> So just on the "lack of money" argument trope that gets rolled out in Japan whenever this topic comes up. It's not complete nonsense, but for the wrong edge

> So just on the "lack of money" argument trope that gets rolled out in Japan whenever this topic comes up. It's not complete nonsense, but for the wrong edge case. Japan still discriminates against women quite strongly. This means that the woman is expected to quit working and handle the entire household for the husband. That means both sets of elderly parents. ALL the major countries are grappling with the fact that elder care is making people--especially women--VERY unhappy. If a woman puts off children until her 30s, she's basically a caretaker for the rest of her life (children until 50s--parents after that). To top it off, medical caretaking is far more draining than child-rearing and has no defined end date. A whole lotta women are simply going NOPE when faced with those prospects.