Poor Japan

[Lucavi]

Original article:

http://http://news.yahoo.com/japan-p...112432967.html

TOKYO (AP) — Japan's population of 128 million will shrink by one-third and seniors will account for 40 percent of people by 2060, placing a greater burden on a smaller working-age population to support the social security and tax systems.

The grim estimate of how rapid aging will shrink Japan's population was released Monday by the Health and Welfare Ministry.

In year 2060, Japan will have 87 million people. The number of people 65 or older will nearly double to 40 percent, while the national work force of people between ages 15 and 65 will shrink to about half of the total population, according to the estimate, made by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research.

The total fertility rate, or the expected number of children born per woman during lifetime, in 2060 is estimated at 1.35, down from 1.39 in 2010 — well below more than 2 needed to keep the country's population from declining. But the average Japanese will continue to live longer. The average life expectancy for 2060 is projected at 90.93 for women, up from 86.39 in 2010, and 84.19 years for men, up from 79.64 years.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has pledged to push for social security and tax reforms this year. A bill he promised to submit by the end of March would raise the 5 percent sales tax in two stages to 8 percent in 2014 and 10 percent by 2015, although opposition lawmakers and the public pose challenges to its approval.

The institute says Japan has been the world's fastest aging country, and with its birthrate among the lowest, its population decline would be among the deepest globally in coming decades.

Experts say that Japan's population will keep losing 1 million every year in coming decades and the country urgently needs to overhaul its social security and tax system to reflect the demographic shift.

"Pension programs, employment and labor policy and social security system in this country is not designed to reflect such rapidly progressing population decline or aging," Noriko Tsuya, a demography expert at Keio University, said on public broadcaster NHK. "The govern

So, who is with me in going to Japan to knock up some non-snaggletooth ladies?

[bechyni]

World is ending in December so this doesn't matter.

In all seriousness damn this sucks lol

[solanis]

as a society they're going through a ton of changes right now, but there isn't an analogue for the destruction of the birthrate anywhere else in the world. the most popular theory among nerds and 2ch denizens is that men in japan are becoming "herbivorous." that's probably accurate tbh

[Lucavi]

You take a completely shitty economy with a society that has a lot of its males content to fap endlessly to 2D women over real women, and yeah, this is going to happen. My only concern is who will be there to deflower all of those crooked-toothed maidens? I think we need to put together a BG field trip to Japan for a month.

[miokomioko]

I recall an article a year ago or so that highlighted some Japanese organization that tried to hook up young studs to hump all the unsatisfied middle-aged ladies because husbands just don't do it. I think it was primarily to reduce depression, but perhaps it could also be used to rejuvenate their gene pool?

[Hyan]

India and China next, kthx. Africa too.

They should just work 'till they're 80 tbh.

and come on now, that island is already full. you'd think they'd appreciate having more space available to them than a capsule bed with a tv & a fridge.

[Lucavi]

I recall an article a year ago or so that highlighted some Japanese organization that tried to hook up young studs to hump all the unsatisfied middle-aged ladies because husbands just don't do it. I think it was primarily to reduce depression, but perhaps it could also be used to rejuvenate their gene pool?

I'm sure the old traditionalists wouldn't enjoy a bunch of gaijins ravishing their "traditional women", but hey, at least we have an excuse now.

"We're doing it for the future of Japan!"

[SephYuyX]

I dont see an issue.

USA has around 300M people, and has a size of 3.5M square miles.
Japan has around 128M people, and has a size of .4M square miles.
China has around 1.3B people, and has a size of 9.5M square miles.

Why wouldnt they want to shrink to a more accommodable size?

[miokomioko]

Isn't it less of a total population issue and more about the harsh age demographic imbalance?

[Dimmauk]

I dont see an issue.

USA has around 300M people, and has a size of 3.5M square miles.
Japan has around 128M people, and has a size of .4M square miles.
China has around 1.3B people, and has a size of 9.5M square miles.

