Other big economies like US, UK, Germany have increasing populations. Largely because they rely on immigrants. And their birth rates are much higher than Japan’s.
I live in Romania, an eastern european country which had a terrible economy when communism fell. Even we have started to have immigrants, mostly from countries like Sri Lanka and Nepal. In food delivering business in Romania (at least in the big cities) 90% of the delivery people are immigrants, and on construction sites too.
This issue isn’t just limited to Japan. It is just that Japan is currently in the most advanced stage of shrinking and aging due to low birth rates compared to other countries and that if you look at Japan you see the future for the rest of the world as sooner or later other countries will be where Japan is right now
Except for the Indians, Nigerians and people from the Horn of Africa. These particular earthlings will reproduce as if they had no inkling of sustainability, or the catastrophic level of species extinction. It is time that all available parties, do their utmost to bring adequate family planning facilities, to these wayward nations.
Don't forget Middle east and South east Asia they don't have this issue and you know japan they now take many south east asian people to work in japan...
I would argue that is isn't entirely true, because many Western developed nations have had immigration enough to at least sustain the population around the same level. Italy is a bit like Europe's Japan, but Britain and France are growing and are indeed having to come up with ways to limit population growth. The USA could keep growing throughout the whole 21st century.
Japan NEEDS to clamp down on their working practices. Overworking is causing people to have 0 free time to socialise and spend money. Which is what is causing people to have fewer and fewer relationships
EXACTLY !! YOU GOT THE POINT !!👍👍👍 PEOPLE NEED TO REST AND GET ENOUGH SLEEP, WORKING FOR LONG HOURS AND NO REST AND SLEEP WILL LEAD TO EXHAUSTION !! HOW CAN YOU GO AND SEE OR MEET YOUR FRIENDS OR YOUR GIRLFRIEND IF YOU HAVE NO TIME FOR YOURSELF AND YOUR BODY IS SO TIRED....SO INSTEAD OF MEETING YOUR FRIENDS AND GO OUTSIDE YOU"D RATHER JUST REST OR SLEEP.
Modern Japan is a 3rd world country. Socially, and politically, it is by all means a 3rd world country. The Japanese can look good and be a great nation capable of achieving the impossible... But too often it disappoints shamefully... Japanese people have stagnant minds. It is a curse upon their society and an insult to the high potential of their people which they are not achieving I'm sure the more politicians preach and beg everyone to do something, they'll definitely do it, because that's definitely how human function. If you hadn't picked up on the blasting sarcasm, then wipe yourself off because you are dead. Do these people not realize for something to happen, you have to have a causation and the removal of blockers? Like for example a totally revamped education system, a better workforce union, no overwork, mandatory national service for men and women etc... Etc...❤
I think remote work would help. That cities are not well-suited to raising children. Having more people with more jobs in smaller towns would be a better environment.
I have been going to Japan for the last twenty-five years and returned last year after the pandemic. I mostly stayed in Osaka, and I couldn't believe how the number of elderly have grown. I rarely saw any young people; I mostly saw young people when I went downtown.
Depopulation was caused by social behaviour in the 1990s. It began with techno music and the criminalization of sexual intercourse. It all adds up. Boy girl relationship were frowned on and governments left it too late whiles politicians encouraged legislation that destroyed human population. There is one solution...
@@uptinModern Japan is a 3rd world country. Socially, and politically, it is by all means a 3rd world country. The Japanese can look good and be a great nation capable of achieving the impossible... But too often it disappoints shamefully... Japanese people have stagnant minds. It is a curse upon their society and an insult to the high potential of their people which they are not achieving I'm sure the more politicians preach and beg everyone to do something, they'll definitely do it, because that's definitely how human function. If you hadn't picked up on the blasting sarcasm, then wipe yourself off because you are dead. Do these people not realize for something to happen, you have to have a causation and the removal of blockers? Like for example a totally revamped education system, a better workforce union, no overwork, mandatory national service for men and women etc... Etc...❤❤❤
I would like to see similar content on Eastern European nations from you. East Europe ( and some southern European nations too) are facing devastating shrinking population yet they get rarely featured in mainstream media.
most europe r aging out of existence similar to japan with france, uk and Scandinavia as exception. everyone on else average age in the late 40s some in their 50s. china also facing similar issue, for a country that just been develope over the past 40 years their average age now older then the american. by the end of this century when the african finish their development cycle and join the rest of the world. I dont know what will become of humanity, as all countries on earth r going on a decline trajectory.
Go and do research on the 2million wyte babies in 1850-1910 in the US who were grown in incubators and fields just like cabbages, this is where the cabbage patch kids doll famous in the 90's came from. they were sold in store fronts across America used as indentured servants.. they also grew millions of these babies across France, Italy Germany china Japan Russia Britain... babies were grown not born... they called them the orphan train children who were to help the repopulation of the new world....they say after 4-5 generations clones can no longer procreate.. this maybe the reason for the low birth rate amongst the European
East Europeans are the cheap, knockoff brand of normal white people. We expect them to suck, so it's not news when they do. Japanese have a cool, futuristic society that we aspire to imitate. We expect them to succeed, so it's news when they fail. How mainstream news and history is shown is super racist when you get right down to it.
And yet Western Europe is suffering from over population - better share of resources etc is needed within the EU to provide good opportunities everywhere, help spread ppl out
Declining birth rate and population is not unique in Japan. It is only at the most advanced stage. South Korea, China, Italy and even Poland have birth rates below replacement value. Many other countries, if you strip away immigration, have below replacement birth rates. Immigration is not always a solution for a country that has a homogenous culture and society, as people from other cultures or religions is going to change the characters of the country. In the long run, immigration will make Japan no longer Japanese.
