How Do Japanese Elders See Japan’s Population Crisis? | Street Interview

[@AsianBoss]

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[@iamdmc]

is this takashii ?

[@DefaultFlame]

"Is declining birthrates a problem?" "Yes." "How many siblings did you have?" "6-8." "How many kids do you have?" "0-2." "How should we deal with the birthrate?" "Young people should have more kids." The lack of self awareness is staggering. They should all know that it's not that easy, because they clearly had the same issues themselves, except things are worse now.

[@shubhthepro]

young generation should have atleast 2 kids but young generation are not having even atleast 2 kids , thats the problem , they didn't say you to have 4 - 5 kids

[@DarkSnake49542]

Probably that he lived in frugal conditions (but still a childhood he survived) and then, he couldn't afford nor want such a big family, so 2 was good enough. Until his country gives enough money for bigger families, why should they get more children they won't be able to afford? That reminds me of my country, France, with Macron the president king, speaking of the need for women to have more children (not speaking of the cost and how little help they get) while he got no child himself...

[@BrolaireThebright]

​@@shubhtheprowrong actually, human overpopulation is a crisis that will end life as we know it before declining birthrates do, the problem isn't that birthrates are declining in 1st world countries, it's that 3rd world countries still haven't caught up to us and are popping a dozen children a mother.

[@xtr.7662]

​@@DarkSnake49542its exactly the opposite poorer families have more children while the more educated and rich ones have less

[@magigoof]

I wanna have 2-3 kids but the problem is I don't have a wife to do that

[@LawlietLevi]

The last message was amazing

[@eddenoy321]

When I was young I tried working and could not believe how brutal the workplace was. I realized at a very young age that I would be in no position to ever raise a child. I watched my parents life as well. I could see that it was hell for them. In middle age I was able to support a partner, a wife. That was enough for me. I would not want to be young these days.

[@DefaultFlame]

Yeah, I'm getting into my middle-age myself and the lack of self awareness In these elders is staggering. The seem to be lovely people, but . . . Their parents hade six to eight kids, they themselves had zero to two. It started with their generation, they should know it's not as easy as "just have more kids" because they went through it themselves.

[@DefaultFlame]

@@Melody5p Actually, your point is moot, because almost every country in Africa is also below replacement level. Yes, including the really poor ones. Same as nearly every country on earth in fact. There's less than half a dozen countries on the planet that are at or above replacement level.

[@PeterRiello]

@@DefaultFlame en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_total_fertility_rate

[@rigobertoitachijohnson]

​@@Melody5p in my country, the birth rates has been lower than 2 on average, in the Philippines... The Capital has the lowest rates at around 1.2 when previously it was higher than 2.. i'm more inclined to believe that the world's birth rate is declining... Something changed when people stopped trying to have kids at 15, and the introduction of the K-12 system.

[@duskripper6650]

​@@Melody5p yeah, real smart of them to have all those kids they can't feed

[@bethanya99]

As someone who is also from a larger family, 5 kids, I echo what that one gentleman said about the benefits of growing up in a group. You learn to advocate for yourself and others, you learn how to work cooperatively with others in stressful situations, you learn how to argue your points effectively, you learn how to stay humble too 😅

[@mollyapteros]

idk if you can argue for that being universal. My mom is one of 7 and their experiences growing up were pretty awful and led to trauma that persists to this day due to competing for limited resources and attention, bullying and abuse by the older siblings, and feeling invisible because everything was communal and there were no 'safe' private spaces. Even in their 60's they're not close at all. That's why they all only had 1-2 kids each.

[@bethanya99]

@@mollyapteros I suppose thier is a lot of variety in experience. I also came from a stable and emotionally healthy home with good parents. All of us siblings are still very close in adulthood.

[@koniolg]

@@mollyapteros I mean there's nothing universal about experience of 2 children siblings, there are some who had great time growing up together but also those who didn't stay in touch as adults. What I am trying to say is that it all boils down to childrens personalities themselves and how they're treated by parents, you can be surrounded by 10 good siblings and have great experience growing up, or you could have only 1 and end up being traumatized.

[@Priestess87]

@@mollyapteros would you agree that this was mainly because of financial difficulties? I come from a big family (6 kids) life was REALLY rough for a batch of 3 years when there were financial struggles but we managed because we experienced abundance before and saw it as temporary and it was.. I think my point is we can’t expect people to have more kids without the traditional support system or the financial means to recreate/buy the modern alternative (child care, medical service, high quality education, flexible schedules etc) it’s unfair!

[@WienerVL]

I have 12 siblings and i hated it ! Parents cant handle this number of childs equal!

[@riaa-c]

Oh man. I watched this to the end. The old man saying that we should all keep moving forward and have adventures like family life - because these things define our lives. That was very profound and meaningful to hear. I'm married and we have a daughter. We plan for child no. 2. It is whirlwind of emotions having a child but anxiety and stress fade away when I see my daughter laugh and learning about life.