Why wouldnt they want to shrink to a more accommodable size?

Just glass them bro?

[Rhyis.]

I'd open up a retirement home asap. Hell, get a fucking chain going.

[Kaylia]

I dont see an issue.

USA has around 300M people, and has a size of 3.5M square miles.
Japan has around 128M people, and has a size of .4M square miles.
China has around 1.3B people, and has a size of 9.5M square miles.

Why wouldnt they want to shrink to a more accommodable size?

Space isn't the problem, they are handling that issue just fine.

It's more a question of economy and overall productivity. When most of your population stop working (and live at the expense of whoever is left), it's hard to maintain a healthy economy.

[Metah]

If Japan is going to not get fucked over, they're going to have to start being more lenient and allowing more foreign workers in. There's no other way to get a lot of people who can work without waiting 20 years (if you could somehow convince everyone to start having more children, which seems like it isn't happening).

Although people here are talking about the classification of men as being herbivorous (among carnivorous, cabbage rolls and one other type I seem to have forgotten but its like 'hard on the outside soft on the inside'), and this does have merit, another reality is that some women in Japan just don't want to have kids because it would affect their career and they value that higher, among other reasons.

[Byrd]

USA has around 300M people, and has a size of 3.5M square miles.
China has around 1.3B people, and has a size of 9.5M square miles.

Your sqaure mile numbers for China are off. USA and China are both between 3.7M and 3.8 square miles, making China far more densely populated than the USA. Your point about population density in comparison to Japan still stands, though. The US' population density is less than 10% that of Japan's (873 people/sq.mi. to 83). Too bad Japan can't just buy some of the eastern portions of Russia (21 people/sq. mi.) and ship them there.

Fun Fact: China and the USA are close enough in area that which one is larger depends on whether you count a couple of disputed areas between China, India, and Pakistan, as well as how you measure coastal waters.

[Tir]

You take a completely shitty economy with a society that has a lot of its males content to fap endlessly to 2D women over real women, and yeah, this is going to happen. My only concern is who will be there to deflower all of those crooked-toothed maidens? I think we need to put together a BG field trip to Japan for a month.

First of all: L o l.

Second: Count me in.

But seriously - IIRC, wasn't a similar projection being made about the US within the next 15-20 years?

[Lucavi]

I dont see an issue.

USA has around 300M people, and has a size of 3.5M square miles.
Japan has around 128M people, and has a size of .4M square miles.
China has around 1.3B people, and has a size of 9.5M square miles.

Why wouldnt they want to shrink to a more accommodable size?

Did you read the article? No country can sustain itself when the majority of its population are non-working seniors.

@Tir: The U.S. isn't in as bad of a condition, especially due to the influx of migrant workers doing essentially the harshest of physical labor tasks in the country (something that Republicans continue to ignore), but if you want to break it down by race, then yes, White Anglosaxans are going to be in a bit of a pinch within 25 years or so, as they'll have far more retirees than youthful workers unless they start making like the Duggars.

Downsizing a population is only "a good thing" when you downsize the population evenly across age demographics. Its one of the reasons that war can be so catastrophic; you take out all of the able-bodied young men before they have a chance to knock up their wives, and all you're left with is women of all ages and old men. That problem isn't relevant to Japan, but their age issue is the crux of the issue. Too many old folks and not enough young workers to pay for the massive social security and pension plans.

So yes, this "issue" can be spun into a productive one if Japan finishes their new Gundam prototypes and utilizes old people as a sustainable fuel source. Otherwise...

[Hyan]

If Japan is going to not get fucked over, they're going to have to start being more lenient and allowing more foreign workers in.

Yeahhh do it like Dubai. Natives chill while immigrant workers get shit done.

[Yugl]

I'd open up a retirement home asap. Hell, get a fucking chain going.

This is the best idea I've heard so far.

[Eaglestrike]

I read just last night that 75% of Japanese women own a vibrator.

[Lucavi]

Are they also 4 inches?

/rimshot.