Other issue is competency crisis. Who will run chem plants, microchip fabs, bio medicine, engineering? Bigger issue than pop is ratio of competent to total pop size.
I am from Nepal 💐🇳🇵💐 most of my relatives had moved to Japan for study but after few years they moved towards Australi ,UK, America and Canada. What you are saying is a ground reality hope Japan will overcome sooner from it ....🙏
Hey there, I've recently learned that Nepal has a very high rate of younger peoples are leaving the country for higher education comparing with India, Bangladesh and Srilanka. I would like to know your thoughts about it.
@@osphranterrufuscheck your ground reality our culture is far more rich and diverse in world ...never been colonised ...loved by world, oldest statue of god found in Nepal is a proof of who we are .... it's true our people are moving towards other country but believe me they will come back to make our nation much more stronger 🇳🇵💐...........
@@LuminousKugelblitz yeah bro percentage of educated youngsters is increasing in Nepal 🇳🇵.For search of higher study and job they are moving towards much more developed country
@@ravigharti2526 I know about the history of Nepal, and you're right. "Modern" Nepal is broken, swarming with Islamists, and most who leave never return.
Very true, the only reason this is not happening in the US is because of immigration. People act like it's a curse, but immigration is what keeps industrialized countries alive. In more rural, agrarian lifestyles, children are a valuable asset. In expensive city settings children are essentially expensive pets.
@@RarebitFiends It is happening in the US though with the white Americans. The US only has a steady population because of immigration unlike European and Asian countries.
@@tylermitchell7679 The US is not one ethnicity. Without immigration, the population would be falling among all ethnicities here. My comment also already said that to anyone with a functioning brain since the majority ethnicity of the US is white. What is your point?
My family and I are in rural Hokkaido and have lived in and seen a lot of the abandonment and decay. At the same time, the natural environment and closeness of community and the Japanese people's spirit are really something amazing, despite what's happening around them. I haven't been here that long, but I've seen and experienced the resilience and strength and vitality of humanity here, more than I've ever seen in a country of endless immigration where I came from. And I really don't mind it not "progressing" with the latest ideas from the west. Rural Japan is better off without it, in my humble opinion.
Moreover the whole world threaten you with decreasing demographics being your doom (because they want to impose their decadent ideology to you) but no one said demography was a linear thing you very well can have your population shrink for a while then come back up.
@@danielbrown3461 This is true. That said, here in our rural area, at least in our circles, there are a lot of parents, many with more children than I've seen in my circles of friends in Canada. Families with 3 or 4 or 5 kids. One of the local private schools is so full there aren't enough teachers so they're hiring parents. Maybe we're just hanging around other parents a lot.
@@jordanw8382the population is shrinking and the economy has stagnated for many years because of little or no innovation. Even Lee Kuan Yew predicted this two decades ago and argued that the country is better off embracing diversity. You can't be more intelligent than the data.
There is a sort of denialism going on in Japan - not over population decline, but over how reliant the government has become on debt. 'Quantitative easing' has been the only thing keeping the nose above the water for almost 25 years now. In some sense, immigration or debt are the options, and Japan has of course chosen the latter. Yet, NHK doesn't report it, there's little discussion, a good number of people in the street simply aren't aware - whereas in Britain or certainly Germany, you'd see protests over debt that high.
I am German and I have been to Japan in April this year. I was amazed by the technological progressiveness and the way people interact with each other... Even being aware of the downsides like the work culture, I was basically ashamed of how behind my own country is in so many areas. It would really be a loss for the world, if Japan fades away. I really hope they can turn this around.
Let me tell you this as someone who lived in Japan as a student and a young adult who was about to enter the workforce there: the progressiveness is only superficial. The biggest societal issues in Japan come BECAUSE they’re mentally sticking to traditions. Societal structures, rules, the general mindset, working ethics and hierarchical structures never changed for centuries. Be glad you’re living in Germany and never be ashamed. Germany may be lacking in certain technological areas but the German society is mentally far more progressive. A German worker does a job in 40 hours a week, they work efficiently. A Japanese worker however sits at roughly 80 to 100 hours in the office for the same results. Why? Because even their office structures a straight from a time when samurai still existed and even if the worker is not effectively working, if the boss is still there, you better be there too. Stuff that could be revisited by a few exchanged mails have so be talked about in person through a hierarchically adequate chain of communication etc. It’s draining and frustrating. Especially when you’re a woman, you lucked out when you live in a Western European country because those countries actually understood the importance of mental health, innovation and improvement by accepting change. Germany has at least 50 years of societal progress on Japan, a traditionalist, very conservative, inefficient and outdated patriarchal society. Japan is working itself to the ground because they fail to socially modernize. I personally don’t see this changing for at least the next 30 years but I’d love to be proven wrong.
Japan still has 50% more people than Germany and is similar in size. It's not going to fade away. German culture, on the other hand, will disappear as soon as it converts to Islam.
While in the Philippines the big problem is over population. 1.) More and more people are competing to a very few low wage job openings ( if there's any job opening at all ). 2.) Age of employment is limited up to 25 years old since employers can be very selective cause there's a huge volume of job applicant that they can choose from. 3.) Heavy Traffic jams in the streets are horrendous! 4.) Crime rate is high. 5.) Government social benefits are almost non - existent.