[@CerridwenAwel]

The problem is that family life is often an adventure that ends in regrets for many, many people. It would be good that people recognised society is not supportive of it, particularly there.

[@mvl6827]

Well well, one daughter, how very noble.. Have you got a medal 🥇 yet? 😂

[@ShinYaguchiSama]

lol maybe the older generation shouldn’t have made working a literal nightmare 😂

[@duskripper6650]

Hard pass lol

[@DiogoSantos-ix5sl]

Brilliant comment, indeed; I’d like to add that a lot of people won’t fully grow up without having children. When people say “I prioritized personal growth”, what it actually means for the most part is they prioritized career and hedonism.

[@imstuman]

The man talking about smartphones making us dumber and unquestioning was right to point out that it would be labeled as a conspiracy theory. But there are many of us that would swipe away and not engage with subjects that appear challenging or boring.

[@shin-ishikiri-no]

Did you get your annual booster yet?

[@siti-hon-asi]

これは原因としてあるだろうと思う。 知識や考えの入手が手軽になり過ぎたが故に負の要素も急激に進んでしまってる気がする。 このまま緩やかに人類は衰退していくのかもね。

[@TheSoufiane]

I would love to have a drink with that man, so much knowledge and he seems very fun

[@klm20079]

last word is a problem beeing bored isnt bad

[@yaoqing8888]

@@siti-hon-asi　下手の日本語を許してお願いします。日本語で伝えてみます。 そうかもね。この「負の要素」が人類減っていく原因だと思います。自然でこの地球の住む人は有限ですよね。インヴェンションにも関わらず人類の環境収容力があるです。

[@specifiko5877]

I lived in Japan for 10 years from 1997 and the population problem was already obvious. I asked people what Japan would do about it. They usually just said they never thought about it, but anyone who had an opinion would say "money" and/or "robots." If I suggested immigration, they looked at me like I was from another planet. 25 years later, the problem has only gotten worse. I love Japan and the Japanese, but their "kick the can down the road" skills are beyond next level. Now there's no more road.

[@mqhjw]

If foreigners do whatever they want in Japan and Japanese people are persecuted like Indians, it would be better for the population to decrease, and with the development of artificial intelligence, people are said to be no longer needed, so immigration will be even more unnecessary.

[@larkspurz]

In the minds of the average, everyday Japanese, populations have always been up and down throughout the centuries. And so is their economy. I'm sure Japan took a hard hit economically when Tokugawa enforced the Sokaku Policy. But all of these are just a cycle of life to them. I bet they would rather go through that than be in a crappy situation like the US, UK or most of Europe when it comes to immigrants (especially illegal immigrants). Japan could be smart to approach immigration the same way as Singapore through proper vetting and ensuring the right ones enter (e.g. families instead of just single, military-age men), but the government prioritising Japanese first and protecting their homogeneity, culture, and tradition might make them lose out a lot of potentially good immigrants who have studied the language, integrated well, with purest intentions to contribute to society (unlike the ones in the UK).

[@24killsequalMOAB]

Immigration is not the answer. It's about setting up the monetary system such that all generations consider problems from first principles. Their economic stagnation is entirely due to lacking this ability.

[@sumofat4994]

@@24killsequalMOAB 　As long as quality of life maintains something reasonable. Dont care about stagnation. Most of Japan is not on some unsustainable unhealth dog eat dog econcomic growth. Stability is more important. Japan might have tough times. Its ok.

[@specifiko5877]

@sumofat4994 did you guys take basic math in elementary school? or any economics? as of 2022, **38%** of the population is over 50 (ie no more children and will require state funding in retirement in a country that has 84.5 years life expectancy), while the birthrate is 1.2, which is miles below population maintenance. if there are no young people, there are no taxes. if there are no taxes, there are no public services. it's not "stagnating". it's "imploding".

[@malvinelpinnoy]

I'm in my 20's but i don't know if i'll opt to having kids. I feel like people shouldn't just have kids because it's "fun" as i'm hearing in this video. I would want to be in a position to provide 'my kids' with a really comfortable lifestyle, nothing too extravagant but well-balanced and short of struggle.

[@twowheelsintokyo7039]

No one said life was supposed to be fun. The meaning to life is to live to your full potential, and the easier is your life, the less likely that is to happen. We tend to value most the things which are the most difficult to obtain or accomplish, the value of labor is not entirely monetary. Having and raising kids forces you to live for someone other than yourself, to work harder and think more carefully than you otherwise might. The last thing you want for yourself or your kids is a "comfortable lifestyle," at least not until you are old enough to value comfort properly. I grew up in what many might call terrible circumstances, but it was because of those circumstances that I was eventually able to do pretty well for myself. My biggest concern today is that my kids have it too easy and enjoy too much comfort, and I worry that when challenges and adversity come their way, they won't have the inner strength to push through them. There is no "right time" to have kids, but if you make the choice to have them, make sure you have a partner who will stay with you and your kids until they are grown.

