Posted on 11/03/2017 6:44:14 AM PDT by Jagermonster
SEARCH FOR SOLUTIONS Women face deep-seated challenges in Japan's work culture, all the more difficult for single moms. But amid a nation-wide demographic crisis, some particularly hard-hit areas are reaching out to these families with relocation programs, hoping that both sides can benefit.
HAMADA, JAPAN—Mitsue Murakami was newly divorced and living in Yokohama, Japan’s second-largest city, when she typed a few words into a search engine on her phone: “single mother,” “work,” “countryside,” and “cheap rent.”
Her ex-husband had gambled away their money. Ms. Murakami worked part-time in a hospital. The hours were convenient and the pay was pretty good, but it wasn’t enough to support their 10-year-old twin boys.
Her search brought up around 10 government programs to subsidize a move and help her find a permanent job. The most compelling benefits were in Hamada, a city of 55,000 on Japan’s southwest coast: training as an assistant at a local senior care facility; half her rent and a child support subsidy for her first year there; and a roughly $9,000 bonus after completing her course.
With Japan projected to lose 30 percent of its population by 2065, some fast-shrinking areas are pulling out all the stops to woo single-parent families like Murakami’s. Single mothers, in particular, face an uphill battle in Japan, where most fathers do not pay formal child support, and full-time, full-benefits employment for women lags behind men’s. For many mothers – and their new communities – the relocation programs are a lifeline, though critics say they’re more of a patch than a long-term solution.
Before long, Murakami crammed everything she could into a rental car and drove her sons more than 500 miles across Japan to start their new life. Now they wake up surrounded by mountains and brilliant green rice...
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
My friend is doing the same thing in Miyazaki prefecture. He’s a five minute walk from a Hawaii-quality beach.
*** Paging Laz ***
We’ve found utopia; cities with single gorgeous lonely women!
Ping.
Wise choice: a booming industry. If I were looking for a job that would support me, I'd get into elder care.
I think some European and North American men ought to try immigrating to Japan, to make a life there, and seek out these single moms, for possible wives. The guys could get some pretty and very womanly wives, and Japan could use a boost in its gene pool and population growth.
I always wanted to visit Japan.
They are way behind the times; here in the US this is the operating model for every city that has been abandoned by white people. Unwed mothers are “put up” at the taxpayers’ expense, their bastards are “schooled” at taxpayers’ expense, and so much food is provided at the taxpayers’ expense that they face a diabetes epidemic.
It doesn’t work.
I like both Japan and Korea, but I think I like the people in both countries better than they like each other.
Of course I don’t have the baggage of their history. I often fancied that their relations could be improved if they could only look at each other as I do. Giving up a lot of past is often very difficult for some societies to do.
It’s easier here because we are such a mixture both in general and over time. “Americans” today is really not the same as Americans of 1776, 1860, 1914, or even 1944. But for the vast majority of Japanese and Koreans they see themselves as the same people from as far back as when this country began, and further. That makes the past seem so much more relevant to them now.
In some ways having that strong sense of relevance about the past is a good thing and something we actually don’t have enough of in some ways. If we did, people would see how far the Progressives have taken us away from the ideals the founders tried to preserve for us.
What is going on with Japanese men? Society was basically set up for them and they seem hell bent on destroying themselves. Treat an Asian woman the right way and they give it back a lot more.
As for the poster who compared this to our inner cities . . . you’ve got to be kidding. This is a society that makes it almost impossible to fully immigrate to. Not a government similarity at all.
I'm sure a way can be found to blame American women.
A lot of Japanese live in NYC. I work in a building with 2 Sushi restaurants and a Japanese Kiosk, with Japanese candy.
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.