What they really need is a better work/life balance. If people worked 40hrs a week instead of 90+ they would have time and energy for building relationships
@@MickeyMishraThey've a lotta money dude! 🙄 Bearing children is not even that difficult, if one has the gotten the right mindset. My dad's the sole bread-earner in our family of 3 (adding to it, my dad sends money to our village place too), and we're perfectly happy. 🙄 Moreover, my dad earns almost nothing when compared to what the Japanese do on an average, still we are perfectly alright with the same...
the homesteading mother, the stay at home mom is what helps produce a population. goes all the way back to hunter gatherer times when we had no choice but to have the men go hunt for meat, the woman stayed in some kind of shelter, albeit cave or not
I live in the country side. I bought an abandoned house, so my cost a living isn't very high, but the issue is that there is not much work especially for foreigners. With the wages I get, I can't even qualify for permanent residency, so one day my house will be abandoned again.
dayla, Based on immigration rules of just 8 years ago, I should be able to get a permanent visa, but they keep raising the bar every 2 or 3 years, so it's impossible for me now. Japan doesn't want foreigners living here.
You are over exaggerating... As a Greek I know what happens to countries with shrinking population. The government tries to save face while decreasing benefits and retirement programs. As the elderly increase the retirement age increases too. More people die before they get to retire and even if they do they enjoy fewer years of retirement. Until they system breaks. When that happens the burden gets lifted from the young people at the same time where the standard of living gets reduced and just like that they start having children again. Because they have to. Because prophylactics and abortions cost too much. Because they need more hands to help farm the land.
Japan has always been in the future. What's happening in Japan will probably happen in the G7 countries, China, Korea etc. Young people too exhausted from work/life to find romance, individualism making it hard for those who want romance to find someone, and even those who have a partner and money for children will have at most one child.
@@blackbelt2000 They have a chance to break out of deflation now though, and start a chain reaction that'll smash the rut. There's hopefully upward pressure on wages now that these companies cant deny anymore.
daily livelihood in Japan is full of stress, struggle, bad feeling and depression that stirred your emotions, it a sad nation that look good on the outside but decaying was happening in the inside. I like Japan and its culture very much and visiting Japan twice per year and it is sad to see the situation deteriorating. Recently visited Kinugawa Onsen and walked around the small town and there are many deserted buildings.
western media always portrays the best image of japan, little do people know the truth of it. same principle applies to the us/uk, they proclaim human rights allllllll the time, but little do people know that allllllllll the mainstream media including CNN, CNBC, BBC are all owned by them, little do people in the world that they lie alllllll the time.
15:10 completely disagree with the man what he says is completely backwards. What Japan needs is a focus on family life and personal development not more economic growth. Putting women to work means they’ll have less time to spend with their family
Without economic growth the nation will struggle to pay it's debt and fund the development or maintenance of infrastructure. Things will certainly get worse from there
It’s the same for the US. I’m 28 most of my friends are still not married, and still do not have children. When our parents were raising us, they were having kids when they were barely like 22 years old already married already on the house. On average worry, about 8 to 10 years behind them.
@@MrSandman_0981 yeah no joke when I was born my mom works for the state, basically getting paid barely above minimum wage at the time and my dad was a Cath Lab tech, which paid about seven dollars more than minimum wage. They had a four bedroom house with a half acre backyard in Charlotte North Carolina. I’m a private investigator who makes easily double the salary of a police officer , my wife is a banker, and we live in a two bedroom house that we own with barely a backyard. So yeah, the thought of having a kid right now. Sounds really stupid.
I lived in a dying city in the USA for a period of time and I recall schools closing every year and combing high schools w middle schools. Unfortunately this will happen in USA soon. Sad
Immigration is causing our water supply to dwindle. Get the Dems out of power or we will eventually collapse. Looking more like China and India every day.
This is interesting, yet sad. I'm American, so I can only speak for myself living in America when I say the problem, for me at least, is the cost of living. The cost of rent, groceries, etc. keeps going up, yet the pay doesn't go up with it. Along with the fact that dating is impossible and I haven't met anyone I want to date, let alone marry and have kids with. Having kids is just too expensive, especially in America. If they want people to repopulate, the cost of living needs to come down or America is headed there next.
I'm amazed that in that entire video, the cost of housing and living and childcare etc. wasn't even mentioned.. just immigration is the solution, which is probably the whole point of the video.
Our fertility rate has been plummeting the past 10 years, were definitely headed there, but instead of doing anything, our leaders will just swing the borders wide open.
You should visit Kameido, Koto-ku, Tokyo. It's exactly the opposite to Hakone and might serve as a model for Japan. If you rent an apartment, you'll literally wake up with kids screaming around and running past your door. You'll find many of those funny toddler-baskets - used to bring preschool kids back to different places.
Also, due to less demand, railway company has started shutting down rural lines. Another note, perhaps can we also address the working culture too in Japan (to govt)? I feel that we work way to much still...
It's not just Japan experiencing it and it isn't just people that's being lost. I was watching a video discussing the lost of trade skills because the older generation are dying before they can pass them on. Equally to blame is the younger generation which isn't interested in learning a lot of the more manual skills. Makes me wonder how the world is gonna look in a decade or two.
We are interested in learning crafts but we can’t afford it and we won’t get paid the same for our worth as your generation did. Be honest with yourself and your surroundings.
