Comments by "worn down" (@worndown8280) on "Why Japan’s Population Is Still Declining - Japanese interview" video.

@johnjack3578 One could argue that Japan was historically above its carrying capacity for the last several generations. Prior to the Meiji Restoration the population was only 30 million ish. Perhaps that is "normal". The difference though is that the debt will crush the nation long before it gets back to that. And with less individuals to pay off said debt standard of livings will crash. Its also the change in the culture. Something about modernity has made women stop wanting to have children. And once cultures change and when that becomes the norm its almost impossible to get women to start having children again, at least at replacement numbers. So yeah, I think I answered your question of why it would be bad. Its not so much Japans population is dropping, its the speed at which it is dropping and the current demography of the workers who actually pay taxes. It will break.
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People dont have children. Women do. Women clearly dont want to have children anymore. They dont need men. Well thats what they think since they have modern civilization around them. The problem is if they dont have children, then that society collapses. Its not even the first time we have had this problem. Japan is having the same shortsightedness that most European and American nations are having. Things are to comfortable and there are to many distractions. And that will last until it doesnt.
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Japan cant stop its practices. Its debt burden would cause the nation to default if it didnt squeeze every ounce of wealth via productivity towards its GDP that it can. They are in a no win situation. The best thing they could do is a massive drop in standard of living and default on most of their debt. But they wont. They like most other industrialized nations will kick that can right off the end of the sidewalk and into total oblivion.
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@aquilae1670 not enough to keep the debt from imploding the nation. Without credit Japan, which imports everything to be a modern nation, dies. Regardless of their political ideology. The unfortunate thing is an exodus from Japan has already started. The smart always leave first. And that makes recovery all the less likely.
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@TC_Personal true. Also what few account for is the effect delayed child birth means for generations. Previously most women started child rearing by the early 20s. Now its standard to wait a decade beyond. This has the effect for generations being every 30 years instead of 20. And so previously you would have 3 generations of people in a 60 year period, now you will only have 2. That means an entire generation is never born.
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