why have young people in japan stopped having sex?

[bcbm]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/20/young-people-japan-stopped-having-sex

[The Feral Underclass]

We increasingly isolate ourselves. The majority of social activity is done from a computer nowadays.

But the whole article is one big argument for homo-separatism. Woop!

[Halert]

A couple of things.
Guys watch a lot of anime or play dating sims and they set unrealistic expectations for woman. Girls also have unrealistic exceptions for guys. Both genders are growing apart from each other.
Guys make less money at entry positions then they used to and for some girls that is important.
When a woman gets married it's really hard to get a promotion so woman with a lot of ambition avoid marriage.

Low birthrate really is a problem, some schools and universities are threatened with closure because they can't find enough students.

[Red_Banner]

It could be that Japan's society is too conservative for the modern conditions it faces.

And with recent years, to add to the problem, the earthquake Fukashima accident might have something to do with it.

Alot of people died and the ones that lived might not want to bring kids into the World with birth defects.

[Popular Front of Judea]

Japan is our future -- if we are lucky. Japan has a capitalist economy that is entering into its second decade without significant growth. Despite the best efforts of the government it remains stagnant.

Here in the US we are now into our fifth year of of sub-par growth with little sign of a meaningful recovery in the near future. You can already seeing the social and political changes occurring.

[Aleister Granger]

It could be that Japan's society is too conservative for the modern conditions it faces.

And with recent years, to add to the problem, the earthquake Fukashima accident might have something to do with it.

Alot of people died and the ones that lived might not want to bring kids into the World with birth defects.

Japan, conservative?

Anyway I'd say that it's a lack of confidence and an inferiority-complex-based society. Someone above mentioned it that they've placed great expectations, but then again Americans have great expectations.
If you're white- you'd better be a model with curves in all the right places. If you're black, your ass had better be the size of Jupiter.

I believe that a great bit of things led to this current stagnation. There's not much incentive to have kids anyway. The society is already heavily fetishized, but it's a bit tighter.

The US is pretty much the same way, but for some reason is heading in the opposite direction. The USicans are trying to outsex Africa. That's probably one reason why the US is the 3rd world of the 1st world.

[Tim Cornelis]

It strikes me as real bizarre and surreal. It also reminds me of a dystopian narrative, as if this is how humanity will perish.


Japan, conservative?

Japan is definitely conservative. Social views on gender roles are very traditional, as is the country's culture in general -- stratification, respect for authority, demanding expectations, uniformity, anti-immigration sentiment, widespread racial prejudice. Despite highly educated citizens and an irreligious population, homophobia is more prevalent than in the United States.

That Japan is too conservative for its modern conditions leading to a demographic crisis sounds reasonable enough.

[Crabbensmasher]

And with recent years, to add to the problem, the earthquake Fukashima accident might have something to do with it.

Alot of people died and the ones that lived might not want to bring kids into the World with birth defects.

Uh, there weren't actually any deaths directly from the Fukashima disaster. The earthquake of course, caused tons of deaths, but Fukashima, none. And the effects of the radiation are actually predicted to be relatively low. Like, compared to Chernobyl for example, it is very manageable.

[Red_Banner]

Uh, there weren't actually any deaths directly from the Fukashima disaster. The earthquake of course, caused tons of deaths, but Fukashima, none. And the effects of the radiation are actually predicted to be relatively low. Like, compared to Chernobyl for example, it is very manageable.

Yeah, cause TEPCO is so "forthcoming" with their data.

And I stated there were deaths from the quake, not from the nuclear disaster that resulted from it.

[human strike]

People in Japan work some of the longest hours in the world, commonly "off the clock" and for nothing to get around labour laws. The country's labour market is very competitive. The country consumes more pornography than most, young people especially show a disinterest in sex and relationships, and Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. Maybe this is a bit out there, but I'm going to suggest the above are not unconnected and if we want to understand Japanese society we need to look at work first and foremost.