@@solaris5922 There are still plenty of trade schools in Japan that are free for those who can’t afford it. My eldest son went to Kawagoe Kogyou where he specialized in auto mechanics. Upon graduation he and his friend rented a car lot near the port in Kobe. They buy cars at auction In numbers, do the required maintenance on them, then ship them overseas for profit. At 22 my son makes 3 times what I do and he never went to university, he learned a valuable trade when others warned him the car trade is risky. It takes vision and commitment to succeed in life. Mewling about what others made or make does no one any good.
Well, becoming a shoe maker isn't really a problem, but it will not pay your bills, and it could be quite detrimental for you to get your own family because the job is viewed as unstable. No loans, no nothing.
Japan is paradise for introverts like me 😅 who don't like a lot of people around them and like a quiet, mostly isolated life! ❤ Maybe I should move to a suburban there
lol as soon as you move to a new place in Japan you are expected to greet your neighbors and sometimes bring gifts to them. And if you look white or black or Middle Eastern, all the neighbors will likely talk smack and gossip about you behind your back. So I really don't think Japan is an ideal place for introverts lol
worst place for introverts...thats why many suicide or become hikikomori they shut away from society because ppl looked down on them best place is 3rd world countries or isolated island because u dont feel depressed comparing to others because theres so many poorer ppl and they doesnt care about appearance,keeping with society or jobless ppl.
This is happening worldwide, even in America. Young people today have a lot of issues and are facing many barriers in finding jobs comfortable enough to raise families. The job market is not as great as it was for boomers and silent generation and cost of living is so high these days. Also add the fact that young people today are getting less and less social interaction it is just a recipe for disaster. I hope all this improves , the job market gets better for young men and women, wages increase, and cost of living declines. And also we start moving away from doing everything online and getting more social again
Also online dating is not helping either. Apps like tinder are making people more superficial and expecting to match with people who look like models. It is damaging to real dating where you get to have actual conversations with people, go to a venue together and really gage the person out, instead of just going by looks and expecting only 10s. You miss out on the person who may be cute and has a great personality and shares your interests and values by expecting only HAWT HAWT HAWT
Everywhere but Africa and the African demographic globally. Infact the opposite is happening to us. We will be 1 in 4 in the near future n 1 in 3 by turn of h century with the youngest demographic.
This is happening in the states as well. I know people who work 10 hours a day or have two jobs a day shift and graveyard shift. They do this on repeat everyday and sometimes only have sundays off. Leaves no time for a social life or to do anything else. Some even choose to even stay at a job than to go to school and go broke so they have no time to master a craft or trade.
Its a trend in a lot of developed countries. In the past many people didnt mind working long hours to support their families. But it seems now the newer generations are about themselves and seeking more of a work life balance. Which is good for the individual but bad for society as a whole, well we will see how things turn out in couple decades.
Yes, it is becoming more common. America is kind of 2 fold. There is a high birth rate because there is a ton of people that adhere to traditions, especially in rural areas where this is feasible. But the so-called middle class in dense areas work several jobs, and the jobs is paying less and less. Todays US woke problem come from this trend. Parents overwork, and the kids get indoctrinated in full-day institutions, into believing in marxism and use their overworked/underpaid parents as reference point. There are more workers than jobs, so the salary goes down. There is 8 billion people on the planet that happily take the job for less. Japan also has this problem. Japan has no natural resources and must import everything, then manufacture, and sell for a profit. And their neighbour is china, korea and asia with their slave labour and no pay. Japan has outsourced as much as US, and suffers.
@@frodej6640 Shows history is so complex with many factors, that only God knows the outcome for each country. Thankfully He is sovereign over all. We hopefully get our 80 years in the sun to do some good for others, and move on.
Don't blame "work". People used to work a lot in the past and still managed to have children and people in many parts of the US maintain a 2.1 birth rate while working. The US has three saviors in it's demographics. 1. It's late to the fertility party. It's rate dropped over the last 100 years, not in the massive crashes of Europe and now Asia which halved in 50 and 25 or so years. It looks like the US rate is "stable" enough that it has some time to change it. 2. The "US" doesn't have a fertility issue -- parts of the US do. Rural states, specially religious areas, have maintained a 2.1 fertility rate. It's just the blue state coastal areas which have so many 0 child women. This is important for two reasons: (a) it means half the country can collapse without the taking the rest of the country down, and (b) it suggests there are social factors in play such that if adopted, the fertility rate could be 2.1 with the rest of the country. 3. The US is the top source country for immigration and probably always will be. It could (even legally) keep its overall population up simply by taking in anyone "left" over from the rest of the world wanting to escape their demographic issues. I can see the US population stalling as the coasts die out -- or move out -- and then slowly get repopulated by middle-America once they adopt whatever social/cultural/religious systems is keeping their birth rates high. Most of the rest of the world... it's probably too late.
The States is *increasing* in population by about 1-2 MILLION more people every year, though. Do you think continuing to grow the human population is the answer?
The problem is there are so few new babies and yet you did not interview any moms. Motherhood is hard for Japanese women because the cultural expectations are high and the moms usually have to give up their career and the father works so hard that they are not so involved in raising children. Younger generations are opting out of that traditional family structure and the government/corporate powers refuse to change to make the work life easier on parents.
and there it is. The problem is always conservatism. Even when feminism is the reason women are deciding not to have children and society is collapsing; theirs still something to blame conservatives for. Lol
My sister was a teacher in Japan around 10 years ago. It is sad to hear that soon their country will go extinct because it has an aging population and the younger people are not producing any children.
