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Japanese PM: declining birth rate threatens country's ability to "continue to function as a society"


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WWW.BBC.COM

Fumio Kishida says Japan is on the verge of not being able to function.

 

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Japan's prime minister says his country is on the brink of not being able to function as a society because of its falling birth rate.

 

Fumio Kishida said it was a case of "now or never."

 

Japan - population 125 million - is estimated to have had fewer than 800,000 births last year. In the 1970s, that figure was more than two million.

 

Birth rates are slowing in many countries, including Japan's neighbours.

 

But the issue is particularly acute in Japan as life expectancy has risen in recent decades, meaning there are a growing number of older people, and a declining numbers of workers to support them.

 

Japan now has the world's second-highest proportion of people aged 65 and over - about 28% - after the tiny state of Monaco, according to World Bank data.

 

"Japan is standing on the verge of whether we can continue to function as a society," Mr Kishida told lawmakers.

 

"Focusing attention on policies regarding children and child-rearing is an issue that cannot wait and cannot be postponed."

 

He said that he eventually wants the government to double its spending on child-related programmes. A new government agency to focus on the issue would be set up in April, he added.

 

However, Japanese governments have tried to promote similar strategies before, without success.

 

 

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  • Commissar SFLUFAN changed the title to Japanese PM: declining birth rate threatens country's ability to "continue to function as a society"
3 minutes ago, Uaarkson said:

Damn. RIP in peace Japan, since you won’t open your borders to serious immigration.

 

Exactly. Japan (on the surface) seems exactly the kind of place people would want to immigrate to—advanced, prosperous, safe. But they tend to give the impression they don't want anyone to move there. 

 

Honestly at this point only the west seems to be willing to continue to keep mass immigration going, and mainly just because we need it to keep funding capitalism. But there's a chance the incoming wave of fascism will curtail this and put western countries into the same spiral.

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Japan is such an excellent candidate for controlled immigration with its marvelous transportation infrastructure. In the US you see little rust belt towns all over being reinvigorated by new manufacturing, and a lot of these jobs go to Mexicans and inner city blacks. But you don’t see anything like that in Japan. Once you get away from the glitz and glamour of the major cities, there is a sizable chunk of old industrial and port land just dotted with little dying towns. Capitalism just doesn’t work without population growth, natural or foreign born.

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7 hours ago, Uaarkson said:

Japan is such an excellent candidate for controlled immigration with its marvelous transportation infrastructure. In the US you see little rust belt towns all over being reinvigorated by new manufacturing, and a lot of these jobs go to Mexicans and inner city blacks. But you don’t see anything like that in Japan. Once you get away from the glitz and glamour of the major cities, there is a sizable chunk of old industrial and port land just dotted with little dying towns. Capitalism just doesn’t work without population growth, natural or foreign born.

 

Reminds me of this article I read recently about Japan giving away free housing because it's been abandoned.

 

GPBlog_Akiya_v2.jpg
BLOG.GAIJINPOT.COM

We are here to set the record straight on akiya homes in Japan.

 

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4 hours ago, johnny said:

US teachers teaching in japan a thing like it is in korea? shit make me a sweet offer and i’ll go over there to teach and fuck. two jobs 

 

It is. I tried to get in the JET program but was not accepted (this was like 15 years ago or something). You don't even need to speak English either.

Maybe I should try again. Anyone want to give me a letter of recommendation? @Mr.Vic20?

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6 hours ago, outsida said:

This goes double for China. The Chinese government just recently admitted that population growth for 2022 was -850k and that before they ended Zero Covid. 

 

Yeah when I hear the local right wing doomers talk about the big threat of China I think the population decline plus the way they have handled Covid is really going to impact what that country is capable of in the near future.

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Not to take away on the fun but while immigration is a huge reason another is the work structure in japan which is leading to women not wanting kids. Better support for women to have a career after children would go a long way. 

 

Japan-Couple-Family-Demgraphics.jpg?fit=
ASIATIMES.COM

After hovering around zero growth in the late 2000s, Japan’s population has been shrinking since 2010, with the decline accelerating in recent years. Breaking its own record every year for the last…

 

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1 hour ago, chakoo said:

Not to take away on the fun but while immigration is a huge reason another is the work structure in japan which is leading to women not wanting kids. Better support for women to have a career after children would go a long way. 
 

 

I don't think that has actually panned out. Scandanavian countries have been very friendly to mothers with careers and, while obviously not as serious as Japan, are trending down in fertility rates just like every other western country.

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5 hours ago, chakoo said:

Not to take away on the fun but while immigration is a huge reason another is the work structure in japan which is leading to women not wanting kids. Better support for women to have a career after children would go a long way. 

 

That's one of the reasons in Korea as well, but the huge one is that Korean men do the least amount of household chores of anyone in the OECD. So a ton of Korean women don't want to drop out of the workforce forever and then spend the rest of their life during everything around the house.

 

 

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9 hours ago, ThreePi said:

 

I don't think that has actually panned out. Scandanavian countries have been very friendly to mothers with careers and, while obviously not as serious as Japan, are trending down in fertility rates just like every other western country.


Support structures for parents are wildly different country to country, but the one constant is wealth decreases child bearing. This is even true amongst sub-groups that produce larger numbers of children than their economic peers, like religious groups such as Mormons.

 

I find it puzzling why the obvious answer to the question of declining birth rates gets disregarded on this board so often.

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6 minutes ago, sblfilms said:


I find it puzzling why the obvious answer to the question of declining birth rates gets disregarded on this board so often.

 

I honestly don't know what the "obvious answer" to this situation is.

 

(Note: I philosphically don't consider this to be an actual "problem").

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18 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

I honestly don't know what the "obvious answer" to this situation is.

 

(Note: I philosphically don't consider this to be an actual "problem").

 

There are major advancements in age reversing medicine this is definitely not a "problem" if our lifespan greatly increases in the next few decades than it is a good thing people aren't having as many kids.

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