Japanese male population falling

[Az]

Ah, the interests of individuals conflict with those of the state. Curious.

There's something noble about voluntary extinction. I think that theme was explored in Bradbury's Martian Chronicles.

But that's not correct, either. It's a clear case of interest of individuals conflicting the desires of individuals. (market failure, anyone? )

[DanS]

That's not correct either. Rather, it's a clear case of a rebellion against societal norms. It's a problem of societal norms versus the interest of the society. The government is only the one left trying to bring the two into harmony.

For the life of me, I can't understand why society would try to hold women to the "traditional" role in a marriage, given the falling birth rate. Strict adherence to the traditional role was abandoned long ago in the US, at least.

[Az]

umm, DanS, I don't think it's the root of the problem. Look at parallel cases in the rest of the world.

[DanS]

Which parallel cases?

[Az]

parallel cases of collapsing populations ( europe )

[Spaced Cowboy]

Hmmm...

Falling populations
Rising productivity

Who is going to buy all the crap we produce?

[Az]

build more spaceships

[DanS]

...

[Az]

I am glad that you agree.

[:) Smiley]

Well, in futuristic Anime the Japanese people don't look Japanese...

[Drake Tungsten]

Indeed, next year Nishiki is set to pay the highest price for its shrinking population: Unable to sustain its annual budget, it will join a growing list of Japanese towns that have officially ceased to exist and have merged with a neighboring city.

These mergers are rampant in my prefecture right now. My friend lives in a little village that has the same problems as Nishiki and will officially cease to exist this May when it merges with Nara City. My town is going to become the center of a new city that will form this year. My town is growing and in decent shape, mainly because it's a commuter town for Osaka, but it's surrounded by 5 dying villages that can't afford to remain independent any longer. There's at least 2 similar mergers happening in Nara-ken that I can think of and more are probably on the way. And things will only get worse...

[Bosh]

DT: Same sort of stuff is happening in the Korean countryside since Korean birthrates aren't much higher than Japanese ones (but I don't think they've been low for as long so the population isn't dropping quite yet), but the country is really emptying out due to the low birth rates and so many people moving to Seoul and its suburbs (about half the population now) some of the more rural provinces are already losing pop and its only a matter of time before the country in general start following Japan (unless there's mass NKorean immigration or something).

[Drake Tungsten]

Same stuff will happen in China soon, as well. And there we'll probably have the added X-factor of population decline setting in before the country is fully developed. God only knows what that will lead to...

[Wycoff]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
Same stuff will happen in China soon, as well. And there we'll probably have the added X-factor of population decline setting in before the country is fully developed. God only knows what that will lead to...

Plus they have the added problem of gender imbalance, as there are many more males than females...

[Drake Tungsten]

What a nightmare.