Comments by "kageyamareijikun" (@kageyamareijikun) on "Can Japan Borrow Money Infinitely?" video.

@hermitpurple3 except there is no innovation here, and with a ballooning fiscal debt due to increased social insurance burden. Not enough skilled foreign professionals due to low pay, visa bureaucracy, language barrier, racial, cultural barriers and xenophobia. Japan can only attract technical interns and short-term low-skilled foreign labor that leads to those social problems and public safety issues you cited, like Kurdish, etc. All the top Asian talent is now in Singapore, Dubai and Hong Kong where salaries are triple and taxes maybe less than half of Japan.
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@hermitpurple3 Japan is the only G7 country to not have something as simple as separate surnames for married couples and also the only G7 country without same-sex unions. The latter is controversial but surely the former shouldn't be taking 20 to 30 years+ to discuss?! And Japan is also the only G7 country to have not revised the constitution since WWII. In comparison, Singapore has had more than 30 constitutional amendments since its independence. I don't think this is a healthy development. The Japan of the past was a rising dynamic power from feudalism to the Meiji Restoration, rivaling Western powers, and then the economic miracle after WWII. Today, it can't even effect the most administrative of changes, bound by decades-old redtape, inertia and resistance to any change. It is paralyzed, dominated by old folks and stubborn and still seeing itself as the preeminent Asian power. Yes, China is unpopular among Southeast Asian nations but we can't feel confident about Japan's future either. Thank you for sharing your native perspective though!
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@ how is NOT having separate surnames “moral”? What is so moral about? How does allowing women to keep their surnames after marriage threatening safety and security and public order? Yes I know Japan maintains harmony through conformity and social pressure/norms rather than strict laws. But laws are still important in any society and laws need to be updated from time to time. The fact is Japan is becoming ossified and fossilized if they refuse to implement any changes not just in law, but other government policy and business, etc. The demographics and economy, productivity and innovation etc. will only continue to tank. Already GDP per capita is less than S Korea, Taiwan, and about only one third of Singapore. Total GDP drop below Germany and California and next year, India.
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@ sorry I misunderstood. No I only visited America once as a tourist. Not really a fan. I prefer Asian societies (except China). Japan and Singapore are more similar in that sense but where there are differences, the differences tend to be 180 degrees. After working in Tokyo for many years, I will probably retire in Thailand or somewhere in Southeast Asia. I wish Japan all the best in the years ahead.
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@thalmoragent9344 the economy has been in the dumpsters since 1989 so it will be the lost 4 decades soon.
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@hermitpurple3 I am pure blood Singaporean living in Tokyo and the worst insult you can call a Singaporean is to call him a “mainland Chinese”. Singapore has 50% foreigner population (which some locals feel is too much) but Japan only has 2% which is practically nothing for a country of 128 million. Everywhere I go there’s nothing but old people. I don’t agree with Japan taking in refugees like Kurds or evacuees like Ukrainians but at the very least make it more attractive for Asian talent or Western expats. Right now it’s a bureaucratic nightmare for gaijin. Low pay, high taxes, racism, xenophobia, red tape. Also, we Singaporeans are not communist.
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@ yup, exactly. Yes, the racism was especially bad during Covid. The average Japanese cannot differentiate because all Asian foreigners look like “Chinese” to the Japanese. Someone even said “nihao” at me in Daikanyama. We have a lot of Japanese expats and tourists in Singapore and we welcome them because they tend to behave well and not cause trouble. Same for Taiwanese. However, relations with mainland China is a lot more complicated and there are a lot of social issues due to immigrants etc as you have cited. But it is either this or the Singapore economy collapses overnight. Right now as things stand, the Singapore dollar is stronger than the yen. The government chose the lesser of two evils because they only think about money. But it is either this or a stagnant inflationary environment like in Japan for almost 40 years. 50% foreigners is too much but 2% is not enough. The J govt has to find an optimal balance and act fast. Right now they can’t even decide on separate surnames for married women. It’s already 2025! Too many old people and too many old men especially in the Diet. Move fast or become irrelevant. That’s why Singapore is always moving and progressing. I don’t have the right to tell the Japanese how to govern their country but as an observer the J govt is too slow to act on anything and the people also don’t want change. Debt is piling up and labor shortage is worsening. Less and less babies. It’s hard to be optimistic as a foreigner here.
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@hermitpurple3 thanks for the frank exchange. I think the lack of drop in the QoL (for now) has also contributed to political apathy among the young, which led to lack of constitutional revision, separate surnames, same-sex marriage etc. I dont know how you can still call this "economic strength" and what technology? Only the train tech like maglev, shinkansen etc are advanced. And maybe gaming consoles like playstation 5 and switch 2. Government bureaucracy, digitalization, IT, banking and finance sectors I have to say is maybe 20 years behind Singapore if I'm being generous. Could be 30 or 40. And CCP doesn't even register on our radar. I have been to Japan about 7 times as a tourist and lived here for several years. I have only visited China once in my whole lifetime for a few days and that was more than 25 years ago. Hong Kong and Taiwan about 3 times each. The average Singaporean couldn't care less about China and the less we have to do with them the better.
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