[Flying Purple People Eater]

I have to say, as someone who's read up on the history and current social laws and events in the place, I find myself in complete agreement with Mr. Cornelis. Japan is by and large one of the (if not the) most sexist developed country in the world, with one of the largest gender pay gaps, around 65% (http://www.barnaheill.is/media/PDF/sky2007.pdf), of any fully developed country (parts of eastern Turkey are extremely underdeveloped), under 10% female representation in government (http://www.barnaheill.is/media/PDF/sky2007.pdf)(a literal patriarchy), ridiculous social attitudes concerning gender roles (women should not go to gyms because they should be meek, e.g.) and enormous amounts of sexual abuse and objectification - there are actually trains set up specifically for women in Japan due to the extraordinarily high levels of sexual assault that occurs on public transport.

It's also incredibly racist (have fun trying to get a job if you aren't Japanese or white - when handing in a job application in Japan people must send in a picture of themselves for the employer to ponder whether they want that face at the shop. If you're dark skinned, prepare to be denied like the dickens), super right-wing (there's some articles on LibCom that show just how horrible a state most unions are in there. Most businesses go out of their way to try and liquidate unions, walmart style) and has ridiculously over the top social codas that inevitably lead to social isolation (Japan's institutional statistics reflect this - the country has one of the largest suicide rates of any country in the world) (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/05/Suicide-deaths-per-100000-trend.jpg/800px-Suicide-deaths-per-100000-trend.jpg).

There's actually a common saying in Japan that gives you a hint on social life. It goes 'If a nail sticks out, it'll get hammered down'. Pretty disgusting, eh?



Japan, conservative?


You have an objection to this point? Japan is extremely conservative. If you don't think so, please prove this otherwise.

[Skyhilist]

My grandma is always complaining about Japan and thinks it's because they're "selfish because they don't want to have kids".

[Aleister Granger]

^ I was going to say "Try reactionary!" but whatev.

[Os Cangaceiros]

I remember someone telling me about this phenomenon recently, but I wasn't really sure whether it was actually happening or not. Wow. I guess it really is happening.


The country consumes more pornography than most

Have you ever seen Japanese pornography? It's soooo weird. It's like, simultaneously "conservative" (in that genitalia are censored out) and really, really not conservative in what it portrays onscreen, much of which would be considered to be pretty extreme when compared to standard American vanilla porn. Probably every bizarre fetish you can think of, they market it.

"Oh, what do we have here, it's a giant vomiting anime superhero being molested on a Tokyo subway."

[synthesis]

I think part of it is that sexuality is seen as something that can't be completely repressed, so it must be controlled by the market in a way that reinforces the atomization of individuals in society. (I'm obviously not saying this is a conscious thing, but it's one possible explanation for the dissonance between conservatism and the pervasive sexualization of everything under the sun.)

[crescent]

I'd have to say in more industrialised countries young people can earn good money in their early twenties and travel the world more or just party a lot and not end up not having kids until their late 30's.

[piet11111]

Because maybe having a family means financial ruin ?

Its why i even if i had a girlfriend would not want a child.

[Jimmie Higgins]

People in Japan work some of the longest hours in the world, commonly "off the clock" and for nothing to get around labour laws. The country's labour market is very competitive. The country consumes more pornography than most, young people especially show a disinterest in sex and relationships, and Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. Maybe this is a bit out there, but I'm going to suggest the above are not unconnected and if we want to understand Japanese society we need to look at work first and foremost.

Yeah, this would be my guess too. The article repeated people giving their reason as "it's too much trouble".

This was interesting too:

the pressure to conform to Japan's anachronistic family model of salaryman husband and stay-at-home wife remains. "People don't know where to turn. They're coming to me because they think that, by wanting something different, there's something wrong with them."


I think it's often argued that economic instability suppresses, or puts a hold on, marriage and people having children, but if this phenomena is really more than hype in japan, that's a new one to me.

[Sperm-Doll Setsuna]

Because maybe having a family means financial ruin ?

Its why i even if i had a girlfriend would not want a child.

Definately a major contributor in the decline here. The last big 'baby boom' was in the 1960's and so-on, when women's role was to stay at home. While there remains tremendous amounts of sexism and inequality, many women work nowadays, and there is little space for anything like having a child, economically or in terms of time, with very heavy pressure in the labour market, and most young people, women in particular, stuck in low-paying jobs with no hope of improvement.