LOL!! Lots of people making kids everywhere I go. STOP BELIEVING WHAT YOU SEE HERE AND ON TV. 🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️I live in Japan by the way.
Extrapolating to zero makes no more sense than saying a growing population will eventually become infinite. As for a shrinking population being a “disaster”… Today, the global population is 8 billion. But just 100 years ago, it was 2 billion. We quadrupled the global population in a century. Two billion people was enough for a thriving civilization, was it not? There is panic about Japan’s population declining to 50 million in the next century, but that was Japan’s population around 1920 - a period where Japan became one of the Great Powers.
You can’t compare Europe because their populations are rising as a result of immigrants. Japan and South Korea have the lowest birth rates in the world now. I covered South Korea as well ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-6C9fHN-2dx4.html
@@uptin Immigration is a form of expediting the decline of the local population and ie the new immigrants population replacing the existing population. The local people will still eventually disappear and be replaced by immigrants for example the Native Americans are fast disappearing in the US.
@@uptin If I am to judge the places to where immigration has been let loose, without proper filtering as to who gets in, with hordes of people bringing with them issues they have had in their home countries, most especially their lack of effort towards cultural and societal integration, I'd pick the natural decline of population over chaos. Towns and cities can dissolve back into natural states as forests and wilderness. It's really not that bad when you know such places originally came from that. Let the trees and animals take them and take care of them, because they actually take care of it way better than human civilizations do.
@@uptin this comes with its own problems. Brain drain from India to the US is one of the big examples of such an occurrence. As a result India is losing a valuable portion of their population, on top of not being at replacement birth rates. Additionally, places like Europe have distinct cultures that are now being replaced by immigrant cultures. When immigration happens at such a fast rate the local culture tends to be forgotten. It’s sad to see so many countries being overtaken by immigrants it’s not really good for anyone.
Just spent 2 weeks in Japan this May. It was sooooo much cheaper than my previous trips to Japan. Food was 1/2 the price of where I live, the hotel costed less per night than my literal apartment's rent per night. Granted I live in San Francisco.
Both of my parents born in Japan and moved out of the country in their 20s during 1950s. However, we still visit Japan regularly for relatives. For the last 40 yrs, I notice a lot of change. Last time, I visited my childhood playground, I couldn't believe how it became left rotten from years of unused. One thing uptin hasn't mentioned in the video and I think it's the elephant in the room, Japan is the largest US debts holder in the world by a big margin. With a shrinking fast population, Japan cannot afford to keep printing & buying US debts to maintain the false perception of yen strength. Something it's going to snap.
@@DonJuanDM Don, you've got it backwards. Japan owns US debt, so is getting income from the interest on that debt. You are correct about things for kids in Japan going bad.
Mass inmigratin would just *uck up the country as we've experienced in EU. To me the key would be that companies would allow more flexible work culture, focus on efficiency rather than presence in office, respect work times, open delegations in smaller cities that would allow to live in bigger homes without breaking the bank and focus exremelly in automation.
Its just partly true what you wrote , it's not about Immigration,its about refugees from other countries outside EU. Most of them are to blame because of their culture and their unwillingness to integrate or just simply work like we Europians do.
That's why a person like me who is sick of mega cities and urban life and in love with a more countryside life is going to move to one of these towns soon! Plus my country has an overpopulation problem, so it all makes perfect sense...but the problem is that I think japan is still not offering a digital-nomad Visa. Until it does not offer that, it's very difficult to move there!
As a Japanese, I think many of Japanese are not taking it seriously enough. Actually, when Elon mentioned it on twitter, many of them went crazy and denied it and hated Elon.
Low birth rates are a phenomenon that occurs in all developed countries. However, Western countries accept immigrants, and East Asia does not accept immigrants.
Do you support mass-immagration?The Western population is rallying against immigration of foreign peoples and extreem right is becoming more and more populair. Higher birthrates are far more sustainable. @@시청용계정-c1c
It's not even Japan but all around the world where it is heavily dependent on the work culture. I'm approaching my "prime" age yet I'm still worry about myself. Last thing I need is to have a child which can place a burden on myself and more importantly on the child if I cannot give it the best quality of life. I'm working almost 70 hours a week, I won't have time to raise a child. Don't count in the spouse either, because we're both trying to meet our ends meet and to have a stable retirement life in the future. Having a child is consider a privilage now and for the fortunate one.
70h a week is bad. Unless you're working ON your own business, you're wasting the only resource that can't be bought: time. You should make the hard decisions and re-prioritize. Count how much you make per hour post tax, then how much you're able to save per hour worked, then sum over the time you will be able to work over your lifetime. Take wiser decisions.
Danish got only aprox 5 mln -and they do not worry and you are talking about Japan 140 mln ??? even if half will die they still will have many on that small island
It's not that simple, once the elderly outnumber the workforce all hell breaks loose and things start to collapse because taxes are not enough anymore to support the infrastructure (schools, police, healthcare, etc)
Wow, I just came back from Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto and Nara. most of those tourist areas are crowded and many young people working and enjoying life there. I would like visit one of these population shrinking towns one day to see it for myself
It's the towns that are shrinking. Younger people are moving to larger cities for work in addition to these age group are not having babies or delaying having a family.
It is very easy, just take the bus/train to outside of those big cities. I have done that. Not specifically to see abandoned stuff, but to see castles and other tourist worthy stuff. It is impossible to ignore when you travel around that there is insane amount of elderly, and see shops that are closed in large numbers. There is a shopping street in Nagoya that is like @9.55, and that is a big city. All of the examples in the video are there in plain sight if you step out a tiny bit.
