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Japanese Population falls by 1 million between 2010-2015, first decline since 1920s.

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The poverty rises (around 70%) in Nigeria and the economy is growing only because of the growing population. There is also an ongoing conflict with terrorist groups and it would end up in a disaster if 10-100 million refugees would come to Europe. Nigeria is the next Lebanon, not tomorrow but in 25-50 years.

Nigeria's poverty rate is at 33% and has been falling for the last decade, the boko haram conflict has killed 20 thousand people over a 6 year period, that is out of a population of 180 odd million people. The conflict as it stands is restricted to the borders of the country with its neighbors, not a threat to the unity and stability of the country. Nigeria is not iraq or lebanon or syria or any of those messes in the middle east. It is the largest economy in Africa and a growing one (despite the slump of oil and currency), if the Nigerian civil war which killed 3 million people could not break up the country nothing would, certainly not a nuisance like BH. So your reasoning is flawed, Nigeria is experiencing its population boom decades after others in the west and east, it has always been big and will continue to be big. They simply need to leverage that population boom.
 
Don't take this the wrong way but do not open borders.
Their culture should be kept pure.
Why exactly? What sets Japan apart that their culture needs to be kept "pure", whatever that means.

If they allow skilled workers into the country, that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
 
Don't take this the wrong way but do not open borders.
Their culture should be kept pure.

Nah. Maybe Japans should take in a few million Syrians. I'm sure they would be happy to fix the imbalance!

I often wonder why many right-wing anti-immigration parties or politicians don't just re-name their policies to "Japanese Immigration Plan" or something like that. They would be able to curb all the "undesirables" and avoid the accusations of racism or demagoguery.
 
Sorry I'm not super liberal like the rest of you guys.
You're actually serious?

Might want to remove Japanese culture from that pedestal you have it on, since it has its flaws just like all others. Has nothing to do with being liberal or not.

That said, I don't think population decline has to be a gigantic problem. It is basically temporary if they can get replacement levels in order later on. As long as technology keeps up and the social systems are sustainable to care for the older people without being a gigantic burden on the younger generations.
 
There are certain aspects of Japan's business culture that really need to be changed where even following suit with the US, which has its own fair share of problems in this area, would actually be an improvement.
 

Steel

Banned
Sorry I'm not super liberal like the rest of you guys.

It doesn't take a super liberal to call what you're saying nonsense. Like, really, the U.S. would be having the same population problems(and the coinciding economic problems) that Japan's having if we had the same immigration system, data backs this up.
 
D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
Hmm, what is Japan doing in regards to:
* Maternity/Paternity leave and job security
* Curbing overtime/overworking culture
* Encouraging more part time jobs so that there's always a parent available to take care of the kids.
* Daycare centers

What are their plans to increase the birthrate?

Japan, and especially the metropolitan Tokyo area, is absolutely abysmal across the board of topics you presented.

Their plans to increase birthrate? Nothing good. Some people are throwing out ideas of paying hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of monetary assistance over the course of each child's life, but nothing concrete yet.
 

HK-47

Oh, bitch bitch bitch.
Japan's hasnt been pure since forever. If it wasnt western influence it was Chinese. Cultural purity is myth.
 
Why exactly? What sets Japan apart that their culture needs to be kept "pure", whatever that means.

If they allow skilled workers into the country, that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

I don't see how "skilled workers" will make up the reproduction gap.

And just trying to fill up on refugees and immigrants from developing nations won't fit in a country like Japan. Assimilation is already proving difficult in Europe, can you imagine what it would be like in a country like Japan? A country with a far more homogenous population, more rigid social customs, and a much more difficult language (particularly in reading and writing). That is the makings of an underclass that has virtually no prospects of future advancement.
 
This country is sinking to the point where people won't even have children because of all of the horrible workaholic, job security, etc. social problems that have been getting worse and worse. When I see weebs around me wanting to move to Japan for reasons I really hope they have an idea of what they're getting into.

It's dangerous to go alone. Take this.

If there were ever a time to cringe...

Edit: All actors. Hopefully that wasn't a damage control lie. Yuck.
 
Obviously this is bad for them economically but aren't most of their cities over populated? I mean if your apartment is like the size of a port a potty, less people wouldn't sound bad.
 

entremet

Member
Don't take this the wrong way but do not open borders.
Their culture should be kept pure.

Ever read about Japan's history? Nothing pure about it. Even their writing system has huge portions from another culture entirely.

And much of modern Japan has been influenced from Western style economies after WW2.

Obviously this is bad for them economically but aren't most of their cities over populated? I mean if your apartment is like the size of a port a potty, less people wouldn't sound bad.