As can be seen from the suicide graph posted earlier in this thread, the last spike which can be seen is during the mid-1990's Asian financial crisis, from which Japan did never fully recover.

The demographic concerns of many nationalists and various swine are compounded by the significant size and (compared to European baby-booms of similar nature) lateness of said boom, which means that it is currently facing a dramatic ageing of the population. Nationalists rage and want the women back in their place producing off-spring, naturally. Social welfare in Japan is generally terrible and despite half-hearted efforts to make having a child more attractive, it remains unreachable for most, should they even so desire.

I don't see any problem whatsoever with any lack of desire to engage in sexual acts (and then let's add some "hurrhurr it's the porn, so weird!" orientalism). This will only hasten the inevitable change to a non-biological method of reproduction and consequently the final liberation from biology.

[Magic Carpets Corp.]

Are the Japanese now the human equivalents of pandas? "sex? meh....can't be fucked"



I don't see any problem whatsoever with any lack of desire to engage in sexual acts (and then let's add some "hurrhurr it's the porn, so weird!" orientalism). This will only hasten the inevitable change to a non-biological method of reproduction and consequently the final liberation from biology.
lol this guy is the best

Hopefully we can eventually achieve final liberation from chemistry, physics, geology, meteorology, astronomy, oceanography and the rest of that shit. Natural sciences are reactionary bourgeois constructs that enslave the working classes, comrades.

[Yet_Another_Boring_Marxist]

Are the Japanese now the human equivalents of pandas? "sex? meh....can't be fucked"


The Japanese are the human equivalent of east asian peoples who live in Japan, nothing more and perhaps even less.


lol this guy is the best

Hopefully we can eventually achieve final liberation from chemistry, physics, geology, meteorology, astronomy, oceanography and the rest of that shit. Natural sciences are reactionary bourgeois constructs that enslave the working classes, comrades.
What Yuyi is referring to is the end of biological limits to human creativity, the need for reproduction, the gender binary, the decay of old age and all other natural maladies.

[Magic Carpets Corp.]

The Japanese are the human equivalent of east asian peoples who live in Japan, nothing more and perhaps even less.
Yawn. You caught me there buddy. I'm racist against East Asian peoples. I wasn't making a joke about the decay of Japanese society by the hand of capitalism to the point where Japanese people can't even be fucked to produce future generations. I just hate yellow people.



What Yuyi is referring to is the end of biological limits to human creativity, the need for reproduction, the gender binary, the decay of old age and all other natural maladies.
How about this, when we deal with social conditions, we should only consider objective facts, without dabbling in this science fiction, please?

"I don't see any problem whatsoever with any lack of desire to engage in sexual acts (and then let's add some "hurrhurr it's the porn, so weird!" orientalism). This will only hasten the inevitable change to a non-biological method of reproduction and consequently the final liberation from biology."

Huh? The extinction of H. s. sapiens will hasten the allegedly inevitable change to "non-biological method of reproduction" how exactly?

[Ethics Gradient, Traitor For All Ages]

I would be hopeful if enthusiasm for reproduction/sex was being replaced by something positive, but it looks like its just being replaced by more hours at work and general apathy. If a situation like this does somehow lead to artificial birth technologies, it'll be for very ugly reasons not human liberation.

[Sperm-Doll Setsuna]

How about this, when we deal with social conditions, we should only consider objective facts, without dabbling in this science fiction, please?

Huh? The extinction of H. s. sapiens will hasten the allegedly inevitable change to "non-biological method of reproduction" how exactly?

Are you fucking daft? No, don't answer that, of course you are, you little brain-dead shit. We are not currently above artifical insemination, so that alone could produce off-spring without sexual intercourse, what now? Fuck off.

[Magic Carpets Corp.]

Are you fucking daft? No, don't answer that, of course you are, you little brain-dead shit. We are not currently above artifical insemination, so that alone could produce off-spring without sexual intercourse, what now? Fuck off.
Don't even know what your point is here. You were rambling about "non-biological methods of reproduction" and the other guy said was fatansising about the "end of the need for reproduction". Artificial insemination has nothing to do with any of that. It leads to pregnancy, which is by definition a form of reproduction, and a "biological" one at that.

