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Originally posted by howmuchisthedoggy
Well, if Japanese society was less geared towards ripping off parents, maybe they would have more kids. The cost of raising children here is ridiculous. Thousands of dollars for pre-natal, around 3000 dollars for the birth?
Never mind the fact that once the child is born the wife can say goodbye to any chance of bringing in a second income. Thus hubby has to slave away to all hours just to cover all the little bills that start coming in for schools, doctors, baby goods. He comes exhausted and the last thing on his mind is breeding like a dog. More like sleeping like a dog.
Add to that the fact that most Japanese live in very small houses and despite being a very social race, the over-crowding does cause them to snap or at the very least over react, often quite violently.
Another factor to consider is the recent emergance of the 'wagamama' generation. They are spoilt beyond belief and while they screw around like bunnies (or dogs?) the last thing on their mind is giving up their B-boy gangster image, slash Metrosexual lifestyle if they are guys, or if they are girls, giving up the LV handbags, cake and looking 'kawaiiiiii'
What Koizumi fails to realise is, to make good family units you don't need to be encouraging them to breed like dogs, you need to be encouraging them to stand on their own two feet like adults. Something the 'parasite single' generation of young men and women is reluctant to do.
Originally posted by jsobecky
If the Japanese don't want to make babies, then loosen the immigration policy to encourage others to boost the population. I guarantee he will get lots of takers - he can have a few million of the immigrants wanting to get into the US, for instance.
Originally posted by Nygdan
On a side not, if any of you have ever heard the word "proletariate', that word stems from the latin word proles, the proles being that segment of society that contributes nothing, save for offspring. So offspring is something deeply seated in society and this is reflected through this linguistic revelation.
Main Entry: pro·le·tar·i·at
Pronunciation: "prO-l&-'ter-E-&t, -'tar-, -E-"at
Function: noun
Etymology: French prolétariat, from Latin proletarius
1 : the lowest social or economic class of a community
2 : the laboring class; especially : the class of industrial workers who lack their own means of production and hence sell their labor to live
m-w.com...
Originally posted by DeusEx
Secondly, I'm not sure the population decrease would be entirely bad. Again, the cost of living is extremely high in Japan, and some simply can't afford to have children. however, if costs of living decreased (it is my understanding that a hefty part of this cost comes from property issues) through depopulation, perhaps the Japanese would have a baby boom shortly thereafter.
DE