I lived in Japan almost a decade ago and the first place I lived during my initial years was Wakayama. Arida City to to be exact which was way more rural and isolated than Wakayama City. I can't imagine what Arida is like these days. They have great Mikans though!
As a Japanese person, what I perceive is that even though the Japanese government is taking measures against the declining birthrate, it seems like they have somewhat given up. Furthermore, many of the policies addressing the issue of the declining birthrate often fail to provide a fundamental solution. As a democracy with a large elderly population, it's a tough country for young people who are trying to start a family.
Its crazy to think that the japanese governments biggest form of recourse is to give women more money. They been doing that and it does not work. I don't know why they would not try the opposite of that? They already have a working model of large GDP growth they would just have to turn the clock back about 40 years when women stayed home and had babies instead of worked.. Teh answer is easy the government is just insane.
What do you think of measures like banning contraception/abortion, changing divorce laws, excluding women from universities ? Do Japanese people ever mention these things as possible solutions or is it too controversial ?
@@kairos_fluent In Japan, there doesn't seem to be as vigorous a debate on issues like banning contraception/abortion as in the United States. These matters are considered as separate from the population problem and are viewed as social issues with historical context. Concerning divorce laws, the current situation largely grants custody to women only, which seems to persist in line with Japan's traditional lifestyle, contradicting the modern concept of equal burden-sharing. Additionally, there have been controversies in the past regarding the exclusion of women from certain university programs, such as the preferential treatment of male students in medical schools.Regarding the Japanese government's specialized agencies for women's careers, criticism arose when these institutions were predominantly composed of men, drawing nationwide attention. However, it is not so common for these issues to be seen as the primary focus when discussing the population problem in Japan. Presently, for many Japanese, the central topics in the debate over the declining birthrate revolve around the low income of young people, high taxation, and a sense of distrust towards the government's efforts to combat the declining birthrate. For instance, initiatives like inviting children to attend J-League soccer matches as part of the population measures were harshly criticized as wasteful spending of taxpayers' money. Moreover, the lack of transparency in the budget allocation for this initiative and other similar uncertain expenditures have also been brought into question.
@@tom-WTF That's very interesting. Would the Japanese people protest at restricting or abolishing women's rights in order to correct the population decline ? Basically what do you think the reaction of Japanese society would be if this went ahead ?
Certainly not. It will decrease to the point where housing becomes cheap and homes can become larger. When that happens, the population will start going up again.
Japanese people pay more for newer homes, and older ones tend to be cheaper, in fact you can buy older style homes outside of the major cities for as little as $15,000 USD, (before state, city and county taxes, and assessments, and land appeasements) and the main reason is, the structure is more than 30 years old, which scares a lot of Japanese people because it's not up to date on the earthquake regulations, and that's the major reason why when buildings age they become less valued as a new build. Granted it's different in Larger cities, but Aging apartment buildings tend to be slightly cheaper than newer buildings, as newer buildings tend to command the highest prices for them. It's also why the city of Kyoto is demolishing traditional Machyia (town homes) as fast as they can, as they are usually 90% wood, (huge fire risks during an earthquake) and most are not built on foundations.
I do find this slightly hyperbolic. Yes there are issues with a falling population, but the idea of Japan eventually falling to a population of zero is absurd. Yes, I know Elon Musk made a tweet about it, but that guy is hardly the best source for such things. Japan is shrinking at the moment, but that doesn't mean that it cannot have another economic boom. Under current economic circumstances, it is a little screwed, but the number of times the country has bounced back from oblivion is quite impressive. Also with the numbers of births there will likely be a stabilization of the population at some point. Maybe 50 million, give or take. Economically this will sting, but will it mean Japan will become deserted? No. Towns will shrink and fade in relevance, but short of an apocalyptic event, there will always be a population somewhere. Am I saying this video is bad. Not really, but these hyperbolic, click-bait titles are stupid.
we live in the most economically prosperous times in the history of humanity. How is it that much poorer people who've had less technology and time saving devices have managed to have more kids? It's not economics; it's culture. And theirs no indication that people would change their course of behaviour if facing actual societal extinction. They've proven that they are soley focused on their personal lives to the detriment of everything else; including the existence of their own state. That's what they've been taught. The difference between this and other crisis is because this is self imposed. You can't "bounce back" from a self imposed defeat by accident. It requires you to change your actions
if immortality is cured then the collapse will happen even faster because the old will FAR outnumber the young. Infact the old will NEVER go away. Modern people MUST STOP looking for other solutions to this problem and acknowledge that our thinking is wrong; primarily on women's rights. Human beings are sexually dimorphic creatures, meaning both sexes are different. We are not robots. We need purpose and we need God. Reestablish a society oriented around common values; and then you will see a difference. The current trajectory of society being a collective of individuals who couldn't care less if everyone in their society died; cannot end good.@@alexanderiliev1431
My country also has terrible trend people moving into literally TWO largest town and abandoning smaller towns and villages. Both towns are terribly overcrowded, infrastructure is cracking down because no one pays attention to it anymore, they are building buildings over parks, green areas and even in areas where buildings should not be because it's dangerous! Problem with smaller towns and especially villages is that government invests NOTHING into them. They lack infrastructure, there are no jobs, usually not even doctors, stores, dentists, restaurants, nothing... they even dump most dangerous chemicals there right into untouched nature! And it's not invested into protections from floods or any natural disasters, everything is invested into big cities! The result is that people are massively moving into towns and everything else is abandoned even though seemingly it looks beautiful and cities are slowly turning into hell. I was born into one of those two cities and have the sad opportunity to watch it turn from lovely old town full of greenery and art into concrete hell, collapsing fast because money is the most important and no one pays attention to nature or even architecture or possibilities that everything will collapse one day.
