Japan shrinking as birthrate falls to lowest level in history
In 2018 there were 921,000 births and 1.37m deaths, with government efforts failing to encourage families to have more children
Japan suffered its biggest population decline on record this year, according to new figures that underline the country’s losing battle to raise its birth rate.
The number of births fell to its lowest since records began more than a century ago, the health and welfare ministry said, soon after parliament approved an immigration bill that will pave the way for the arrival of hundreds of thousands of blue-collar workers to address the worst labour shortage in decades.
The ministry estimated 921,000 babies will have been born by the end of 2018 – 25,000 fewer than last year and the lowest number since comparable records began in 1899. It is also the third year in a row the number of births has been below one million.
Combined with the estimated number of deaths this year – a postwar high of 1.37 million – the natural decline of Japan’s population by 448,000 is the biggest ever.
The data suggests the government will struggle to reach its goal of raising the birth rate – the average number of children a woman has during her lifetime – to 1.8 by April 2026. The current birth rate stands at 1.43, well below the 2.07 required to keep the population stable.
The (then) prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has described Japan’s demographics as a national crisis
Why have young people in Japan stopped having sex?
The number of single people has reached a record high. A survey in 2011 found that 61% of unmarried men and 49% of women aged 18-34 were not in any kind of romantic relationship, a rise of almost 10% from five years earlier. Another study found that a third of people under 30 had never dated at all. (There are no figures for same-sex relationships.) Although there has long been a pragmatic separation of love and sex in Japan – a country mostly free of religious morals – sex fares no better. A survey earlier this year by the Japan Family Planning Association (JFPA) found that 45% of women aged 16-24 "were not interested in or despised sexual contact". More than a quarter of men felt the same way.
"Both men and women say to me they don't see the point of love. They don't believe it can lead anywhere," says Ai Aoyama a sex and relationship counsellor. "Relationships have become too hard."Aoyama cites one man in his early 30s, a virgin, who can't get sexually aroused unless he watches female robots on a game similar to Power Rangers.
The pressure to conform to Japan's anachronistic family model of salaryman husband and stay-at-home wife remains.
Aversion to marriage and intimacy in modern life is not unique to Japan. Nor is growing preoccupation with digital technology. But what endless Japanese committees have failed to grasp when they stew over the country's procreation-shy youth is that, thanks to official shortsightedness, the decision to stay single often makes perfect sense. This is true for both sexes, but it's especially true for women. "Marriage is a woman's grave," goes an old Japanese saying that refers to wives being ignored in favour of mistresses. For Japanese women today, marriage is the grave of their hard-won careers.
Around 70% of Japanese women leave their jobs after their first child. The World Economic Forum consistently ranks Japan as one of the world's worst nations for gender equality at work. Social attitudes don't help. Married working women are sometimes demonised as oniyome, or "devil wives". In a telling Japanese ballet production of Bizet's Carmen a few years ago, Carmen was portrayed as a career woman who stole company secrets to get ahead and then framed her lowly security-guard lover José. Her end was not pretty.
It's an interesting thing to consider, kind of like Miriam Blaylock's dessicated lovers in the attic, to think of Japan becoming mostly a country of super-octogenarians of various clades, some of whom are assisted by kind bots, and some of whom will thrive for centuries.
Immigration's long been a dirty word in Japan. That must be changing. Immigration's the only thing that supplies young labour if you're not rearing your own workforce. The only alternative is mass suicide/homicide where people can't be completely self-reliant.
@kewpiesaid Immigration's long been a dirty word in Japan. That must be changing. Immigration's the only thing that supplies young labour if you're not rearing your own workforce. The only alternative is mass suicide/homicide where people can't be completely self-reliant.
I hope Japan continues as Japan somehow, even though generally everything changes.
Japanese culture has an immense problem with teenagers locking themselves in their bedrooms and not coming out.
They’ve got a word for it, but I can’t remember it is at the moment.
There is something seriously off in their society.
If I had to bet on it, I’d put my money on a generation disconnect about morals and values. So sort of a movement to cast off the conservative cloak of generations, this not being acceptable, so the way forward is to extract ones selves from relationships altogether.
@shavixmirsaid Japanese culture has an immense problem with teenagers locking themselves in their bedrooms and not coming out.
They’ve got a word for it, but I can’t remember it is at the moment.
There is something seriously off in their society.
If I had to bet on it, I’d put my money on a generation disconnect about morals and values. So sort of a movement to cast off the conserv ...[text shortened]... is not being acceptable, so the way forward is to extract ones selves from relationships altogether.
Otaku is the word, and if they are online gamers they are also connected in their own way.
They might be quietly crowd-sourcing solutions to their predicament.
@kevin-elevensaid Otaku is the word, and if they are online gamers they are also connected in their own way.
They might be quietly crowd-sourcing solutions to their predicament.
I think gamers will save the world.
No, the word is hikikimori. Otakus are are people obsessed with anime and manga (Japanese animation and comics respectively), sometimes to socially unacceptable degrees.
Hikikimori are people who refuse to interact with society. This is an already a widespread problem that has been made worse by the internet. People no longer need to leave their homes for any reason; they can work from home and order food or anything else.
@shavixmirsaid Japanese culture has an immense problem with teenagers locking themselves in their bedrooms and not coming out.
They’ve got a word for it, but I can’t remember it is at the moment.
There is something seriously off in their society.
If I had to bet on it, I’d put my money on a generation disconnect about morals and values. So sort of a movement to cast off the conserv ...[text shortened]... is not being acceptable, so the way forward is to extract ones selves from relationships altogether.
Public displays of affection have historically been taboo in Japan, especially with kissing, even if it's on cheek.
This is gradually becoming more and more out of date with younger generations, but the lingering social stigma probably still affects relationships in Japan, from familial to romantic ones.
I suspect it's because the older generations got rich and now don't want to lose their social dominance causing economic pressure on the young. They like having a low cost work force and ready access to prostitutes.
“JK business scouts tend to be men in their 20s and 30s,” says Yumeno Nito of Colabo. “They are very aware of trends and are good at knowing the girls’ economic status by looking at their clothes and makeup.” Poverty and low self-esteem are often factors in the manipulation of young girls by scouts, Nito says.
Japan shrinking as birthrate falls to lowest level in history
In 2018 there were 921,000 births and 1.37m deaths, with government efforts failing to encourage families to have more children
Japan suffered its biggest population decline on record th ...[text shortened]... e (then) prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has described Japan’s demographics as a national crisis
The birth rate in the USA has declined as well.
Perhaps Bill Gates' plan of depopulation has been implemented years ago. Flu vaccine?
@vivifysaid No, the word is hikikimori. Otakus are are people obsessed with anime and manga (Japanese animation and comics respectively), sometimes to socially unacceptable degrees.
Hikikimori are people who refuse to interact with society. This is an already a widespread problem that has been made worse by the internet. People no longer need to leave their homes for any reason; they can work from home and order food or anything else.
The Mouse Utopia Experiment, is an interesting read and gives some insight into the behavioral patterns which occur when a society gets too comfortable. People get, lazy, soft, men become more feminine, parents neglect the development of their kids, adults prefer to have no responsibilities like children, people get withdrawn and often suicidal.
@metal-brainsaid I am the youngest of 9.
My parents could not afford me?
Its the way God wanted things to be. To have big families, lots of kids and activities. Big families are the happiest people on the planet, although often the poorest. Too much material wealth [and love for material things] leads to less kids and more excuses about how kids are expensive.
Japan's falling birthrate
07 May '21 23:44
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