4 ms·

Japan’s sexual apathy is endangering the global economy (2013)

23 points by mparramon 12y ago

wolfgke 12y ago
"People in Japan tend to live a long time; elderly Japanese are expensive to care for because they spend so many years in retirement and because they're accustomed to a high standard of living and medical care. For any economy to stay healthy, there need to be enough taxpayers to support all the retirees. But Japan's population is shrinking and aging simultaneously, which means that the number of old people is skyrocketing just as the base of taxpayers shrinks." Why not just set the retirement age up to mitigate that problem?
- busterarm 12y ago
  This doesn't even take into account that women often aren't given great professional employment and are strongly encouraged to marry out of the workforce by their early 30s.
- tmorton 12y ago
  "Why not just attach a bell to the cat?" said the mice.
- onnoonno 12y ago
  According to Wikipedia, they did that in the past: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elderly_people_in_Japan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elderly_people_in_Japan The rough equivalent of herbivore men in the west is called MGTOW. In the west, some blame feminism for similar shifts...
lingoberry 12y ago
This is a case where policy will have to lead public opinion and culture. It has been done successfully in many countries, though less traditional than Japan to begin with. Subsidise childcare, make maternity leave longer, ear mark some leave for fathers etc. Then you'll see change eventually.
brackenbury 12y ago
One solution is for Japan to start encouraging immigration. Maybe setup an H1-B program. This will increase the number of tax payers, while also increasing exports.
michaelchisari 12y ago
I'd argue that Japan's policy on immigration is just as much an issue, and easier to resolve than convincing people to have children.
- politician 12y ago
  Along those lines, it looks like the (irradiated) land currently occupied by the Japanese will shortly be occupied by the Chinese.
dang 12y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8822755 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8822755

23 points by mparramon 12y ago

"People in Japan tend to live a long time; elderly Japanese are expensive to care for because they spend so many years in retirement and because they're accustomed to a high standard of living and medical care. For any economy to stay healthy, there need to be enough taxpayers to support all the retirees. But Japan's population is shrinking and aging simultaneously, which means that the number of old people is skyrocketing just as the base of taxpayers shrinks." Why not just set the retirement age up to mitigate that problem?

busterarm 12y ago
This doesn't even take into account that women often aren't given great professional employment and are strongly encouraged to marry out of the workforce by their early 30s.
tmorton 12y ago
"Why not just attach a bell to the cat?" said the mice.
onnoonno 12y ago
According to Wikipedia, they did that in the past: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elderly_people_in_Japan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elderly_people_in_Japan The rough equivalent of herbivore men in the west is called MGTOW. In the west, some blame feminism for similar shifts...

lingoberry 12y ago

This is a case where policy will have to lead public opinion and culture. It has been done successfully in many countries, though less traditional than Japan to begin with. Subsidise childcare, make maternity leave longer, ear mark some leave for fathers etc. Then you'll see change eventually.

brackenbury 12y ago

One solution is for Japan to start encouraging immigration. Maybe setup an H1-B program. This will increase the number of tax payers, while also increasing exports.

michaelchisari 12y ago

I'd argue that Japan's policy on immigration is just as much an issue, and easier to resolve than convincing people to have children.

politician 12y ago
Along those lines, it looks like the (irradiated) land currently occupied by the Japanese will shortly be occupied by the Chinese.

dang 12y ago

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8822755 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8822755