[Sperm-Doll Setsuna]

Don't even know what your point is here. You were rambling about "non-biological methods of reproduction" and the other guy said was fatansising about the "end of the need for reproduction". Artificial insemination has nothing to do with any of that. It leads to pregnancy, which is by definition a form of reproduction, and a "biological" one at that.

Why do you think it is impossible? We are not far away from working artificial wombs. Do you think everyone will die so fast because they don't have sex that nothing will happen or what?

[human strike]

I would be hopeful if enthusiasm for reproduction/sex was being replaced by something positive, but it looks like its just being replaced by more hours at work and general apathy. If a situation like this does somehow lead to artificial birth technologies, it'll be for very ugly reasons not human liberation.

Productivism only tolerates sex when it is work; sex as social reproduction.

"Present day civilization makes it plain that it will only permit sexual relationships on the basis of a solitary, indissoluble bond between one man and one woman, and that it does not like sexuality as a source of pleasure in its own right and is only prepared to tolerate it because there is so far no substitute for it as a means of propagating the human race." - Sigmund Freud, Civilisation and its Discontents

Unless I'm mistaken, Freud here is talking about reproduction purely in biological terms, but we can also talk about how sex is tolerated due to its role in social reproduction too (though biological reproduction is also part of that). Productivist society - in its patriarchal capitalist form - moves towards the repression of its reproduction through sex and consequently the repression of sex altogether. Perhaps the increased commodification of sexuality we have seen post-1968 (within post-Fordism) complicates thing slightly, but I suspect the above still ultimately holds true.

[Os Cangaceiros]

I don't see any problem whatsoever with any lack of desire to engage in sexual acts (and then let's add some "hurrhurr it's the porn, so weird!" orientalism). This will only hasten the inevitable change to a non-biological method of reproduction and consequently the final liberation from biology.

Well I don't think it's "orientalism" to state the obvious fact that Japan culturally & generally speaking might have some views on sexuality that differ from what some "westerners" like myself (since I'm assuming your comment was directed at me) are used to seeing in cultural forms. Lets forget about "porn" for a minute...Nikkatsu was a pretty big domestic Japanese film distributer when they employed Yasaharu Hasebe, with a history dating back to before WW1, before Hasebe released four films through them with the word "rape" in the title.

I've seen a lot of 70's Japanese cinema from labels like Nikkatsu and Toei, so I know that Japan has unique cultural traditions in regards to cinema, and I don't think that qualifies as orientalism at all. And yeah, just gonna say it: a lot of Japanese porn is weird (http://www.theonion.com/articles/japan-pledges-to-halt-production-of-weirdo-porn-th,2657/). :unsure:

[Magic Carpets Corp.]

Why do you think it is impossible? We are not far away from working artificial wombs. Do you think everyone will die so fast because they don't have sex that nothing will happen or what?
We're many decades away from producing a functional prototype and even more decades if not centuries away from mass-production and mass-use of artificial wombs. My point stands.

[Ethics Gradient, Traitor For All Ages]

Productivism only tolerates sex when it is work; sex as social reproduction.

"Present day civilization makes it plain that it will only permit sexual relationships on the basis of a solitary, indissoluble bond between one man and one woman, and that it does not like sexuality as a source of pleasure in its own right and is only prepared to tolerate it because there is so far no substitute for it as a means of propagating the human race." - Sigmund Freud, Civilisation and its Discontents

Unless I'm mistaken, Freud here is talking about reproduction purely in biological terms, but we can also talk about how sex is tolerated due to its role in social reproduction too (though biological reproduction is also part of that). Productivist society - in its patriarchal capitalist form - moves towards the repression of its reproduction through sex and consequently the repression of sex altogether. Perhaps the increased commodification of sexuality we have seen post-1968 (within post-Fordism) complicates thing slightly, but I suspect the above still ultimately holds true.

