Comments on: On the Death of Japan

By: fantasticspanish

fantasticspanish — Fri, 19 Jul 2013 09:51:17 +0000

I agree. :)

By: On Being a Total Creep in Japan | This Japanese Life. | 生命を外面九天です

On Being a Total Creep in Japan | This Japanese Life. | 生命を外面九天です — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 12:26:12 +0000

[...] Herbivores Japanese men are not, as assumed, timid or afraid, or uninterested in Western women. The culture of Japan assumes women will strike up a conversation first. (Though, they usually don’t – so there are no babies). [...]

By: On Selling “Latin Biorhythms” in Japan | This Japanese Life. | 生命を外面九天です

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 13:01:39 +0000

[...] would seem ridiculous given Japan’s population crisis, but everything Japan does about its population crisis has been ridiculous. In Japan’s mostly [...]

By: On Going to a Gay Bar in Japan | This Japanese Life. | 生命を外面九天です

On Going to a Gay Bar in Japan | This Japanese Life. | 生命を外面九天です — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 12:39:30 +0000

[...] pressure to marry and have children in Japan is enormous – despite trends against it – and anyone who “opts out” of that social expectation is acting selfishly. As the [...]

By: Is Japan a “Racist Monoculture”? On Anders Breivik’s Japan | This Japanese Life. | 生命を外面九天です

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 13:08:07 +0000

[...] in the affirmative, you could consider Japan’s resistance to foreign labor. The population is aging faster than any other country in the world, and they’re still resisting employing Japanese speakers from [...]

By: Kaley

Kaley — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 04:28:36 +0000

In a Geography class I took they said that it is standard for population to drop once industrialization really settles in a nation. Families no longer need multitudes of children to upkeep farms and do hard labor. In Europe you can see similar trends of declining populations. If you look here at the data gathered by the World Bank http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.GROW?order=wbapi_data_value_2009+wbapi_data_value+wbapi_data_value-last&sort=asc (which I sorted in ascending value for the year 2009) you’ll see that the countries at the top of the list (lowest growth rates) are typically the more developed, richer nations. Whereas the countries at the bottom of the list are the poorer, less developed countries.

By: Joe

Joe — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 18:05:49 +0000

Trends do not tend to continue linearly over decades. The population may have shrunk in the last twenty years, but it is impossible to predict whether it will in the next twenty or forty.

And as for predictions about 2150, consider how much Japan has changed in the last 150 years, and how unpredictably. We can’t even predict one year in the future with any confidence, never mind 20 or 150.

By: owwls

owwls — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 12:41:19 +0000

Most, sure, but a staggeringly high number do not, and another very high number are doing nothing to achieve those goals. Though, of course, you can take these surveys with a grain of salt. I think the rise of this asexual counterculture in such numbers is certainly noteworthy.

By: Alex

Alex — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 21:04:15 +0000

According to surveys in japan, most of the young men and women WANT to start a family and WANT to get married……

By: owwls

owwls — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 15:03:49 +0000

Your post is delightful, thanks for taking the time to make compelling arguments!

And in fact I agree with your thoughts on defining an ideal population. Right now, most people look at population as it relates to GNP/GDP. The national debt may also be a problem, as the government cares for elderly with a disproportionate number of youths paying into the income tax base. The first part – GNP/GDP – doesn’t really concern me much, since a shrinking population may sustain its quality of life, particularly in a country with as much nature and science investment as Japan. Doing more with less is what Japan has done for centuries, I think it will continue.

But the debt crisis is a concern. I can’t say I understand this on its own terms in Japan (perhaps you could enlighten me) but I can relate it to a similar “crisis” in the US, in which the aging baby boomer population has paid into social security with a shrinking support base. So, the government expects to pay billions to support the elderly as they start to retire, with fewer kids paying into the system. Is this what Japan’s system looks like? If so, a 7-to-10 ratio is a little scary to consider.

I’m not sure what you disagree with on my nursing shortage comments, as I didn’t really state an opinion. I just outlined the choice Japan is making. I respect the Japanese “monoculture” (I am well aware of the problems of diversity, though as an American I am sort of born into emphasizing its riches). If Japan wants to protect its culture it is going to have to sacrifice its quality of life. I don’t really see any other way to do it; either Japan brings in foreign labor, or it doesn’t. If it brings in foreign labor, then the monoculture gets watered down; if they don’t, then elderly people aren’t going to get the care they need. Unless robots fill the gap, but the elderly don’t seem to like that idea, either!

And as an expat in Japan, I absolutely miss the diversity of the States. Linguistic diversity may be a headache for government, but on the plus side we have really awesome burritos. :) [Though of course I don't suggest it as a "solution" for Japan. The issue is far too complicated for me to solve on a blog :)]