For most, nothing seems to matter anymore except economic values and worship of technology. Quality of life -- huh? What's that? It sure makes things simple. More is better. Get on with breeding and import as many people as possible, even if they're third worlders who (far from being net assets) have to be supported by the indigenous population.
i think one of the solution is to move university campuses from big cities to middle cities which forcing young people to move to middle smaller cities. it can slower the urbanization to big cities. move military bases to smaller cities.
@@mahendharthatikonda6050 well i think as long they can provide excellent facilities home for families etc that can be considered. More nature, less stress cities, low commute etc
Extended working hours in Japan is one of the big factors why people no longer enjoying their personal lives and being in a relationship. Edited: Did I mention in my statement that the long working hour is THE ONLY factor? It's clear that it is ONE of big the FACTORS why the population is declining. People in the comment section need some comprehension.
our country China facing the same issues: shrinking population,aging population,millennium,zoomers dont intend to get married , couples dont intend to have kid, but in terms of the overtime working culture, we're not as crazy as japan. but our culture is similar with japan as well as korea, but OUR AVERAGE AGE IS NOT THAT OLD LIKE JAPAN
@@ChurchOfACCENDIO idk, but it looks like not that much cases which died from their overwork in China, just like 3 to 5 cases annually i heard which died from their overwork I guess, the most cases was happening in the internet companies
I really love your contents. As for Japan, it's one country I plan to visit oneday. Japanese movies, culture and cuisine is really unique and amazing. Well done Uptin
My wife and I just had our first and only child this year at the age of 40. I really don’t think that the money will convince people to have children. I feel like money is only an incentive to people who already want to have children or have them already to move somewhere. Having children is much more about your lifestyle and what you want out of life. The money part is hard sure. But what is harder is not being able to do the things you could before children. The responsibilities. If having plenty of money is a incentive to have children, Americans would have zero kids. Childcare is ridiculously expensive here yet people have babies. We can’t understand how families who have minimum wage job can afford to have 2-4 kids. My wife and I make ok money and have flexible schedules yet we can barely afford to get full day care for our one. We had one because of my fear of missing out. My wife didn’t want to but she did it for me. Once you can’t have children, that’s it. Of course you can adopt but that is not the same as having your own. Women also have to think about how their body changes which is something men have no part in. It is crazy to think about a country literally dying out. Sadly Korea is not far behind.
Japan has too many people. Canada has 30 million people. Norway has 5.4 million people. Britain and France have 67 million people, half of Japan. 120 million people is too many
Not true. At some point the population will start going back up again, or at the very least stabilize. It's really only a matter of when. And also there are many other countries that have birthrates even lower than Japan, especially other developed countries. Yet Japan is somehow known for it more.
@@jimbocho660 Its not western propaganda? Everyone talks about the falling birthrate in European countries. Greece, Estonia, Austria, Italy, etc.. have it very bad. Japan is mostly notable because it is the 3rd biggest economy but will fall behind in the future. I don't know why you assume its propaganda when its literally a global issue lol
@@alejandromaldonado6159 not true. People always said “Catholics have tons of kids” and now there are Catholics and none of them are having kids. Children are just too expensive for people to have and many people around the world don’t need kids a much as they did in 1900.
Japan is the country where this population decline is most visible at the moment. In South Korea the low birthrate is getting more extreme, but concerning the development of population decrease South Korea is about 15 years behind Japan. South Korea's population (and also the Chinese and the Taiwanese) has just started to decrease instead to grow. So, maybe we will talk more about the decline in South Korea in 10 years, but now it's still more advanced in Japan.
@@user-oh4xi2xb2dto care for sick people in hospitals and for elderly people... to drive buses, trucks and trains ... to work as electricians, plumbers, etc. to repair homes ... in short: to keep the country running. In Germany, we already wouldn't know how to keep the hospitals, the care homes for elderly, the public transport infrastructure, and several other ... operating without immigration.
This is an absolutely ridiculous premise. Populations go up and down, depending on various circumstances. If it goes up, it does not imply that it will go up forever. And if it goes down, it also does not imply it will go down forever. Japan is extremely overpopulated, with people living clustered in tiny houses with not a lot of space around them (the fact that it has underpopulated mountains does not change this). Having fewer people will be a blessing to them: more space and less resource pressure.
I hope the culture is preserved. So much beauty has come from Japan. From Japanese woodworking techniques to tea ceremony… Things are done with such intention and humility. It’d be a shame to lose this.
...also lets keep in mind that 100 years ago Japan had a population of only 58 million people! Which was already very high and concentrated by comparison to other countries!
A few of the main reasons for the declining population in Japan is, the lack of nurseries,the wealth gap between working men and women and stagnant wages.
@@lordtraxroyJapan's economy has been stagnant since 1991. This is because Japan's asset price bubble, formed in 1985 due to prices of land and even housing were greatly inflated, burst in 1991.
Can anyone explain to me why, in an ever growing world, where jobs are rapidly being replaced by machines, a declining population is a problem?? Seems like it will just end up making a better quality of life for people.