But that kind of repression seems to be in conflict with the spirit behind a desire to do away with the gender binary/liberate humans from biological reproduction. If capitalism does away with sex/reproduction on it's own terms, it will be to the further detriment of the species. What's described in the article does not appear to be a population taking steps to free itself from reactionary customs, rather it looks like a population that has sacrificed itself so fully to capital that it no longer wishes to allow itself to be reproduced and is not financially capable of doing so even if it wanted to.

[Sperm-Doll Setsuna]

Well I don't think it's "orientalism" to state the obvious fact that Japan culturally & generally speaking might have some views on sexuality that differ from what some "westerners" like myself (since I'm assuming your comment was directed at me) are used to seeing in cultural forms. Lets forget about "porn" for a minute...Nikkatsu was a pretty big domestic Japanese film distributer when they employed Yasaharu Hasebe, with a history dating back to before WW1, before Hasebe released four films through them with the word "rape" in the title.

I've seen a lot of 70's Japanese cinema from labels like Nikkatsu and Toei, so I know that Japan has unique cultural traditions in regards to cinema, and I don't think that qualifies as orientalism at all. And yeah, just gonna say it: a lot of Japanese porn is weird (http://www.theonion.com/articles/japan-pledges-to-halt-production-of-weirdo-porn-th,2657/). :unsure:

Know who else makes weird porn? Those fucking Germans. "It's all perverted shit!!!" The common thread? Axis, WWII. Nazis. Femdom as a response to historic sexism. Rape, murder, mayhem. Can be nothing else, right? Why else would they too? I guess Brazil makes some pretty odd porn too, what about them? How do they fit in? All that scat and zoophilia porn coming out of there... Russia, too, pretty fucky things. Must be the Soviet Union or something. Neuter, chastise, social problems are a consequence of pornography? Italy made some strange porn for a while too, but that kind of stopped, so it can't really be the fascist angle that runs through it all, right? What then - Germans are just naturally prone to making BDSM? Japanese porn just catering to niche markets - must find something new to exploit. Eagerness to imitate Victorian morals at first, more censorship laws by the U.S. occupation government, but the juices must flow still.

If the porn does not portray natural seeming acts of silly wankery - odd shit.

Well, I suppose it's good you never read the pornography I write, or ever had the sort of fantasies I had before I ever saw any pornography (I was later amazed to learn all those things I had dreamed up already existed - there is nothing truly new). And de Sade? Historical aberration! Spawn of nobility's decadence or something I suppose. Human sex is always fucking weird, is my point.

[Yuppie Grinder]

Presentations of sex in the media pander to male fantasies, and as men become increasingly socially incompetent, the female sex objects in these presentations become weaker and more timid because the socially stunted man is intimidated by actual feminine sexuality. Their intimated because the element of strength in feminine sexuality implies autonomy, which implies the possibility of rejection, a possibility they've never learned to cope with.
Women can't possibly hope to live up to the caricatures of women in porn, tv, and especially the video games and hentai that the socially inept modern man has been raised on, because no human being could hope to be so completely submissive and void of agency.
Since the birth of mass communication, vicarious emotional experiences and simulated human interaction have gradually replaced the genuine articles. You see evidence of that in the article when the Japanese youths who say they're to busy with their social life to date admit they spend the majority of their social life online.
Having grown accustomed to the otherworldly distortions of real sexuality in the media their lives are made up of, these young men find the reality of sex alien. Since the Japanese young man is likely socially stunted in other areas as well due to lack of meaningful social interaction in the real world, he his hopeless.
This all fits in with my theory of the Glowing Rectangle.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Know who else makes weird porn? Those fucking Germans. "It's all perverted shit!!!" The common thread? Axis, WWII. Nazis. Femdom as a response to historic sexism. Rape, murder, mayhem. Can be nothing else, right? Why else would they too? I guess Brazil makes some pretty odd porn too, what about them? How do they fit in? All that scat and zoophilia porn coming out of there... Russia, too, pretty fucky things. Must be the Soviet Union or something. Neuter, chastise, social problems are a consequence of pornography? Italy made some strange porn for a while too, but that kind of stopped, so it can't really be the fascist angle that runs through it all, right? What then - Germans are just naturally prone to making BDSM? Japanese porn just catering to niche markets - must find something new to exploit. Eagerness to imitate Victorian morals at first, more censorship laws by the U.S. occupation government, but the juices must flow still.