[@Kazia0002]

Would your child prefer to have an imperfect environment and exist or not suffer some inconvenience and not exist at all? I think as long as we love them and do our best they will be happy. Children are pretty resilient I didn’t have anywhere close to perfect childhood and yet am glad to exist…

[@ocean080]

Japan is not the only country on population decline. The top 10 countries experiencing significant decreases in birth rates are: Bulgaria - Expected to decline by 22.5% from 2020 to 2050. Lithuania - Projected to shrink by 22.1% over the next three decades. Latvia - Expected to lose 21.6% of its population between 2020 and 2050. Ukraine - Anticipated to drop by 19.5% from 2020 to 2050. Serbia - Forecasted to decline by about 18.9%. Bosnia and Herzegovina - Projected to decrease by 18.2%. Croatia - Expected to shrink by 18.0%. Moldova - Anticipated to decline by 16.7%. Japan - Projected to lose 16.3% of its population between 2020 and 2050. Albania - Expected to decrease by 15.8% over the next 30 years

[@wawanmuldiantoro7159]

The worst is South Korea with 0.72 birth rate. In 2100 its population will only be half from today’s population.

[@A_Gregory]

The problem is that many old people have this expectation that their children will take care of them no matter what. But that's a mindset that formed at a time where everyone worked pretty much until the day they died, and the average life expectancy was like 60 at most. Of course it's all collapsing. These people are like 80-90 years old. The problem isn't declining birthrates. It's that they failed to adapt their financials to their lifespans. And instead of taking responsibility for their own failure, they dump the problem on their children and give a speech about "respecting your elders."

[@AftStrut]

In Canada, we are heavily taxed. It is said that our taxes are now higher than the cost of housing and food combined. The cost of having children has gotten to the point that it lowers your lifestyle, savings, the ability to work for a woman and retirement savings. If you bring a child into this world you owe that child everything you can do for him or her. The child didn't ask to be born. Having children is a costly endeavor. It's no wonder the birth rate is falling in Canada and we have to depend on immigration, migration, refugees, migrant workers and temporary workers.

[@TDK2K]

It's why I left Canada. You can't get ahead in Canada. The leadership, or lack of, puts temporary students and illegals first before citizens.

[@_Gilles_]

Canada is dead

[@eddenoy321]

"The child didn't ask to be born"....... truer words were never spoken.

[@AftStrut]

@@TDK2K being born in Canada has the least value as far as I can see and understand it.

[@violetsparkles5453]

@@AftStrutmaybe if you’re unintelligent and don’t see the privilege

[@condeuiosandilixtos7858]

Oh look, if it isn't the generation that's made it difficult to have kids demanding people have kids.

[@danielgareth4205]

Right, isn't it so ironic?!

[@salehsaber4306]

The women in 11:00 say women now can easily balance working and having a family while she herself didn’t have this opportunity 😂😂

[@SvengelskaBlondie]

@@salehsaber4306 Add having elderly "baby/ies" to the mix and see how fun that becomes, I doubt they thought very far on this. There's no way a normal person can work, take care of a family and take care of elderly relatives all at once.. Edit: Why did I write elderly babies, cause they often go full circle and go back to sh!1ing in diapers.

[@barunosardadi4717]

I wish all these thoughtful seniors well. Live long and prosper.

[@skunkjulio]

若者を責めてはいけない。 理由もなく遅くまで残業し、従業員に「帰れ！」と言わない上司のせいだ！ みんなを飲み会に引っ張り出す奴らを責めろ。 上の世代の慣習に苦しめられた若者を責めるな。システムは彼らの目の前で崩壊したのだ。彼らはただ反応しているだけだ。

[@noripee8278]

@@skunkjulio 私が大学を出て初めて働いた会社は、毎日８時９時まで残業で、週末は必ず、平日もしょっちゅう飲み会に参加させられてた。国中で過労死する人がたくさんいた。でも、ほぼ全員彼氏彼女がいて、ほぼ全員35歳まで結婚してたよ？ 若者だけでの飲み会では、恋愛の話ばかりだった。 1970年代や80年代の日本人はもっと働かされてもっと飲み会に行かされて、もっと早く結婚してた。 今、私は当時と違う会社にいるけど、今の私の会社も、元同僚から聞く前の会社も、そこまで遅く残業させられることはあまりないし、若者は自分の仕事が終わったら上司の許可をとらずに帰る。飲み会も滅多にないし、あっても若者は参加しない。 もっと大きな違いは、若者は恋愛や結婚や子供を持つことに興味がなくなってること。「結婚もしたくないし子供もほしくない」って言ってる若者が何人もいる。 長時間の残業や飲み会への強制参加はもちろん問題だけど、私はそれが少子化につながってるとは思わない。

[@Naomitheangelicgoddessandm-u7j]

I wish I could read this

[@luckyadrian100]

Do they talk about this horrible system? The government?? I am not japanese but for real I don't want real japanese people to extinct. I have so much respect for the japanese creators

[@apandaandanoreo]

​@@Naomitheangelicgoddessandm-u7j​ Shall I translate? This person is saying that we should not (simply) blame young people. We should place blame on long working hours, bosses who won't tell the workers (it's OK to) go home, and those who spontaneously want to have late nights of drinking with coworkers. [Drinking with coworkers is often suggested by someone higher up in the company and, in some offices, it is seen as very rude to decline the offer] Older generations shouldn't blame (struggling) younger generations. The system fell apart in front of their (young people's) eyes, and now they're simply a biproduct of that broken system.

