Young Japanese going their own way
This is an article about Japan that appears in Fox News
This trend in Japan has been mentioned here before. It would be interesting to know how extensive the trend is in Asia and the reasons behind it. Certainly a population’s future could be severely tested with such a trend.
The bizarre trend, dubbed by the Japanese media as “celibacy syndrome,” was reported in a widely circulated article from the Guardian, which noted that the number of single people in Japan has reached an all-time high. According to a 2011 survey, approximately 60 percent of men and nearly 50 percent of women aged 18 to 34 were not in a romantic relationship, and another survey found that a third of Japanese people under 30 had never dated anyone before.
Original article quoted at The Guardian.
Updated 27 October
This has attracted subsequent media attention. Predictions based on the current birth rate have the Japanese population dropping a third by 2060 – that is heading for a one huge population bubble. Our own population replacement rate, has during recent times, dropped under the 2.0 replacement rate. I wonder what that might look like using cultural graphs; are we surviving on immigration and certain cultural birth rates.
I have been thinking about Bruce’s comment, about “blinded policy makers’. First, that they are distracted and second the way they might think. Another example of the policy maker arose recently in the earlier Melanie Phillips post, about England and marriage with the policy suggestion arising; that married couples could pay less tax to encourage family life and a better environment for children.
When you look at us as individuals or groups of people our world view is based on how we have viewed the world, processed and remembered that experience. In the absence of organised religion we are much more individual in beliefs. Perhaps this was illustrated in our recent discussions on adultery.
But, that poses the question that surely the behaviour of the next generation is based on how they have viewed, processed and remembered their world. Do we understand that?
How do you make policy if you don’t understand that world view let alone be blinded by the feminist agenda we have in this country. Is the law of the individual rapidly pulling apart Western societies?
I think it was Seven Sharp earlier this year that interviewed a group of young New Zealand women who had made the decision to remain single, not have children and otherwise have sex when they wanted and enjoy their life. What would you call this sydrome – Femicentrism?
So, these women not contributing to society in terms of producing children, should they pay a higher tax rate for their free and easy lifestyle? Or is this what the likes of Sue Bradford would call part of the women’s reproductive rights equation. Men pay excessive child tax even though they no longer have any reproductive rights.
Back to the Japanese case, this generation places their individual rights above their reproductive rights. Their parents will never be grandparents.
Is this a response to what they have seen or what they have been taught?
[In 2012, the number of births fell to a new low of 1,037,101, which is a 16-year-low.http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/06/06/national/japans-fertility-rate-logs-16-year-high-hitting-1-41/#.UnLu39z2-Hv]
This is a worldwide trend in modern socialist democracies. It has been made bad in Japan by 20 years of economic recession. The young are losing hope and direction. In many modern socialist democracies now 50% of the young cant even get jobs. Many have no chance of forming a home, a family. Modern family law has much to do with these problems. Its serious. The problems need to be recognised before anything can be done, but the policy makers are blinded by alternative agendas.
Comment by Bruce Tichbon — Fri 25th October 2013 @ 8:43 am
Interesting that the media is now starting to report this point of view. Obviously, it is not journalists alone but also the type of data being collected – at least some people are finally paying attention. But, as you say Bruce, when does it hit the policy makers? Perhaps that is the big question.
Japan. Is it becoming the advanced cot case, the place to watch in terms of a generations reaction and development. Are they the ones to watch? 100 million people on a small island with a decaying society – what happens next.
Something else I’ve noticed in the media with regard to Portugal. They have a mass exodus of young unemployed through their historical connection to South America, they obviously see a future there and not at home, but then so does the IMF.
So, do we not see the trend so much in New Zealand even though our youth are disillusioned, because we are part of the commonwealth and close to Australia, but Japanese youth feel isolated from the world and more inclined to remain at home.
Just a thought.
Comment by Downunder — Fri 25th October 2013 @ 1:34 pm
New Zealanders ask your self this – what have we seen in the way of LOST JOBS over the last twenty years as successive Governments ( left and Right ) – have forged ahead with FREE TRADE agreements????? – we have LOST so many jobs to our local New Zealand economy – Eg – Forests – Raw Logs – timber is exported for processing as we closed all our timber mills. Fish – are caught by foreign trawlers and then sent off shore for Canning and then Re-imported for consumption, Car manufacturing plants – we had FIVE in NZ – exporting to Aussie for PROFIT, we used to make Clothes, shoes, everything here we now send LIVE cattle and sheep offshore, we sent all our RAIL manufacturing offshore DEPRIVING KIWIS of JOBS – the list goes on………so why would this be??? why would a Govt deliberately deprive a nation of WORK – the opportunity to WORK and earn an INCOME – so they can thrive and PROSPER……
if you look at the Global trend in Western nations – it is NO JOBS and No WORK and Rising DEBT.
There is simply – Not the business left on a nations shores – to employ its people.
In fact the BIGGEST concern in the US right now, is the ever decreasing numbers of FULL TIME employment – most corporations are getting out of having to pay benefits like health care, holidays etc – by employing people PART TIME…….. so now people who can get work, have to work at least 3 jobs at minimum wage just to survive…….( thats eat and have somewhere to live ) no LUXURIES like health care, dental or time or money for holidays on paid leave…..