Unless something changes drastically about how economies function, the population decline cripples economies. Japan’s economy is smaller than it was in 1995. The economy of the US has tripled. I’m very glad my money wasn’t invested in Japan over the last 35 years, because I like making money. It hurts infrastructure and technological advancement too. When nobody wants to invest in companies because companies are shrinking because population is shrinking, companies have trouble funding new projects. Japan is set to spend half its time in recession over the next twenty years too. Beyond that, who knows? A key point hidden in what I said is that even in the optimistic case of tons of jobs being automated and japan not needing as many workers, simply not having as many consumers causes issues.
Sad to see, Okinawa felt like this in the 2000's but seemed to reinvent itself as a major tourist destination, while I like money flowing through the economy there, in a sense its no longer the place it once was but just a characture of its former self and more and more so as the older generation moves on.
Japan's population has relaxed by only 0.54%. Thats one half of one percent in a country of 122 million. Its also almost twice what it was in just 1945. Talk of towns being completely empty is kinda ridiculous.
They at least are doing one thing right, preserving their ethnicity, and culture. There ceases to be a Europe without Europeans. Figuring out an incentive for Japanese women to have more babies is one major thing they have to figure out.
Figuring out the incentive isn't hard. You take how much money they'd make in a career with no kids, subtract how much they'd make with kids, and you have an appropriately-sized incentive. The amount of incentive needed to move the needle on the fertility rate is going to be eye-watering. The mistake governments keep making is assuming that women desperately want kids due to female instinct or hormones or whatever and just need a teensy-tiny little bit of help make ends neat.
(00:00) Japan's population is heading to 0 - The Demographic Crisis (01:00) Population Decline and Consequences (02:39) Depopulation Impact on Labor Force and Economy (04:32) Reasons for Declining Birth Rate (06:49) Economic Challenges and Government Debt (08:46) Efforts to Address the Crisis (13:07) Uncertain Future
04:32 - I didn't see any reasons in the video at all as the why there is a low birth rate in Japan. If I had to guess, probably housing is too expensive, child care is too expensive, taxes are too high. Same probably as other places.
No work place that paid for the skills, high billss and also ,the real problem in the Philippines,entitle high standard women even though they are not beautiful, effect of Korea drams
Trying to predict the future involves some sort of speculation. I don’t think Japan population would disappear, I just think it would reach a more optimum equilibrium. To put things in perspective, Tokyo is the largest city in the whole world, with close to 40 million people, more than the whole state of California. Even if that dropped to half (unlikely) it would still be larger than New York. I think they will be fine.
Obviously if there were only a single factor behind this problem, it could be more readily solved. Personally, I think we need to look more into the absolutely decimating social effects of social media. Young people are full of not only anxiety, but warped expectations about the opposite sex and what constitutes a healthy relationship.
Japan is projected to be approximately one-third of its peak population in 2100, which is around 40 million. That is greater than the current population of Canada or Australia. Except for a handful of African countries, all countries, esp. advanced countries, are projected to depopulate. Japan is very well-placed to replace lost labor with automation. Some countries will not be so well-placed.
Thank god they make it difficult - because most who want to move there would probably end up in suicide because how hard that society is. That place is insane. Finland is the second worst place to live.
@@hedgehogthesonic3181 japan and finland is on top on the list «where people want to move to» because they seem to be nice country for those who do not understand the details. But are in fact really bad for foreigners.
This subject has been covered the umpteenth time by so many in RU-vid and elsewhere it’s like flogging a dead horse. Isn’t there anything nicer to talk about Japan? I am sure there must be like how Japan takes care of its aged. Also how it manages to keep its cities and surroundings clean and recycling its waste as the second largest recycler of waste in the world after Germany ( I am sure I will get a lot of brickbats from many who are ignorant of the fact of the effort that went into ensuring the Fukushima waste water is safe for discharge).
I just noticed this: Instead of the current residents and workers, has anyone interview the former residents who used to live there? Typical small towns have issues with brain drains, lack of opportunity, and most importantly, lack of tolerance.
There is actually an anime show called Sakura Quest that brings up this topic. The show is about a girl who leaves her town for tokyo thinking she will never return, she gets hired as an ambassador for a declining town and she starts realizing how much she misses her town.
@@titiwa5768 i think it is on Funimation , unfortunately RU-vid deletes comments with links, so i would google it or check on Funimation or Crunchyroll, it is a good show
It's because living is so expensive and their work culture is crushing... make it affordable and give time for people to actually live their life and not be afraid of the future... and voila...
5 месяцев назад
I don't know how deep is the birth rate problem of Japan in terms of the behavior of the population, but, something that could help is to create flexibility to immigrants to have a permanent visa to live in Japan, or changes on the visa policies of the country, Japan is so closed in this regard that immigrants that are working and living in Japan cannot apply to a PR visa or become eligible to retire in the country despite paying social security taxes (which is mandatory for both Japaneses and immigrants) other thing that is very unusual is the following if an immigrant couple has a baby, the baby will not be Japanese, but rather a "foreigner that was born in Japan" this is ridiculous.
I used to be Japanese, but in 2006, my parents decided to leave the country and settle in Indonesia, where we've been living ever since. Someday, I hope to return to Japan, but my uncle who live in japan once told me something that made me think. He said that Japan can be thoroughly enjoyed as a tourist, but if you choose to live there, you might lose some of that enjoyment. So, for now, I'm still in a dilemma about whether to move back there, and still continue staying in Indonesia.