Japan's birth dearth

FOR THE STRAITS TIMES ^ | By COLIN DONALD

[banjo joe]

socially-engineered attitudes about the precedence of work over family

Even if I'm an employee, I regard myself as working for myself.

No one on their death-bed wished they'd spent more time at the office

Jobs are a commodity, as the out-sourcing movement is now showing us.

React accordingly.

[narses]

Ping.

[Vigilanteman]

My kids were educated in the Japanese school system up until the time we moved back in April 2002. Despite initial struggles with reading and writing the English tongue, all three are now on the honor roll and, more important, all are helpful, courteous and respectful.

Each of the kids took their turns with classroom cleaning, serving meals, and caring for the classroom pet which varied from room-to-room-- a hamster, finch, goldfish aquarium, etc.

I would gladly trade the nicely tiled classrooms and full services lunches of their high school here for the courtesy and civilized behavior they left behind in Japan. None of my kids even knew what the f*** word meant until moving back to the United States. Here, they get so sick of hearing it that they talk about how much better it was in Japan-- where the worst drug abuse was alcohol and tobacco.

[Ben Ficklin]

US Birth Rate Reaches Record Low

[sushiman]

" Our own district has no school busses. At least in Japan, I understand, the kids can take mass transit to school."

In the largest cities like Tokyo and Osaka , yes . Japan is more than these two cities .

[sushiman]

"I for one would like to hear more about how Japanese schools are run."

If you have any specific questions feel free to ask .

[sushiman]

" Is that a bad thing, however? I think a lot of US schools could benefit if the students had to help clean them. For one thing, people are a lot less eager to trash a place if they know the next afternoon they'll just have to clean it again.Our own district has no school busses. At least in Japan, I understand, the kids can take mass transit to school.

I don't think it is a bad thing that they have to clean the entire school inside and outside , but every day ? The school also volunteers their services to pick up trash around town on weekends , clean roadside curb mirrors , etc ...With club activities on weekends too they hardly ever see their families ! The school becomes the parent . When they grow up the government takes over !

In my town , JHS kids who live more than 4 miles from the school MUST stay in a dormitory from M-F . When they go to HS , most will leave town to go to school in Kumamoto City or elsewhere because that is where the better schools are . So , you've basically got kids leaving home at 12 years old !!! Is this good ? Would Americans go for this ?

[skinkinthegrass]

That said, this article doesn't mention (surprise, surprise) heavy taxation as a possible reason why they're not having babies....does anyone know the tax situation in Japan?

Can you shed some light on this...Please.

[skinkinthegrass]

"Actually, Japanese taxes...in from the sheeple.

Thanks for the info., I pinged "ronin" (I hope I didn't piss him off :). Next time, I shall read the whole thread before I ask any questions. :/

[DentsRun]

I read an economist with AEI state that the unemployment rate in Tokyo is about 25% for under 30s. Might have something to do with the problem.

I wonder why they have such high unemployment if they're running out of people. You'd think young workers would have their choice of jobs.

[sushiman]

10% not 25% .

[Brian Allen]

<< Japan's birth dearth

So they need a hatch batch. >>

I guess [Except in banking and in maintaining the separation of Yakusa (Nipponese for "church") and state] the Japanese so pride themselves on their abilities that no one slips up there?

BumPing

[DeaconBenjamin]

"I was in Tokyo a few weeks ago and was told that probably 25% of the under-30 population is unemployed and living
with their parents." -- John Makin, an American Enterprise Institute Scholar. Quoted at http://www.weedenco.com/welling/lilogopv.asp

[jriemer]

Unlike Western Europe, Japan has not been "replacing" their "missing births" with Islamists. We need to give them credit for that.

[Little Ray]

I have always figured that the US could use Japanese-style discipline at school. Having to clean to the school each day will certainly teach them to respect it, and I can think of worse places than school for the center of a kid's social life... like malls.

But I certainly wouldn't go for enforced boarding schools at the age of 12!

[sushiman]

Living with their parents I believe , in fact most single people do . Note the word " probably " . I recently read that around 10% of folks between 16-25 are unemployed . I'll see if I can find that info again .

[altair]

According to Naoki Atsumi of the Fuji Research Institute, women who take an eight-year break from the workplace to nurture a child lose an average of 60 million yen, including salary and retirement allowances.

That's much better pay than I would have expected. I wonder how old the data is.

[altair]

They're going to have to do what every other advanced country does and import workers.

They know that and that's the direction they're headed. They significantly eased rules the year before I moved there (1999) and again a few years later.