Hearted Youtube comments on The Japan Reporter (@TheJapanReporter) channel.

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  7. Some reasons for Japan's low birth rate are that men on average have low wages in a society with a high cost of living primarily with a partner or children, making men less confident and less proactive in seeking relationships or children. It appears that the cultural and societal expectation that women should take full responsibility for all childcare lowers women's opportunities in the workforce and makes women feel as though they do not want to have kids because they don't want to completely dedicate their lives to it for at least 18 years. It seems that because most people in Japan live in large cities not suited for raising children and with poor facilities to help raise children it also makes the idea of having children less appealing. It seems that high rates of overworking especially for men also make the idea of having relationships or children less attractive. There appears to be a generally defeatist attitude in Japan that Japan is much worse than it is and/or things are guaranteed to continue to become worse, I would imagine that may have something to do with Japan's economy peaking in late 1989 and only becoming worse since then, meaning there are at least two and a half entire generations of people in Japan who have only ever lived in Japan as its economy has continued to worsen. Because of this, it seems that Japanese people assume there is nothing that can be done, and that Japan is done for, yet there are still many things that can be done to improve Japan's economy and improve Japan for those in relationships and those seeking or raising children. I think if Japanese people were more focused on looking at things for what they are and not being overly concerned with what their life will be like in 50 years they will see that Japan is a much better place than they give it credit for. The rates of child abuse, bullying and suicides also make the idea of having a child less appealing as Japanese people assume it is something that will happen to their children. There is also the general lack of communication and high unsaid expectations in Japanese relationships that cause people's relationships to sour making it harder to want or to raise children.
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  8. It is important to note that Japan is not an outlier among developed countries with its birth rate, Europe has very similar one's. The thing that makes it distinct is that it does not engage in mass immigration and then pretend the problem doesn't exist. Let's be clear immigration is not a long term solution to demographic issues but much like bringing people into a ponzi scheme despite the fact that it's what western experts generally recommend to Japan, as birth rates are falling worldwide becoming a demographic black hole will only work so long and could be considered immoral for siphoning off skilled people from countries that desperately need them for any hope of internal improvements as well as having been the ones funding the education that western countries will take advantage of. On top of this a lot of the cover in a paper thin veneer, here in Britain living standards are declining rapidly but immigration (notably including illegal) are encouraged in order to pump the GDP figures and give the illusion that we aren't in a major recession, we also have the problem of cheap labour being used in place of technological advancement. This in not going into the many many other negatives. In short solutions at the ground level are vital and only real solutions will be able to fix such difficult issues. Personally I would recommend getting rid of government pensions as all they do is hide the fact that people need children to pay for them in old age. Likewise the modern dating system is not fit for purpose and indeed in the Japanese context seems to conflict badly with the culture and attitude of the population. Ideology which promotes and justifies family will also likely be necessary, in Japan this was traditionally fulfilled by Confucianism and the the West Christianity, people after all tend to act off what they believe in.
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