7 ms·

What is wrong with people in Japan? I understand that the entity of the country is of lower standing relative to other countries due to population stagnation, b

What is wrong with people in Japan? I understand that the entity of the country is of lower standing relative to other countries due to population stagnation, but for the individual, who cares about your country's global standing if your country's members are better off on average?

soared 8y ago
Op is talking about growth, not current standing. Japan looks good now, but that will change in the future without growth.
criveros 8y ago
They are not better off. Have you worked or even been there? Their culture is horrible? People are literally worked to death and sexism and xenophobia is rampant. The summers suck as it's too damn hot, to the point it sucks going out.
screye 8y ago
> What is wrong with people in Japan? The OP is referring to their declining birth rates, paired with general xenophobia and anti immigrant sentiment. As the average population gets older, they are faced with a smaller and smaller tax paying population and an increasing tax dependent population. This will eventually lead to the death of retirement funds and an aging country that can't afford to have retirees. Higher average age also makes old people the main voting bloc and forces the country to prioritize funding towards younger populations needs, as they have increasing lower representation. The country's general productivity will also drop as even if older people come out of retirement, they can't match the efficiency and vigor of a young work force. It is an all out impending disaster.
- fromthestart 8y ago
  >paired with general xenophobia and anti immigrant sentiment. It is increasingly infuriating to watch people stall any debate by slandering those with legitimate concerns over immigration as xenophobes. One can be wary of, for example, the increased infrastructural strain of, say, large numbers of uneducated third worlders entering a country suddenly, without being hostile to or fearful of their culture.
  - d1zzy 8y ago
    If, that concern (of large uneducated immigrants) is paired in the same sentence or paragraph (or at least article) with a suggestion of how to increase immigration of highly skilled/educated people. Because if it just stops at "we should stop immigration because of these potential social problems", then you are (willingly or not) selecting arguments to match your narrative and that can be seen as pushing an agenda that goes beyond simply trying to cope with the potential problems expressed at face value. Hence why articles that describe issues that seem reasonable on the face, can be interpreted as pushing xenophobia.
    - fromthestart 8y ago
      >then you are (willingly or not) selecting arguments to match your narrative and that can be seen as pushing an agenda If I lean towards one side of an issue (e.g. unchecked immigration policies are a net negative to first world societies) then the onus is not on me to present both sides. That does not make me a xenophobe. >can be interpreted as pushing xenophobia Only when there is social pressure to interpret things in such a way. No matter how you slice it, automatically associating anti immigration sentiment with xenophobia is dishonest conflation.
      - lovich 8y ago
        >No matter how you slice it, automatically associating anti immigration sentiment with xenophobia is dishonest conflation. That is correct, unless the group in question is saying "we don't want immigrants because they are intrinsically worse then us". In Japan's case, lookat the example of ethnic Koreans changing their names to hide the fact, despite south korea being an industralized economy on par with Japan in terms of technology and prosperity. It is difficult to see a reason why they would discriminate against Koreans for any reason based on actual performance of their people and seems to show that it is in fact xenophobia
  - surfmike 8y ago
    Technically speaking he's treating those as two different concepts not conflating them. But in any case, he's talking specifically about Japan which is definitely xenophobic— for example read about their attitudes toward Korean immigrants.
Leary 8y ago
Population decline also places a lot of pressure on young people for elder support.

soared 8y ago

Op is talking about growth, not current standing. Japan looks good now, but that will change in the future without growth.

criveros 8y ago

They are not better off. Have you worked or even been there? Their culture is horrible? People are literally worked to death and sexism and xenophobia is rampant. The summers suck as it's too damn hot, to the point it sucks going out.

screye 8y ago

> What is wrong with people in Japan? The OP is referring to their declining birth rates, paired with general xenophobia and anti immigrant sentiment. As the average population gets older, they are faced with a smaller and smaller tax paying population and an increasing tax dependent population. This will eventually lead to the death of retirement funds and an aging country that can't afford to have retirees. Higher average age also makes old people the main voting bloc and forces the country to prioritize funding towards younger populations needs, as they have increasing lower representation. The country's general productivity will also drop as even if older people come out of retirement, they can't match the efficiency and vigor of a young work force. It is an all out impending disaster.

fromthestart 8y ago
>paired with general xenophobia and anti immigrant sentiment. It is increasingly infuriating to watch people stall any debate by slandering those with legitimate concerns over immigration as xenophobes. One can be wary of, for example, the increased infrastructural strain of, say, large numbers of uneducated third worlders entering a country suddenly, without being hostile to or fearful of their culture.
- d1zzy 8y ago
  If, that concern (of large uneducated immigrants) is paired in the same sentence or paragraph (or at least article) with a suggestion of how to increase immigration of highly skilled/educated people. Because if it just stops at "we should stop immigration because of these potential social problems", then you are (willingly or not) selecting arguments to match your narrative and that can be seen as pushing an agenda that goes beyond simply trying to cope with the potential problems expressed at face value. Hence why articles that describe issues that seem reasonable on the face, can be interpreted as pushing xenophobia.
  - fromthestart 8y ago
    >then you are (willingly or not) selecting arguments to match your narrative and that can be seen as pushing an agenda If I lean towards one side of an issue (e.g. unchecked immigration policies are a net negative to first world societies) then the onus is not on me to present both sides. That does not make me a xenophobe. >can be interpreted as pushing xenophobia Only when there is social pressure to interpret things in such a way. No matter how you slice it, automatically associating anti immigration sentiment with xenophobia is dishonest conflation.
    - lovich 8y ago
      >No matter how you slice it, automatically associating anti immigration sentiment with xenophobia is dishonest conflation. That is correct, unless the group in question is saying "we don't want immigrants because they are intrinsically worse then us". In Japan's case, lookat the example of ethnic Koreans changing their names to hide the fact, despite south korea being an industralized economy on par with Japan in terms of technology and prosperity. It is difficult to see a reason why they would discriminate against Koreans for any reason based on actual performance of their people and seems to show that it is in fact xenophobia
- surfmike 8y ago
  Technically speaking he's treating those as two different concepts not conflating them. But in any case, he's talking specifically about Japan which is definitely xenophobic— for example read about their attitudes toward Korean immigrants.

Leary 8y ago

Population decline also places a lot of pressure on young people for elder support.