[@user-gr7jo9qb3l]

Japan should follow Bhutan and charge an exorbitant visa price for tourists. Bhutan charges over $100/day. Fine a-hole tourists for littering, assaulting geisha, etc. These fees/fines can go towards state-paid elderly benefits, rather than taxing the young. As an Asian-American, I wish the best for Japanese people.

[@Lionelltd]

Thanks!

[@Nightscream452]

I think its financal at the heart of the problem. When you have a good job and can still barely afford rent & food...it makes you think twice about your ability to financally take on the responsibility of children. I love how that lady in white with the dog said..oh they should just have kids early, not even thinking about the younger generations financal status.

[@dayla8634]

Yeah. Most college students still live off of their families money. Some schools don't even allow kids to have part time jobs.

[@violetsparkles5453]

Classic old people. If you have kids, they’ll criticize you for not being ready. If you don’t have kids because you’re not ready, they’ll criticize you for being selfish or something. It’s almost like they’re really old and can’t think beyond their own lived experiences, and refuse to listen to the plights of the younger generation. Basically, they ruined the economy and society they somehow want the youth to partake in.

[@DefaultFlame]

Even worse, she has zero kids because of focusing on career until it was too late. She **personally** knows why they can't "just have more kids," she went through it herself, but she apparently has no self awareness. That's true for all of them for that matter. Their parents had six to eight kids, they had zero to two. It started with their generation, but they seem oblivious to that.

[@luthen4464]

It’s not just an affordability issue though. Japanese work culture is crazy. These people will work 12 hour days and then be expected to go out as a group to “socialize” and get drunk. If you don’t go out with the group you’re not being part of the team. So you leave for work at 6:00 am and don’t get home until 9:00 or 10:00 pm. How can you have kids? How can you parent? It got so bad the Japanese government actually invented a bunch of federal holidays so offices would close and their citizens would take days off. Because taking vacation is considered by a lot of people as “abandoning” the team and people feel too guilty to do it. So you had a bunch of people dying from overwork.

[@sanyuelpuganda3581]

Wow! " Life is an adventure and those adventures define Life" The last message from that gentleman was incredibly awesome! Thank you, Asian Boss!!

[@SageOfHeaven]

The issue is that older people ruined the prospects of us in the younger generation. The OG generation there were so many siblings, 5-8 siblings were normal! Then the next generation gets 1-2 kids. Now our generation hardly have kids at all. Why? Because while wages slowly rise with each generation, the costs of living increase 10 fold! A truckdriver with a housewife could support his entire family and still afford multiple cars etc. This was back in the day when trucking wasn't as well paid. I am a plumber, im 28 years old. I cannot fuckin afford to buy an apartment or house in the city before im close to 39-40 years old! It is that bad. How the hell am I or anyone else supposed to support a family when we cannot buy a roof over our heads?

[@alantes]

What is worse is the very generation that came after the one depicted here perceived real estate as the safest investment of their earnings - globally, not just in Asia. That is why the cost of living and housing keeps increasing and increasing. Rent and property value - the same. Hence younger ppl not being able to buy a house - EVER - and never having enough money to set roots properly. What responsible man or woman would think about procreation when they do not even have the hope of ever owning a house?

[@SageOfHeaven]

@@alantes Exactly.

[@sanyuelpuganda3581]

Thank you, Asian Boss, for this eye-opening topic!!

[@Chris-ez4yt]

Most interviews on this topic never give time to hear the positive aspects of raising children. Really impressed.

[@NaeUndungiPangPang]

12:36 this person here has lots of ideas and conspiracy theories and he was waiting his whole life for someone to ask him about it lol. He sounds interesting to talk to.

[@justarandompally]

He also speaks like a 20 year old which is pretty funny ngl

[@NaeUndungiPangPang]

@@justarandompally ikrrr as a 20 yo myself I would like to speak with this guy it sounds fun lol

[@hl3517]

I am still childfree mindset. Everyone can have different perspective about life. Life is about doing what is right for you not others. Don't follow others' rules . Make your own rules and apply it wisely.

[@justaguyfrom]

Useless talk if you don't wanna have any then don't stop posting meaningless comments like this.

[@frenzybuzz3703]

​@justaguyfrom I also don't want to have children.

