this post was submitted on 01 Mar 2025
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[–] Fedizen@lemmy.world 20 points 2 days ago (1 children)
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[–] Xanza@lemm.ee 172 points 2 days ago (24 children)

"It's so expensive to have children in Japan that birthrate is further declining."

I swear to God these people couldn't connect the dots with a GPS.

[–] Clinicallydepressedpoochie@lemmy.world 53 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (14 children)

Surely if they just instill good Christian moral values like forced birth, racism, and tribal isolationism all their problems will be solved.

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[–] drmoose@lemmy.world 47 points 2 days ago (3 children)

I'm not sure how true this statement is. I go to Japan every year and the child care infrastructure there is incredible.

The healthcare is icredible - you can literally summon healthcare assistant if youe kid is sick at any point for free to your home

Then there's incredible public transporatiob system, parks, everything is equipped with child support and even culture heavily respects kids so they can do most things independently.

I think they mean expensive time and desire wise and Japanese still work incredible hours many of which seem to actually negatively impact productivity. People don't feel like such investment is worth it and tbh that could easily shift around with cultural changes but Japan is very allergic to those.

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[–] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 340 points 2 days ago (2 children)

The biggest issue that no one ever wants to talk about is ....

... it's isn't about the QUANTITY of life

.... it's about the QUALITY of life.

If people are able to have a comfortable, stable and prosperous life, with plenty of their own free time to enjoy without worrying about losing everything then they'll make time and an effort to have a family and children.

If all our wealthy overlords ever want to do is squeeze every penny out of us all the time, then people will be less likely to want to have children.

[–] bassomitron@lemmy.world 180 points 2 days ago (13 children)

It also strongly correlates to women's rights and access to education. The more educated women are, the less likely they are to have a lot of kids.

https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/health/female-education-and-childbearing-closer-look-data

It's why you see a renewed attack on women in some developed countries, especially in the US.

[–] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 128 points 2 days ago (13 children)

Here's what happened in America.

In the 1960s the "Women's Lib" movement started. They got a lot of press coverage because it was a good stroy, but didn't actually change things a lot.

In 1973 the Oil Embargo hit and suddenly one job wasn't enough for the family to survive. Lots of wives had to go out and look for work to keep paying the bills.

The Right has been lying that women getting jobs is what destroyed the one income family.

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[–] nutsack@lemmy.dbzer0.com 43 points 2 days ago (6 children)

nothing about the idea of having children appeals to me in the slightest

[–] monomon@programming.dev 22 points 2 days ago (7 children)

Everyone has their opinions and circumstances, but anecdotally my time with children has been some of the happiest.

[–] nutsack@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 2 days ago

it's a good thing some people like kids because otherwise im not sure what happens

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[–] riodoro1@lemmy.world 37 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Oh no, not our out of control population growth fueled by resources running out as I type this comment and causing unspeakable damage to the biosphere of the planet.

Whatever will we do if our numbers fall below 7 billion.

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[–] gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 28 points 2 days ago (3 children)
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[–] Rookwood@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 2 days ago (15 children)

I believe Japan has less inequality than the US. Not sure on that, but I think it's true. I think in this case we see work culture playing a role. The only country in the world with a worse work culture than the US is Japan. No one has time to even think about having kids when you are a company man there. It's similar in the US.

[–] mechoman444@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

It really is. In the US I mean. I work 6 days a week 9 am till whenever the fuck I'm done. Sometimes at 1pm and some nights I'm not home by 7pm.

Luckily I've negotiated less work orders on Saturday later in the morning so I have some kind of decline of work towards the end of the week. It took six years of constant work to get even that. Otherwise it's 7 work orders a day and I drive around 150 miles a day. (I work in household appliance repair. So I travel from home to home.)

It's a thankless job I get micromanaged in. The only advantage I have is that appliance repair techs are always in high demand because there's so few of us and I'm good at my job so my boss can't really fire me.

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[–] BetaBlake@lemmy.world 110 points 2 days ago (10 children)

But I bet they will continue to work people to the bone as a point of pride...like I wonder what could be contributing to this problem.

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[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 55 points 2 days ago (14 children)

If the Japanese want people to work 80 hour weeks (and go drinking with their boss every night) maybe they should make polyamorous marriage a thing. Kids are a lot easier to deal with if you have help.

[–] slaneesh_is_right@lemmy.org 29 points 2 days ago (1 children)

From what i heard from people and read online, i really don't understand how people even do that. Japanese work etiquette is bananas. But that aside, my job is somewhat high demand, but i draw the line at work hours. I work 42 hours a week and not a second longer. That opens up enough times for some hobbies, enough free time and everything. But if i had kids, most of that would be gone. So if you're a work horse, you're expected to give up everything, except work and raising kids.

[–] gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 2 days ago

Literally: they don't go home, that's how

Hearing about salary men sleeping on the streets or in train stations is one thing, but when I actually finally saw them in person it broke my fucking brain

Imagine the homelessness issues of a major Californian city but instead of homeless people it's a bunch of clearly drunk dudes in suits who all vanish by morning

My wife cried hard because the realization hit that hard

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[–] socsa@piefed.social 92 points 2 days ago (7 children)

Japan will literally collapse into fire before they allow immigration

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