Posted on 12/04/2004 3:41:38 PM PST by traumer
The Japanese government says urgent policy changes are needed to persuade women to have more children.
Japan currently has one of the lowest birth rates in the world. Discrimination in the workplace and poor government policies have been blamed for deterring many Japanese women from having children.
But the government says that unless the trend is reversed quickly, the shortage of children risks doing damage to the economy.
The decline in Japan's birth rate is so severe they have invented a word for it - 'shoshika', meaning a society without children.
Unless women here start having more babies, the population in Japan is expected to shrink more than 20% by the middle of this century. Nearly half would be elderly, placing impossible burdens on the health and pension systems.
An official White Paper which has just been published recommends that the government now focus all its efforts on women born during Japan's last baby-boom, who are now in their 20s and 30s, in a final push to reverse the trend.
Today, record numbers of women in this age group are unmarried and without children. But it is not clear what kind of policies would work.
The government has already introduced a so-called 'Angel Plan', then a 'New Angel Plan', and most recently a 'Plus One Proposal' - all intended to offer more child-care facilities and other benefits for working mothers.
But the biggest obstacle to having families could be social attitudes. Men are still expected to spend long hours at the office and little time at home, while there is pressure on women to give up work when they have children.
A former prime minister who is in charge of the governing party's committee on population famously told women to stay at home and breed.
It is attitudes like that, still commonplace here - and not policies - which Japanese women say are putting them off getting married.
Work work work...
;o)
Japan is about the size of California and it has 1/2 of America's population. So it is quite crowded.
Japan also hates immigration. They are a homogenous society and they like it that way. No PC ideas like diversity there.
"Maybe this is a proposal that will enhance education and family life. Wow."
I like your idea. I have many regrets, MANY, but two that I have are that 1. I did not have more than one child and 2. that I did not become a teacher.
as far as teachers getting to go home after school with their children, that's what I used to think until my brother became a teacher. in middle school and up, there is mandatory club advising or coaching, maybe staying for students who need extra help, maybe supervising detention, staff meetings, and a few hours of correcting papers and prep work. maybe elementary school would work out better.
Mrs VS
All of a sudden, people will have a big incentive to have several kids, and make sure they grow up to be high-earners
Which is the problem. Why have children when the government is there to take care of you? In reality, it's always other people. The government is an expensive middle man.
You will. When I got married 20 years ago, we decided that she would stay home, be the housewife, and be a mommy to the kids, and I would make all the money, and our standard of living would be determined by my income.
It's worked out
So how about to import the oversuply of chinese men and russian mail brides... ??
"Mexican" is a leftist word, too, but it's not as good as "over-populated." Sometimes places really are overpopulated. But it's my country - not yours - and I don't like it this crowded.
The gubbermint is nutz. In the 60s they were concerned that their 90 million was overpopulation destined to bring the islands to certain ruin.
You don't think natural resources are depleting? Maybe you don't think at all. Why don't you take a drive out to Colorado and New Mexico and ask them how many years they have left in their acquifer. Some are out right now. Some have 5 years left, some have 20. Would you buy a house knowing that in 5 years you would have no water? This land out there is semi-arrid. It's for cattle only: 1 cow to 1 acre. When you have a subdivision with 10 houses to 1 acre and everyone is flushing the toilets and running the dish-washer, you're using a lot more water than a cow and suddenly - poof - you're out of water.
You're right. Japan is the most densely populated nation in the world.
I saw a documentary on Japan and how overcrowded it is last week. I was astounded.
Tokyo has 8 million commuters riding mass transit every day. It's where you see people who work the subway platforms pushing people into the cars like sardines.
They also have an intersection where everytime the light changes and average of 1,500 people cross the street. Yikes!
Most of the people in Free Republic must be about 25 years old. If they were any older they would know that in the 50s tax rates were about 5%. A very high tax was 10%. Now, with overall taxes (federal, state, local) in the neighborhood of 45%, the wife must work whether she wants to or not. And let's add the cost of government regulations to automobiles (about $4000 per) and then housing is increasing at a rate 3X faster than inflation and why? Because immigration creates more demand for a set amount of land and the prices go up expotentially.
My husband and I are planning on visiting him this next summer. If you don't count the Mexican border , we haven't been out of the United States. I do not do well in tight spaces. He was telling me about the trains and how security with gloves and batons pack people in. I think I'll be doing a lot of walking. I would freak!:')
All of that sounds about right except both working whether they want to or not. It's not easy but you would be surprised with what you can do without or make do with. Society tells us we can't but we can. More people are doing so all the time.
Gee...whatever happened to Malthus and all the other geniuses who were constantly moaning about the over-population of the earth in the '60s? I guess the Western societies believed them, but China and India and Pakistan and Indonesia are making up for the death of the West by providing plenty of people to take over these dying European countries.
And you're going to Japan? I would ask the Doctor to prescribe some valium.
I'm not too worried about Japan. Being on an airline for 12 hours something else:') Trying to talk hubby into a cruise. Oh well, maybe he will be in Hawaii by August. That's almost out of the country.
ok. How is "Mexican" leftist?
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