[@justaguyfrom]

@@frenzybuzz3703 Good do you think i care? Its better if you don't one less filthy leech in this world.

[@thylatrash7668]

Really great interview again about such an interesting topic, I'm happy you're back!!

[@Garlictoastify]

For me as someone who were born in and still living in Sweden this is hard to understand. Sweden who is bigger than Japan in landmass, has a population of about 10 million, an increase of about 2 million since the year I was born. And I think that is too much. I cannot even imagine what it would be like with the same population density as Japan. The difference is insane. If I am not completely confused in my thinking that would be something like 11 or 12 more people for every 1 person living here in Sweden. I would probably nope out at that point and return to my ancestors, if you know what I mean... I love the Japanese people, they seem so friendly and considerate. But every country just like the planet as a whole has a limit as to how many of us it can sustain. A lowered birthrate in a very densely populated part of the world seems very natural to me. It gives me a VERY SMALL sliver of hope that maybe humans as a species wont send itself into oblivion through thoughtless and endless procreation on this planet that is alredy WAY past its limits... As my view of the future is really really dark, I have chosen to not have kids. My only experience with life is suffering, if I had kids I know that would be their legacy too... I could never...

[@shin-ishikiri-no]

What do you think of figureheads like Elon Musk who believe the human population is too low rather than too high?

[@Garlictoastify]

@@shin-ishikiri-no Well, since I myself belive that the population is too high I do not agree with people who think the opposite. Why there are some people like Elon Musk who think the population is too low I do not know. All I know is that nature will always find a way, we will find out who is right in a way that is unmistakeable eventually. I am not sure wether or not I want to still be alive to see it or not though. Because all I've ever seen of human behavior since the day I was born is our absolute darkest attributes with very few exeptions. So I do not have any bright hopes for humanitys future. I just hope life in general can find a way to go on despite us being here... Also I think that people who think population is too low might have a problem with species bias. What I mean by that is that because they are human themselves they cannot see that humans have issues, and also seems to have forgotten that humans too are just another animal species. They seem to think that humans are perfect, the pinnacle of creation. No flaws whatsoever, closest thing to God amongst all life, and that since humans are so perfect in their view, the most important thing to do is to create as many humans as possible. And then... Spread out into the universe and populate more planets. All so that humans can spread their grandiose way of life over the entire universe. And that is my biggest nightmare, we are already actively killing off the environment on the only planet we currently have to live on, not to mention all the species we have made go extinct. We do not need to kill even more environments and make even more life go extinct. Humans must never leave this planet, everything would be better off without us, thats what I think!

[@shin-ishikiri-no]

@@Garlictoastify I don't believe that humans are inherently a negative force on the nature around us. That is more a problem of human instinctual habits/biases (or simple ignorance) and a lack of honesty and self-reflection about our own natures, and how we can mitigate environmental and intersocial damages caused by our basal instincts. The main problem with humanity is our tendency to overcorrect one way or another. As with most things, the answer lies somewhere in between. The only way real change could occur is if the people come to an agreement and enforce their own rules for protecting ecological environments. Governments won't enact this change, because they are too slow in democratic systems. There is a way to live with technological comfort, abundance of food, clean energy, and even further increased population. However that would require us to reform our social contracts (within reason).

[@Garlictoastify]

@@shin-ishikiri-no Yeah, you are right! Problem is though, that humanity as a whole tend not to change until something happens that forces us to change. Most live on with deeply rooted learned and habitual behavior. So everything will probably continue as it is right now until something catastrophic happens. And then humans have no other choice than to change their ways to continue our species survival.

[@bpcgos]

The culture difference is stark between europe and asia , having children here still considered as a bless, a gift and each children would bring joy on its own to their parents.

[@joey3291]

People have more and more to lose when having babies as their life is getting better and better. That's why the birth rate is dropping in EVERY rich country. The key point to promote the birth rate is to make the process of giving birth and raising kids less painful and exhausting for parents, especially women.

[@africanadalhernandez7790]

This video is a very well done update on the topic, ¡thank you so much! 😊

[@YugaKurita]

FYI: The book bald guy talked about is "The Attention Fix : How to Focus in a World that Wants to Distract You" by Hansen, Dr Anders, not "Smartphone Brain."

[@jaryRim]

Pretty sure スマホ脳 is just the Japanese translation of that book title, which does mean Smartphone Brain.

[@svennielsen633]

A country that has 4-doubled its population in 150 years is not in crisis. There are limits to how many people the land can feed. We have to adapt - again.

[@FriedToast]

Tell us you don't understand the problem without saying you don't understand it. A great portion of that population expansion are now old. With a dwindling number of citizens, who is going to take care of them? How will pensions be paid when there aren't enough workers? Look a bit more into it. And it's not just Japan with this issue- it's fairly worldwide.

[@svennielsen633]

@@FriedToast - I suspect that you have pension systems to take care of the older people. And that most of them actually can take care of themselves.