If the porn does not portray natural seeming acts of silly wankery - odd shit.

Well, I suppose it's good you never read the pornography I write, or ever had the sort of fantasies I had before I ever saw any pornography (I was later amazed to learn all those things I had dreamed up already existed - there is nothing truly new). And de Sade? Historical aberration! Spawn of nobility's decadence or something I suppose. Human sex is always fucking weird, is my point.

Naziphile-S&M is more of an Italian thing, but yeah, other countries do have reputations for unique artistic expressions in their pornography.

This thread's about Japan, though, so I didn't feel that I needed to rattle off the other names

[Os Cangaceiros]

Presentations of sex in the media pander to male fantasies, and as men become increasingly socially incompetent, the female sex objects in these presentations become weaker and more timid because the socially stunted man is intimidated by actual feminine sexuality. Their intimated because the element of strength in feminine sexuality implies autonomy, which implies the possibility of rejection, a possibility they've never learned to cope with.
Women can't possibly hope to live up to the caricatures of women in porn, tv, and especially the video games and hentai that the socially inept modern man has been raised on, because no human being could hope to be so completely submissive and void of agency.
Since the birth of mass communication, vicarious emotional experiences and simulated human interaction have gradually replaced the genuine articles. You see evidence of that in the article when the Japanese youths who say they're to busy with their social life to date admit they spend the majority of their social life online.
Having grown accustomed to the otherworldly distortions of real sexuality in the media their lives are made up of, these young men find the reality of sex alien. Since the Japanese young man is likely socially stunted in other areas as well due to lack of meaningful social interaction in the real world, he his hopeless.
This all fits in with my theory of the Glowing Rectangle.

None of that really explains why this is happening in Japan, though. For example, why isn't it happening in South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong? Or the USA for that matter, where media panders towards the male heterosexual fantasies constantly?

[Yuppie Grinder]

None of that really explains why this is happening in Japan, though. For example, why isn't it happening in South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong? Or the USA for that matter, where media panders towards the male heterosexual fantasies constantly?

Another part of it is that corporate structure in Japan doesn't work for working mothers.

[Halert]

None of that really explains why this is happening in Japan, though. For example, why isn't it happening in South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong? Or the USA for that matter, where media panders towards the male heterosexual fantasies constantly?

it IS happening in South korea. Look it up they also face the problem of low brithrate.

[Halert]

Presentations of sex in the media pander to male fantasies, and as men become increasingly socially incompetent, the female sex objects in these presentations become weaker and more timid because the socially stunted man is intimidated by actual feminine sexuality. Their intimated because the element of strength in feminine sexuality implies autonomy, which implies the possibility of rejection, a possibility they've never learned to cope with.
Women can't possibly hope to live up to the caricatures of women in porn, tv, and especially the video games and hentai that the socially inept modern man has been raised on, because no human being could hope to be so completely submissive and void of agency.
Since the birth of mass communication, vicarious emotional experiences and simulated human interaction have gradually replaced the genuine articles. You see evidence of that in the article when the Japanese youths who say they're to busy with their social life to date admit they spend the majority of their social life online.
Having grown accustomed to the otherworldly distortions of real sexuality in the media their lives are made up of, these young men find the reality of sex alien. Since the Japanese young man is likely socially stunted in other areas as well due to lack of meaningful social interaction in the real world, he his hopeless.
This all fits in with my theory of the Glowing Rectangle.

Oversimplification, the presentation of female is much wider then just timid and weak. There is also more then enough media that panders to female sexuality here in japan.

yes, the media setting unrealistic presentations of female and men is a problem but it's not unique to japan.

[Os Cangaceiros]

it IS happening in South korea. Look it up they also face the problem of low brithrate.

