American culture really has mastered being both violent and fragile

It’s cultural. Japanese are less individualistic than the west. They live their lives that is more geared toward what will help the community and not just themselves. Less than hundred years ago they viewed their emperor as a living god. So back then the Japanese were indoctrinated to live their lives in service of the emperor. Basically how North Koreans treat their leader today, which is a cultural remnant from Japan since Korea was a Japanese colony. (That the imperial family are descendants from gods is an 8th century myth and was reintroduced during the Meiji restoration. Before the Meiji restoration the Japanese didn’t give a fuck about the imperial family)

So that cultural attitude still lives today in a watered down form. Instead of serving the emperor it’s about serving the community and country. And of course corporations can’t help themselves but to exploit that.

Yeah but it's not exactly fair to compare the US to a developed country

Taiwanese family living in Taiwan and frequent Japan prior to having kids and after having kids.

Most people are quick to point out the gruesome work culture, but honestly, that is just a small part of the total issue.

1-
Japanese people culturally hate outsiders. So their immigration system is setup to almost never give a foreigner citizenship.

2-
Japanese people culturally have a mindset that if you pop one out, it's you and only you that share that burden. That means that if you're on a train and struggling with a crying toddler that is tired of standing, nobody and I mean nobody will let you have their seat. Half the patrons will turn up their volume on their headset and the other half with mean mug/glare at you for annoying them. You wanna know the worst part. This mindset transcends to the kid's grandparents. That's right. The grandparents will not lift a finger to help you.

3-
The government is not making it easy to help the families. Do you have a sleeping kid in a stroller? Well, you better hold the kid if you're using mass transit. Elevators are an afterthought. So once you get off a train, you either have to walk an extreme distance to get to an elevator or in some instances there isn't even an elevator at all. In some rare occasion there is a designated elevator for strollers and wheel chair access, it's jammed packed with people who is able-bodied and can take the escalator, all of which won't exit the elevator to let people with wheel chairs or strollers in.

I went to Osaka Universal studios and ask to rent a stroller. The guy didn't speak English at all. We eventually used my phone to translate and he asked me my kids age. I said 5. He said, is today his birthday? I said no. He turned 5 a few weeks ago. He then poceeds to deny me from renting a stroller. I reasoned with him telling him my kid is having major jet lag and needs a place to sleep right now. He told me to just go back to the hotel to sleep because he wasn't going to rent a stroller to me.

I love Japan and the Japanese people, but honestly they all hate kids.

This was very insightful, thank you for sharing!

It can, but will it?

True, but no other system disincentives children like capitalism.

Yes this is what I meant. So when we can “get more stuff for less labor” we should be fine with a lower population, right? We only need one farmer now per hectare, not 10. We only need ten workers to build a car now, not 100, and so on.

Nah, China is especially bad, they have 9-6-6 after all.

As someone who has always heard how nice Japanese people are, I'm surprised they hate kids that much.

They are courteous and very respectful. It's built into the culture and even their language. One simple sentence like hello, how are you have multiple ways of saying it depending on who you're addressing. Addressing incorrectly is very disrespectful. So the culture overly respectful.

Isn't Tokyo to be one of the most affordable major, developed cities in the world? The article suggests that Japanese homes are exceptionally expensive.

All people are wired to 'hate' outsiders. Countries are forced to open up in order to keep economic growth going. The US needs to import people in order to keep the growth going on. The same with Western Europe. Japan basically took the economic stagnation and said no to opening itself up. I wonder whether that was mostly a top-down sort of decision or not.

Fertility rates say "maybe not"

This is just fucking dumb

In Japan, productivity is decreasing. So now the cycle goes in reverse, either find more labor or make do with less stuff than before.

After all this you still love Japan and Japanese people?

The tradition in japan is to level a house and build a new one. It was explained to me that very few have multigenerational single family dwellings. This would increase cost.

What if the population is stabilizing? Unlimited growth is death. Anyone who thinks differently hasn't looked at how life works. That a population that undergoes a huge increase crashes due to starvation and disease. This is observable from bacteria to humans. It could be Japan is entering a stable period where needs and resources are predictable and known. Sounds like a higher standard of living to me. The downside is the huge geriatric population will need more and more resources until that situation becomes part of the new stable norm.

Stagnant is how a capitalist mindset sees it. They can't stand that since their scam depends on unlimited growth. So of course any take on this from the stand point of greed would think its a terrible thing for a population to shrink to fit its resources not keep growing to allow ever increasing profits.

Yes absolutely. The Japanese has a heavy influence in Taiwan culture. They ruled Taiwan for 50 years. My grandparents only spoke Japanese and Taiwanese when I was growing up here.

That is why there is so much love for the Japanese people. Our cultures are pretty aligned.

What we different is how we view kids in society. In Taiwan, when my wife was visably pregnant, people from all walks of life would give up their seat for her. Even before she was visably pregnant, the government gives you a ribbon to wear and people will let you go first on an elevator and congratulate you.

The government has designated parking spots(marked in pink lines) specifically for pregnant and anyone with kids 6 and under. All larger malls are required to have a clean breastfeeding/pumping room with some malls going the extra mile and having free childcare while you pump.

The people in Taiwan view children as everyone children and everyone has an obligation to bare that burden.

While there are major upsides, the downsides is that people have opinions on how to parent your kids with some parenting for you.

I was in Kaohsiung at a beach and my 3 year old son was taking a stick and hitting it against rocks and the sand. A bunch of grandma's felt it was too unsafe for my son to be walking around with a stick in his hand and took it out of my kid's hands and told me that my kid could lose an eye. I know the gesture comes from a good place, but man. Mind your own business.