[@Byhvla]

The human population has been growing and expanding since forever, “adapt again” to what exactly?

[@ssssaa2]

@@svennielsen633 Pension systems that will be paid for by whom precisely? The non-existent young people? Data already shows that unless taxes are enormously raised on the working population, these systems won't prove viable in most countries moving forwards, or will have to give only a very small amount out in comparison to today.

[@aneeshramaswamy8517]

@@svennielsen633Where do you think pensions (and universal healthcare) come from? Taxes. If the percentage of working people keeps getting smaller than the perception of pensioned retired people, your economy will accumulate a larger and larger deficit because there is not enough tax to pay for the pensions and services required for taking care of the elderly. Eventually those systems will implode.

[@moni_monaka]

Back then, people didn’t have birth control or sex education and having 6-8 kids was inevitable. But look at society now - when people are given the option to have a certain number of kids, it usually falls to 1-2 or 2-3. As a mom of two, I can say pregnancy is no joke! It’s hard on the body and exhausting and having more kids means that many of them will not be raised with one-on-one parental attention. Parents these days are having to unlearn the less than stellar parenting we were raised on in order to raise kids who are emotionally intelligent, kind, and who feel respected, loved, and wanted. Yes, we have an issue on our hands with an aging population, but it’s better for the parents and kids when the children are wanted, loved, well-taken care of, and have their emotional needs met. That guy who was the middle child of 7 boys - he said that if he didn’t get assertive, he wouldn’t have gotten any attention. Parents need their own goals and time to relax, too. And it’s not financially possible to have that many kids unless you’re extremely rich, and even then, would the kids get the same care and attention? Most people in Japan and Korea live in tight quarters. Thanks to smartphones and the internet, people are able to connect with so many more people around the world. We are able to share information and experiences, and learn from one another. Lower birthrates happen when countries become more wealthy and as people are free to decide on their family size. I am able to give my kids a much better life because of all the resources I have that my parents didn’t, and even as an only child, I had a difficult upbringing because of how generational trauma has affected my family.

[@frenzybuzz3703]

Women in high birth rate countries are denied education and rights

[@jacspad5]

Very insightful video! I appreciate the openness of all the participants as well as the interviewers ability to ask good questions and make them feel comfortable. A lot of this information and 'food for thought' could be applied to other countries and cultures as well.

[@jim7297]

Very interesting. This is happening all over the world.

[@JamesAlexanderJack]

Great video! Just a quick note regarding the term "siblings". In English, when you mention how many siblings you have, you don't include yourself in that count, while in Japanese, 兄弟 does include you as well. In other words, 8人兄弟 means 7 siblings.

[@godver555]

Birthrate problems are end-stage capitalist signs. As an end stage capitalist society we prioritize money over everything, because you have to. Unless you are born in an affluent family you have to work 40+ hours a week with 2 people to be able to afford to buy a house by the time you are 40 and cover monthly bills, saving only to go on some vacations or to upgrade your car (which you mostly use for work anyway). There is no time for raising your own children in any meaningful or enjoyable way. Childcare is extremely expensive and mostly privatized. What will happen is that pensions will eventually be removed and people will have to take care of their grandparents and parents in their own homes, allowing for even less time for children and increasing personal financial burdens. In the end there arent enough people to buy the goods and services and slowly everything collapses. My guess is this will take another 70 years before we really get there in most western countries. India, China and Africa should learn from our mistakes and start early on creating a more livable environment for people, not companies, once their standard of living has caught up to the western standards. There is a perfect balance to be achieved where everybody has enough money doing only a certain amount of work to save up and care for children. I think what was the 60's for the US was the peak of that. People bought houses, had kids and needed only one job to care for all of that in their mid twenties and thirties. Its proof that capitalism can work, we just need to find a way to stop the super rich people and banks from ruining it all.

[@AhidoMikaro]

Were the mouse utopias also capitalist?

[@private6708]

well said, I think we had lost the balance.

[@Êíøw57]

I'm from India and if even now , half of our population would magically disappear. I would actually be glad rather than concerning about population growth. China and India have been like that ,, most populated civilization in the world

[@harrywang4769]

end-stage capitalism? you mean feminism which is pretty much what's really causing the birth crisis? women don't want to have kids, they want to work, they dilute the workforce so now that 2 people earn what 1 person used to earn (adjusted for inflation), their happiness goes down, the population decreases

[@michellesp7805]

Aww they're so proud of their kids and grandchildren. I especially like how animated the middle child gentleman with the bald head is - good points

[@asprywrites]

I understand what she's saying here 3:00 but that's like treating the symptoms when perhaps you should treat the disease. Something is making the young people react this way. Nothing happens for no reason. Find the problem and fix it.

[@lisale2407]

Wow never have attained such profound life lessons from your channel before! Great interview❤

[@armorbearer9702]

It is sad that only one of the elderly(4:00) is trying to understand what the younger generation is going through. The world today is not the same as when the elderly are young.