Damn, I guess you're right.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Well I don't think it's "orientalism" to state the obvious fact that Japan culturally & generally speaking might have some views on sexuality that differ from what some "westerners" like myself (since I'm assuming your comment was directed at me) are used to seeing in cultural forms.Not with you on that - I think it's just the same underlying problems (sex as a commodity) in different packages (not to mention the extent that Japanese porn is consumed in english speaking countries and then double-fetishized because of specific - in the US anyway - cultural attitudes about asian women). US porn breaks down sex into commodifyable bits just as much as anywhere else in the capitalist world and the domination and abuse of women and lack of intimacy in "mainstream" US heterosexual porn, the racial fetishizations, etc are pretty strange.


I would be hopeful if enthusiasm for reproduction/sex was being replaced by something positiveHow is enthusiasm for mutual sexual intamacy not positive?


We are not currently above artifical insemination, so that alone could produce off-spring without sexual intercourse,We can also have sex without producing offspring immediately (and much more widly right now than artifical impregnation and so on) and so will likely continue to do so because most people enjoy it and our bodies were made to enjoy it.

[Sendo]

it IS happening in South korea. Look it up they also face the problem of low brithrate.

At least in SK the right wing party is far more pro-immigration than the Japanese political and cultural mainstream. SK government still hasn't addressed the deep problems of difficulty of starting a family financially and a litany of other contributing factors, but they are taking certain steps, have very many immigrant integration programs, and at least are aware of the demographic problem and are open to immigration, whereas Japan is taking the approach of using idealist rhetoric of "Make more babies for the glory of your nation", which unsurprisingly, is ineffective.

I have to say that Takayuki is a perfect example of how many young leftists are off-putting. In this thread Takayuki stands out, but of course there are other Sci-fi fans who think a post-material human existence or post-sexual humanity is right around the corner (from the Back to the Future school of thought, apparently; should we expect hover cars in two years?) and that is objectively good for reasons that are not clear (a world without sex, that's a revolution that no one is going get behind).

But of course, Japanophiles will marginalize apt commentary and criticism with strawman accusations. On the boards, I see palpable racism against the Korean people and the Han Chinese, but it would get quite tiring if I raised a fuss every time. Japan has very little to praise these days. It has many things about its past, many aspects of its lifestyle that are grand, but it leads Asia in conservative sexism and Neo-Confucianism. China's got the selective abortion problem, but I think the phenomenon would manifest more greatly in other Asian countries if they had the 1-child policy. China's problems are more in your face and blunt, whereas the Japanese are masters of presenting a great image of themselves to the West. The society has a rabid right wing that is the equivalent of the creationist, Armageddonist, war hawk, racist, slavery-apologizing American right. They are consistently pissing off their immediate neighbours and all of Asia with rhetoric bragging about the comfort women system and acting like China is the real bully and thus Japan is right to build up an offensive military force (1895-1945 anyone?)

Japan is screwed. There is no silver lining or post-biological breakthrough on the horizon. The fact that they are reliant on nuclear reactors yet sit on multiple fault lines. The decades-long recession. The outsourcing to Korea and China as well as the market losses to SK and Chinese competitors, Japan is coasting on gains made 30 years ago and they are screwed. Their rich standing is the only thing drawing in immigrants willing to put up with the racism, bureaucratic hell, etc (for non-whites). By 2020 I doubt they'll even have that

[human strike]

I think the information in this article (which looks as if it were written around 10 years ago) can help us understand this phenomenon better: The M-shaped Curve That is Peculiar to Japan (http://www.dawncenter.or.jp/english/publication/edawn/0112/curve.html)

In places like the UK and US we have seen what some have described as the 'feminisation of labour.'

"The inclusion of women into the labour force [outside the home] has brought about unprecedented changes in the way we understand the 'role' of women, the capacity of women to live independent lives and the way in which women participate in the economy more generally. ... The ability to be 'flexible' that all good pre-workers now imbibe with their mother's milk is the admission that there is no natural role of women to occupy and that, at least at the beginning of one's working life, no job is out of bounds. From the perky A level photos that beam from August newspapers, to the successful young professional featured on the advertisement for a new luxury flat development, the job market seems, at least on the surface, a better place to be for women than men.

