Posted on 07/10/2016 1:54:55 PM PDT by Vince Ferrer
The red-roofed temple at the top of the hill closed about a decade ago, and now Yoshihiro Shibata can’t even remember its name, though the 54-year-old dairy farmer has lived in this picturesque village all his life.
All across Japan, aging villages such as Hara-izumi have been quietly hollowing out for years, even as urban areas have continued to grow modestly. But like a creaky wooden roller coaster that slows at the top of the climb before plunging into a terrifying, steep descent, Japan’s population crested around 2010 with 128 million people and has since lost about 900,000 residents, last year’s census confirmed.
Now, the country has begun a white-knuckle ride in which it will shed about one-third of its population — 40 million people — by 2060, experts predict. In 30 years, 39% of Japan’s population will be 65 or older.
If the United States experienced a similar population contraction, it would be like losing every single inhabitant of California, New York, Texas and Florida — more than 100 million people.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Socialism raised the cost of living so high that children became a luxury and created a culture where they were optional.
The modern generation in most developed countries is devoted to a hedonistic lifestyle enabled by The State. Children would (a) increase expenses (b) impinge on free time (c) cause all sorts of ‘lifestyle’ complications. Solution: No children - contraception makes it all possible.
When Europe lost a third or so of the young men in its prime after world wars, it inhibited population booms after because too many women didn’t have a mate.
In Islam, that’s not a problem because of polygamy. For example, Iraq lost about a third of its young men in the 1980s Iran-Iraq war - resulting in a lot of second and third wives for older men and the survivors.
Japanese young people are doing the same thing American youth are...tuning in Facebook, Spotify and YouTube and tuning out God.
The perception of being crowded is one of the big motivations for having fewer children. As much as it is part of the problem, it is hard to blame a young couple that lives inside a big city cramped in a small apartment in a multi story building for not having enough children, when there is already not enough room to raise them.
I know, I know! I've seen pictures of them, very realistic (and they talk nicely). All the crazy good stuff is made and sold there. Maybe Elon Musk can take a detour from cars and rockets, and make something people really need like robot sex slaves. Only problem, is that after 15 minutes of use, you have to let them recharge for 12 hours in the sunlight.
Ping
This article is mixing concepts about population issues in Japan. The fact that the total pop is declining has little to do with the separate fact that people are moving from rural to urban areas. 900k is about .7 of a percent. If the loss was equal across communities it would not be noticeable, but the article notes wholesale emptying of rural communities.
Although the US is experiencing a similar path, we are still growing for now while some rural areas are becoming ghost towns. Northern Maine is seeing some of this while southern Maine is seeing growth. Our total pop is virtually unchanged in the last 15 years.
On a separate note, the number US births has been trending down from the 4.3 million high of the last decade. Last couple of years have been under 4 million.
Dude: Ponyo was awesome, in a strange and odd way.
I believe at the end of the story the fish became the boy’s girlfriend, or something.
I was just thinking about that story the other day.
Watch some of his other movies.
Soon after watching Ponya we were at the Boston aquarium where they have a wonderful tank that you can walk around full of all sorts of strange creatures. There was a Japanese family there and the little boy was going nuts and saying over and over “Ponyo, Ponyo!!” Our granddaughter when we bought it asked that we get the Japanese version with English subtitles. Somehow its even more wonderful.
Article is horribly misleading. Japan is mountainous, crowded as hell, suffered from a decades-long economic depression and has absolutely nowhere to expand. (what’re they gonna do for more land, invade China?)
I also sense an attempt to try and panic them into making up a population deficit that is as inevitable as the sun rising by letting in every Turd Worlder who wants in. Which, as wiser heads have already noted, is practically the only thing that has kept US population from going into a complete freefall.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.