It's not the cities that are struggling per se. It's the countless rural and suburban areas that are becoming ghost towns.
 
I don't see how "skilled workers" will make up the reproduction gap.

And just trying to fill up on refugees and immigrants from developing nations won't fit in a country like Japan. Assimilation is already proving difficult in Europe, can you imagine what it would be like in a country like Japan? A country with a far more homogenous population, more rigid social customs, and a much more difficult language (particularly in reading and writing). That is the makings of an underclass that has virtually no prospects of future advancement.
That is a big challenge. Just letting anyone in is not going to be a good thing, but they can certainly try more with getting people from other Asian countries like Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, India. If they get programs running in which those people get straight to work and integrate into society it can lower the burden on the younger generation when it comes to paying for the elderly.

There is no perfect solution for this, so it has to be a bit of everything, including changes in their own approach when it comes to work and gender roles.
 
No, it a very bad thing. By 2030, 30% of Japan's population will be retirement age. The amount of social care those people will need is not sustainable in economic terms by the amount of working people left. It will crush Japan's economy and seriously weaken their importance on the global stage. Without allowing more immigration into the country, Japan as a nation and a culture is in serious trouble.

The first wave of test tube kids could be 10 years old by then. By 2038 that wave could be ready to enter the workforce. They need to get the ball rolling.
 

Steel

Banned
Obviously this is bad for them economically but aren't most of their cities over populated? I mean if your apartment is like the size of a port a potty, less people wouldn't sound bad.

It would be fine if their population was going down without the population aging. But that's not how it works.
 

JPLMD

Member
Take away immigration and nearly every developed country in the world has a declining population. Japan isn't any different besides being incredibly anti immigration.

Germany and other European countries have dealt with declining populations for years. I always find it so odd that people fixate on Japan when this isn't actually a new concept. In America white people will be the minority much sooner than expected and middle aged white men are dying off at a faster rate than almost any other group. All of this culminates from many factors, but declining birth rates play a huge role in the uprise of minorities in America.

Either Japan gets its shit together and begins to reproduce at a higher rate or its population will decline to the point where it goes extinct and people forget about them. Cultural preservation won't matter whether immigrants come into Japan or not because the number of people who actually care to understand Japan's culture rather than just go there and bang as many women as possible is insignificant.
 

entremet

Member
Also demographers have know this for ages now. It's just getting out there right now.

Overpopulation is not a problem in 1st world countries. Neither is resource depletion.

The big issue is environmental devastation. Species diversity in the last century has plummeted because we're disrupting many ecosystems.

But resources aren't a huge problem as we've been able to make up with technology. Think steam engines versus nuclear power. That latter produces exponentially more energy and more cleanly.
 

entremet

Member
Take away immigration and nearly every developed country in the world has a declining population. Japan isn't any different besides being incredibly anti immigration.

Germany and other European countries have dealt with declining populations for years. I always find it so odd that people fixate on Japan when this isn't actually a new concept. In America white people will be the minority much sooner than expected and middle aged white men are dying off at a faster rate than almost any other group. All of this culminates from many factors, but declining birth rates play a huge role in the uprise of minorities in America.

Either Japan gets its shit together and begins to reproduce at a higher rate or its population will decline to the point where it goes extinct and people forget about them. Cultural preservation won't matter whether immigrants come into Japan or not because the number of people who actually care to understand Japan's culture rather than just go there and bang as many women as possible is insignificant.

Immigration isn't that easy of a solution for Japan.

A country has to be welcoming and rather easy to assimilate into.

It also has to prove attractive to immigrants.

I'd wager if you do a survey of most prospective immigrants Japan would be near the bottom of the list.
 

jerry1594

Member
Eh, it's whatever. Less people in the world in not a terrible thing. They can try to create an environment where people want to have kids, as it doesn't seem that way right now, but what happens happens. Just try to not disappear.
 

Steel

Banned
Immigration isn't that easy of a solution for Japan.

A country has to be welcoming and rather easy to assimilate into.

It also has to prove attractive to immigrants.

I'd wager if you do a survey of most prospective immigrants Japan would be near the bottom of the list.

There does have to be some effort to make immigration appealing, but Japan goes out of its way to kneecap immigration, so just opening things up from a government level would make a huge difference. I'd imagine they'd get a lot of people from East Asia if they worked it right.
 

onken

Member
Less people = a good thing. The sooner we start to get our heads around this simple concept the better.
 

entremet

Member
There does have to be some effort to make immigration appealing, but Japan goes out of its way to kneecap immigration, so just opening things up from a government level would make a huge difference. I'd imagine they'd get a lot of people from East Asia if they worked it right.

But what about the work culture of Japan? I can't see that as attractive to top global talent, as least in the long term.