"On the whole, women have adapted remarkably well to work. They now do better at school, better at university, and go to work before, during and after pregnancy. They have been 'encouraged' by a government desperate to get mothers, in particular, back to work, even without providing adequate access to child care. In the UK, unlike many other European countries, female participation in the labour market has been high for a long time, and women, particularly young, single women, are a key factor in the proliferation and success of job agencies, turning precarity into a virtue. One does not need to be an essentialist about traditionally 'female' traits (for example, loquaity, caring, relationality, empathy) to think that there is something notable going on here: women are encouraged to regard themselves as good communicators, the kind of person who'd be 'ideal' for agency or call-centre work. The professional woman needs no specific skills as she is simply professional, that is to say, perfect for the kind of work that deals with communication in its purest sense. ...

"Female pragmatism, the supposed sensibleness of women, finds itself translated neatly into the language of skill-acquisition and self-advancement." (Nina Power, One-dimensional Woman)

Not only have women been labourised, but labour itself has undergone a sort of feminisation. No doubt this is something that is far from complete - pregnancy especially still hampers a woman's prospects in the labour market, and 'the category of 'woman' remains a useful one for the 'first fired, last hired' policy' - but women are increasingly cast as worker first and wife or mother second. 'The specter of the ex-worker at home looking after kids angers the market even as it depends on biological reproduction to sustain its own future.'

I think this is something that has happened across Europe, North America and East Asia as well, but also very differently in specific places. In Sweden, for example, it's easier than elsewhere to be a working mother due to government regulations and access to childcare. In Japan there is a very different situation; the choice there is a stark one between worker in a highly competitive labour market or housewife. Is it cultural prejudices and sexist attitudes that prevent the melding of the two as elsewhere? Maybe I'm wrong and actually labour in Japan hasn't been especially feminised and the labourisation of women there is a desperate flight from housework and dependence on husbands rather than a demand of the market (in the West, incidentally, it was both to varying degrees; the feminist call for professional jobs for women echoed conveniently with a neo-liberal work ethic of 'flexibility' - the call for better work was easily translated into more work).

[xxxxxx666666]

Greeting,

I think that I think that Whatever Singularity is correct (that cultural prejudices and sexist attitudes against women is probably the cause). Besides all nations have some form of porn, look at all the R-rated movies from Hollywood, so porn isn't to blame.

Japan needs more feminism.

I should also say: what Japan?

There are, believe it or not, many ethical groups in Japan like the Yamato (the classic "Japanese") Ainu and people of Okinawa.

Overall, I see the news of low Japan bith rates just as I see news how Hispanics will outnumber Whites in the U.S.

[Halert]

Japan is taking the approach of using idealist rhetoric of "Make more babies for the glory of your nation", which unsurprisingly, is ineffective.
This has worked in the past, reason why japan population was booming at the start of the century was because it was basically a woman's duty to produce soldiers for the empire. This phenomenon was of course not unique to japan. Good thing those days are behind us and woman escaped from that prison.


But of course, Japanophiles will marginalize apt commentary and criticism with strawman accusations. On the boards, I see palpable racism against the Korean people and the Han Chinese, but it would get quite tiring if I raised a fuss every time.
Yes that is true, racism is a problem in japan, but i don't thing racism in japan is larger than it is in the rest of the world.


Japan is screwed. There is no silver lining or post-biological breakthrough on the horizon. The fact that they are reliant on nuclear reactors yet sit on multiple fault lines. The decades-long recession. The outsourcing to Korea and China as well as the market losses to SK and Chinese competitors, Japan is coasting on gains made 30 years ago and they are screwed. Their rich standing is the only thing drawing in immigrants willing to put up with the racism, bureaucratic hell, etc (for non-whites). By 2020 I doubt they'll even have that I wouldn't put my money on it, the future is often hard to predict.


Japan has very little to praise these days Japan has a lot of problems, but there are also a lot of thing to like about japan, i'm not going to address them all. Japan i not affected by christian morality for example the university i'm attending is holding a crossdressing competition during the cultural festival, not something you would see in countries with strong christian roots.

[Yuppie Grinder]

i never knew revleft was so learned in the subject of world porno

[waqob]

Japan is just a strange place in general