[@fidybeanbird]

It’s not conspiracy, dear old man. You’re right about everything, unfortunately the goal is the movie “Idiocracy”.

[@dcar6530]

I think Japan needs a very dynamic change in their working culture, and allow more people to work from home, allow more foreign investment. It's 22nd century now.

[@Anonymouscpa2]

22nd century? What

[@user-qm7jw]

If your theory was correct, Scandinavia should have more children. But in reality, Finland has the same birth rate as Japan. And look at the 70s. Japan's work conditions are much better than they were back then, but the birth rate has been worse.

[@sknbbx]

No...Japan is doing good. FOREIGN INVESTMENTS FOR WHAT??? Whos gonna benefit from this. Japan is well enough

[@xtr.7662]

You already 80 years into the future😂

[@afujimoto3843]

​@@user-qm7jw Yea, this is something that gets repeated over and over on the English-side of the internet (Silly Japan! Just stop overworking your people and the population crisis will be magically solved!). However, if you were to actually look at the native birthrates (which excludes immigrant populations) of countries with much better working conditions than Japan, almost all of those countries would still have birthrates that fall well below the replacement rate. While I think a more... "relaxed" working environment would obviously improve the overall quality of life for your average Japanese person, whether that will result in more children is doubtful. It MAY help raise the birthrate a little, but it still won't be enough to solve this issue. The only answer really is immigration, but with that being said, immigration itself is not a silver bullet, and will bring its own set of unique challenges with it.

[@chengezhussaini1464]

The old man with the blue hat at the end said it all

[@ocean080]

The comments below, that are marked "loved by Asian Boss", suggests the video is biased towards people with children. Please note the increasing trend in developed countries of individuals choosing to stay single or marry without having children. Every individual has the right to make their own life choices.

[@Eiri.Willow]

Literally, what I was thinking too!!

[@tequilamonster3940]

I totally vibed with the last interview....life is an adventure and you have to go with it!!

[@ryumitsurugi2088]

This is real insight about japanese society and the elderly

[@user-gr7jo9qb3l]

Japan needs to start an A-hole tourist tax/fine system. That will take care of aging pop benefits

[@DBS_DOLPHIN]

They have some points I agree with but the fact they just pass off the blame for birth rate to their children is just negligent.

[@biblecomics8550]

Imagine giving birth for the sake of future pensions and economy 😂. These old people still don't understand young adults.

[@joey3291]

What's wrong about that? Don't you need pensions when you are old?

[@ShinYaguchiSama]

@@joey3291lol don’t need a pension with the Remington retirement plan

[@yasu3621]

@@joey3291 ★世界出生率の推移 英医学誌ランセット2024 3月20日 1950年　　　　　４．８４ 2021年　　　　　２．２３ 　各国の平均年齢（CIA2020） ニジェール　　１４．８歳 日本　　　　　４８．６歳 米国　　　　　３８．５歳 合計特殊出生率（世界銀行2023） ニジェール　　【６．７５】 日本　　　　　　１．２６ 米国　　　　　　１．６７ O E C D 平均　 【１．５１】 シンガポール　　１．０４ 台湾　　　　　　０．８７ 韓国　　　　　　０．７８ 香港　　　　　　０．７０ つまり 当たり前だが、栄養状態の改善、医学の発展などの文明の恩恵を受ける者らの明白な増加に伴って、全人類の出生率は低下している （＋人口吸収可能面積、住宅価格などにより、出生率は増減） ★労働力人口（15～64歳）の年齢が世界共通 　　　↑ この基準が、世界の現実に全くふさわしくない 　各国の健康寿命（WHO 2023） 日本　　　　　７４．１歳 フランス　　　７２．１歳 イタリア　　　７１．９歳 カナダ　　　　７１．３歳 ドイツ　　　　７０．９歳 英国　　　　　７０．１歳 米国　　　　　６６．１歳 　日本の平均寿命 １０００年ころ　約３０歳 １９２０　　　　約４２歳 ２０２３　　　　約８４歳 　　↑ 日本の現在の６５～７４歳（約１７００万人）を労働力人口に加算すると 労働力率は約５２％→７２％に上昇（現在の基準であれば主要国で最高の労働力率に相当する） つまり、定年を延長し、病気（障害）の　ある・ない　などに応じて、所得（及び年金受給額）の　増・減　をすれば、年金問題など起きるわけがない しかも、日本は 国富　1京2245兆円（財務省2022） 　政府対外純資産（IMF 2023） 世界一位　日本（３２年連続） 　外貨準備高（IMF₊WGC2023） 世界二位　日本（EU27か国合計の1.2倍） 　第一次所得収支（IMF 2023） 世界一位　　　　　　日本 　個人金融純資産（IMF 2023） 世界２位　　　　　　日本 　一人当たり　〃（IMF 2023） G７で２位 　　　　　日本 つまり、お金も大量に保有している 人は増えたら減って、減ったら増える、自然界の生物（動物）の常識 日本に、他国以上の「危機」など存在しない ついでに 「移民は”ほぼ”不要」 ★G7若年失業率（OECD2023） 日本　　　　　　３．７％ ドイツ　　　　　５．６％ 米国　　　　　　８．０％ カナダ　　　　１１．３％ 英国　　　　　１１．６％ フランス　　　１７．４％ イタリア　　　２０．１％ ★G7ホームレス率（OECD2023） 日本　　　　　０．００％ 　　　　　　　（0.003％） カナダ　　　　０．１１％ イタリア　　　０．１６％ 米国　　　　　０．１９％ ドイツ　　　　０．３１％ フランス　　　０．４９％ 英国ｲﾝｸﾞﾗﾝﾄﾞ　０．４６％ 　　ｳｪｰﾙｽﾞ　　０．９４％ 　　ｽｺｯﾄﾗﾝﾄﾞ　１．２７％ 　　北ｱｲﾙﾗﾝﾄﾞ １．３２％ 【結論】 ・国民の　「生存確率、寿命（健康寿命）、平均年齢」　が急激に向上した国が、子供をたくさん産んではいけない ・今の自分の家族（国民）のほぼすべてに　「居場所、役割、十分な食料など」　を、与えきれていないのに、新しい家族（移民※）を受け入れてはいけない 　　↑ 過剰な新参者らが　「混乱→軋轢→闘争」　の原因になるのは当たり前（自然界の常識） ※移民全てが悪いわけではない ・米軍史上、圧倒的最多の勲章を授けられているのは、米国人種構成比僅か０．４％の日系移民（ダニエル・K・イノウエ、サダオ・ムネモリなど） ・日系移民は、各地で移住した日本人以上の雇用を現地に創造した→二世で大統領になる者らも出現 （日本は、国内に　人口分の仕事　がなかった時だけ、移民として外国に移住させて頂いた） 「左翼」＝不自然の種（原因）をばら撒く、地球の「癌」