I'm not just talking about government barriers here.
 

Steel

Banned
But what about the work culture of Japan? I can't see that as attractive to top global talent, as least in the long term.

I'm not just talking about government barriers here.

There's a point there, but I imagine someone coming from, say, China wouldn't really see the work hours as egregious.
 

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
Because Japan's culture is so rich and old. Its basically a treasure for humanity.
Many aspects of Japanese culture are incredibly outdated especially when it comes to the equality of women. It's not exactly a "treasure."
 

entremet

Member
Eh, it's whatever. Less people in the world in not a terrible thing. They can try to create an environment where people want to have kids, as it doesn't seem that way right now, but what happens happens. Just try to not disappear.

Less people = a good thing. The sooner we start to get our heads around this simple concept the better.
These statements are useless without context. For Japan, it won't be great in the long term. It's not like they're moving into new territory. They're on a small island.

Moreover, environmental devastation is driven more from consumerism and capitalism (infinite growth) than number of people.

There are so many holes in the overpopulation hypothesis. It's an oudated hypothesis with little scientific basis that stuck around as a talking point. It has become this intellectually lazy scapegoat for humanities ills.
 
I am always puzzled when people talk that earth is getting overpopulated. Same people should realize that global fertility rate is decreasing every year. We will have underpopulation issues in future as global fertility rate will decline below the replacement levels during the next decades. Not overpopulation issues. Without some kind of scientific breaktrough to make lifespan of humans a lot longer we are going slowly extinct in future.
 

Maengun1

Member
I get that there's tons of extremely complex intertwined factors in place that I don't fully understand, but it always seems crazy to me the idea that human population decline is horrible because all of our economic systems are designed for continual growth. Just keep growing the population forever? That's gonna work out?

Yeah we have more *room* on Earth, but resources are being depleted. Every day I read something about how scientists are predicting complete food-chain collapses from the rate humans are wiping out every other species, especially in the oceans. I don't think our bureaucratic/economic systems are going to swoop in to save us when that happens.

Again, I get the thinking in the near term, and I know that growth in the developing world is offsetting the declines in the industrial countries (though slowing worldwide at the moment I believe), and I certainly don't have any brilliant solutions to any of these problems myself, but just thinking about it always blows my mind. There's gotta be something we can work out to where we don't keep needing more and more people forever. Hopefully some sort of automation-in-the-workforce things can come along and allow us to decline the global population gradually.
 

onken

Member
These statements are useless without context. For Japan, it won't be great in the long term. It's not like they're moving into new territory. They're on a small island.

Moreover, environmental devastation is driven more from consumerism and capitalism (infinite growth) than number of people.

There are so many holes in the overpopulation hypothesis. It's an oudated hypothesis with little scientific basis that stuck around as a talking point. It has become this intellectually lazy scapegoat for humanities ills.

No, basically all of the world's problems trace back to this concept of "growth is the only thing that matters". When we have finally destroyed this planet from warring over resources, people like you will shoulder the blame. Wake the fuck up.
 

entremet

Member
I get that there's tons of extremely complex intertwined factors in place that I don't fully understand, but it always seems crazy to me the idea that human population decline is horrible because all of our economic systems are designed for continual growth. Just keep growing the population forever? That's gonna work out?

Yeah we have more *room* on Earth, but resources are being depleted. Every day I read something about how scientists are predicting complete food-chain collapses from the rate humans are wiping out every other species, especially in the oceans. I don't think our bureaucratic/economic systems are going to swoop in to save us when that happens.

Again, I get the thinking in the near term, and I know that growth in the developing world is offsetting the declines in the industrial countries and then some, and I'm certainly don't have any brilliant solutions to any of these problems myself, but just thinking about it always blows my mind. There's gotta be something we can work out to where we don't keep needing more and more people forever. Hopefully some sort of automation-in-the-workforce things can come along and allow us to decline the global population gradually.

We're not growing in 1st world countries, though.

And 1st world countries are the ones that using the most resources and responsible for most of the economic devastation.

Resources are not an issue since technology has bridged that gap much more efficiently.

Ecological degradation and resource scarcity are two different as well. We are not resource scarce and not foreseeable future.

No, basically all of the world's problems trace back to this concept of "growth is the only thing that matters". When we have finally destroyed this planet from warring over resources, people like you will shoulder the blame. Wake the fuck up.

We're living in the most comparable peaceful times in human history. Take off your blinders and look at things objectively from a historical perspective.

Using your baseless claims, you'd think that humanity was better in the Middle Ages since our population was drastically less than today. Yet wars and early death were quite common.

Good luck being a woman in those times. You were basically chattel. Or a peasant like most of the population.
 
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