeared to have “happier faces.”

“I know this feels counterintuitive given bad roads, crazy traffic, crowded trains and long working hours. But at the risk of being hated for this opinion – let me give it a shot,” the user wrote.

He shared that he had visited Tokyo earlier in the year and described it as having “every luxury imaginable of a first-world country.” Yet, he said that he found an absence of joy among the people there. “Trains are on time, food is cheap, countless parks, many forms of entertainment – but people are just working like machines,” he noted, adding that there had been “no salary growth in decades” and that “many are so lonely they haven’t had human interaction in months and years.”

He reflected that the price of a “perfect society” seemed to be citizens “slogging it out without any hope or ambition.”

I know this feels counterintuitive given bad roads, crazy traffic, crowded trains and long working hours.

But at the risk of being hated for this opinion - let me give it a shot. I was in Tokyo earlier this year - it has every luxury imaginable of a first world country - yet… https://t.co/xCNWk0CZQJ — Hardik Rajgor (@Hardism) November 7, 2025

Turning to India, he remarked that happiness was visible in ordinary life despite imperfections. “In India, you can see kids playing, aunties hanging out, or people chatting. People don’t tie their happiness to purely material well-being,” he wrote. He added that visitors to the country often noticed how people “who don’t have much find joy and happiness in their simple lives.”

“Many of us may not be able to understand it because, for most of us, this is the only way we have always lived,” he added, concluding the post with the line, “Happiness is indeed a state of mind.”

The post prompted several responses on X, with users echoing similar views about contentment and human connection. One commenter wrote, “Happiness ain't got much to do with brand new pavement or fancy transit lines. It’s more about the warmth of folks connecting and finding joy right where they are, infrastructure or no infrastructure.” Another user responded, “It’s not counterintuitive at all.”

"100%. We went to Tokyo last year, and we took a bus from airport. I was hungry so as soon as I sat i opened a bhujiya packet, suddenly the crackle sound of the packet made entire bus look at me, and we realised that this much sound is also noise for them," a user wrote.

A third person added, “Well said! Thanks.” Meanwhile, another wrote, “My mum has been to many countries. Japan was her worst experience.”