Entire towns in the US are falling victim to this scenario – and on top of the massive unemployment – the drug dealers move in and wreak havoc on the young and old alike………further destroying communities……
So why would any Government that supposedly wants to help citizens – help them flourish – why would that Govt – instead embark on a deliberate plan to take Jobs and opportunity away from its citizens and to deliberately IMPOVERISH them……why would they do that????
I know the answer…….do you………… CONTROL. An impoverished community and people – dependent on everything is easy to CONTROL…….look at every single facet of our lives – its all about keeping us all permanently in DEBT. Any time we look like getting ahead – a new tax a new regulation = to bring us all back down…….
We now have to IMPORT everything to survive and pay heavily in GST taxes for the privilege ……..jobs are not important…..
There is NO SUCH thing as a DEBT ceiling – DEBT is the lifeblood of Govt – all thats changed over the years – is the banks have created an UNREGULATED DERIVATIVES business – where DEBT can grow to INFINITY if they want it to……and I guess the only limit if there is one – is how much PROPERTY or items of VALUE are left in a country – against which they can LEVERAGE MORE DEBT…….
Eg…. – the recently suggested – Captial Gains tax on NZ homes = hahahaha – suggested by TREASURY = the very institution which MUST FIND items of VALUE against which it can issue BONDS and IOU’s to govt – against that PROPERTY – so Govt can BORROW Currency from the reserve BANK………a captial Gains Tax – is not about the revenue to be collected – the BIGGER prize is this tax just opens the door so TREASURY can leverage = massive borrowing against everyones homes – and issue BONDS against their value…..
When the US reneged on their Gold for Currency agreement in the 1970’s and to appease concerns raised by foreign nations who wanted to exchange the US paper currency for gold as per the Bretton woods agreement – NIXON created national Parks and reserves across America – and used these as collateral to borrow more money……and raise more debt and to back the US currency – with LAND – the US citizens would never know thats why national parks were created across the US on such a massive scale…….did you notice they were all shut out of them during the recent crisis….which begs the quesion – who owns them now????
Have we in NEW ZEALAND – recently seen a REBRANDING of DOC, a new Corporate partnership business plan for all our own national parks and reserves….all the old managers ( the ones who cared about the environment ) have been SACKED and new ones recently – EMPLOYED – now why do you think that might be?????? Time to wake up KIWIS……..
Comment by hornet — Sat 26th October 2013 @ 3:47 pm
I’ve updated the text and asked the question at the end;
I also see there are other blogs discussing the same issue.
One notes,
and another
There doesn’t seem to be an equivalent name for single females, although we could invent one …
コンクリートジャングルã‹ら女ã®å concrete jungle girls. Can anyone translate that into a spoken English equivalent.
Comment by Downunder — Sun 27th October 2013 @ 11:02 am
This was interesting read for me.
Me being Korean and my wife is Japanese.
Problem Japan is facing is little bit different then western society.
West is pure radical feminist fail which cause Men going their own way.
Where in Japan it’s more of corporate and business failed to accommodate female worker to rise family and
work on their career which caused this social problem. This made women to chose between family or career
since work do not support women to do both successfully. So it is natural for Japanese women to choose career
over making family as it is more fulfilling and more interesting then raising baby and doing house work.
Japanese business and corporate are known to be conservative. I do not see Japanese business spending money
to support Women with family unless it being benefit the business. And there are many single people who can
do the same job.In Japan If women advocate for equal pay such way they do in western society they more likely
loss the job they have (If there was clear evidence of pay gap business would have already fixed it.So it’s not a women employee to judge whether if they been unfairly payed).
This is just bit of my thought
If anyone have better accurate understanding of this topic please add you thought I am happy to learn.
Comment by Shinhee Yi — Tue 29th October 2013 @ 4:12 pm
I think this is very good news. We need other countries to replicate the soshoku danshi to stabilise global population. The soshoku danshi are the accidental environmental heroes of our time. Hope comes in the form of MGTOW (men going their own way) and in childfree people. The population is over 7 billion and increasing.
The arithmetic is very simple. The more humans there are, the less of everything else. It’s a zero sum game. Nature does not grow like the human population or our economy. Sure there will be economic consequences from an ageing population but human population will decrease either at nature’s hand or by our own hand. The more gentle approach with our own hands is to be preferred to nature’s way. Nature can be a bitch.
Traditionally it has been thought that “empowering women” was the key to lowering birth rates. In fact it has been choices made by men who are doing this. In Japan with the sosholu danshi, in the west with MGTOW and in Iran where men are not just walking away from marriage but are running. The Iranian government has responded by banning contraception.
So bring on the herbivore men. I’m there already. Let’s have more of them.
Comment by Peter — Fri 18th September 2015 @ 12:21 am
7 billion is not a lot of people but there are people who believe that this place belongs to them and they don’t like us breathing their air or helping ourself to their resources. Peter, your comments do explain what feminism is about
Comment by Doug — Sat 19th September 2015 @ 8:00 am