They use their profits from the house sale (which may be substantial depending on how long they've been there + market inflation), to rent somewhere.

I still don't understand how a falling population leads to a society crumbling.

The only thing a reduction in population does is make domestic labor more expensive. If that increase in expense outpaces the product of your society, that's not on the population, that's on the sustainability of the society.

And that's only the capitalist way of looking at it.

But I bet they will continue to work people to the bone as a point of pride...like I wonder what could be contributing to this problem.

Supporting the older, non-working, population is expensive. You need enough workers paying in to those systems that support them.

I love that movie, except for the premise which is actually based on eugenetics.

This right here. It's not that people don't want kids. It's that they're at their breaking point already.

If you want people to actually be able to have a family, you need to enable that. My understanding of Japanese society is that you have medium to no personal freedom over how you spend your time, and meeting people is difficult. It feels like they are so intent on shooting themselves in the foot, and then complaining about their foot hurting.

Warning: swear language ahead

Da fuck "productive" is, for fuck's sake. Anyone thought of not running human intelligence into fucking ground over a period of... what? Roughly 60 - 20 = 40 years?

Or what, humans can't think after retirement age because <insert some bullshit>?

You absolutely can have any percentage of <insert random age group>, provided human wellbeing is being taken care of, constantly and in all aspects

While I do not share the sentiment of "let them finally die", I am very curious what will win: wanting to survive as a country and society or that bullshit worldview they are known for by anyone who learns anything more about Japan than just cool tech-anime-sake combo

I do hope they will change and survive. Ikkyu Sojun has earned a very special place in my heart (the one, who was a monk, son of emperor, who got a particular letter from his mother that is now famous among anyone who learns anything about Buddhism in Japan)

they are literally killing their own population growth with their racist national policies, I'm not killin em, but hey, sucks to suck

Yeah, and in a city with no greenery for kids to play in and afraid to let the kids out of their sight for 1 minute.

South America in general. Peru even had a president named Fujimori not that long ago.

Oh, you mean like Karoshi? The term that translates to "overwork death"? Good times. Good times.

Yeah, and not only paying in but actually working the labour intensive health/elderly care jobs.

Yeah, can't deny that. That's a shame, they did and still do have some wonderful people, but the you're-not-japanese-so-fuck-you-one-way-or-another mindset is a disgrace. If even I know that granting Japanese citizenship to someone who is not Japanese by blood is something extra-extra-extraordinary, it means things are - ok, I am tired of swearing - very bad

Cultural norms around marriage and work-life balance are strangling Japan’s future. Good article, minus one for not exploring innovative or radical solutions to the crisis.

If population is decreasing because of decreased birthrate, then the population is aging. And all else equal, an aging population is less productive because fewer people are working.

Sure, but that still sounds like a self-correcting problem.

How do you put price caps on houses? They vary so much in price depending on location. A shack in San Francisco costs the same as a mansion in the middle of nowhere.

No this kind of centralized approach is doomed to fail. We’re much better off with Georgism with a land value tax and the total repeal of zoning laws. People should be able to build what they want, where they want, and the land value tax captures the increases in property values as a result. When a neighbourhood becomes too expensive to afford for single family households it gets converted into apartments.

All of our housing problems come from meddlesome local politicians, their NIMBY supporters, awful zoning laws and easements, and a terrible property tax system which disincentivizes development. A very simple land value tax system along with the total removal of local politicians’ power over housing development solves all of these issues.

Well, that's why Western right wingers look to Japan. But the difference is that, Western right wingers are looking to regress back into the olden days when women were baby-churners, whereas I don't hear from Japan wanting the same (there are some but they are not significant enough to sway public opinion).