[@yt-lh8kk]

​@@joey3291No, fund your own retirement during your working years. Start saving up and making investments instead of spending everything. My Country has a forced savings scheme that I appreciate, so I don't have to fund stranger's retirement. How is it fair if they spend everything they had and enjoyed themselves, then take from others when they need more.

[@Midelioss]

What most people don't get is that this demographics issue concerns far more than just a mere retirement plan (which is pretty micro) compared to the macro problem of not having enough workers to support an economy. We have to realize there is a continuous cycle of productive workers collectively working to support, in a broad sense, not only the elders (who are deemed as no longer productive) but also the younger demographic (who are not yet of productive age). Support here doesn't just mean "I'm a working 27-year old who allocates a part of my salary to support my parents". It means there are enough working 27-year-old so that enough taxes are being paid to provide facilities and welfare to everyone. So there are enough services and goods being produced to sustain a country. It affects not only the old and young "unproductive demographic" but also that very same generation.

[@himawa7841]

私の父方の祖母は12人兄弟だったと言ってました。明治生まれです。 母方の祖母は2人兄弟 大正

[@grantholomeu3725]

13:58 Disclaimer: My Japanese is not native, but he definitely said, "We can brainwash them into thinking..." instead of, "We can make them change their minds." LUL 洗脳 kanji is literally "wash brain."

[@charleschin6497]

a time when population keep going up and will reached a time when it will start falling then it will reached an equilibrium level. The problem here now is the damages/consequences it will caused when the population start falling before reaching equilibrium.

[@OroguSaki]

There is a direct solution to this problem: 1. Drop family taxes by 20% for every child 2. Stand back and watch as the population booms

[@salehsaber4306]

It’s very naive to think money is the problem people used to have children and are still having children in infinitely worse economical conditions. It is solely a social problem and obviously boomers won’t have the solution because they themselves made the problem.

[@Chink9198]

30year old male single here. Every time I see my housekeeper ask me for CA (Cash Advance) so she can supplement her sister's tuition fees (She has 3 siblings and one son), I always think what would happen to my financial situation if I ever get married. Sure, I have money now to live comfortably. But what happens when I have kids? I'm not planning on having only one. I'm an only child and it sucks. So it's either I have 3 children or none. By the way I'm Filipino and this problem is also now creeping on our society, aside from the mass migration to western countries.

[@moorooster223]

1:08 the way this guy talks is so cool! so unexpected for an older fellow

[@jordanong5114]

I see the future generations can’t do anything right. I’m a 25 year old young man who just started studying anti aging. My job is to make people to become young again besides a celebrity. We should stick to our own kind and focus on changing the future. If the rude young people are increasing, the whole world would be in danger by now.

[@user-upt6j6hk15]

Why is population decline considered such a big issue? Isn't it inevitable that every country's population will eventually decline? Does everyone expect population growth to continue indefinitely? Can you imagine Japan or South Korea with 1 billion people? Or even the United States with 1 billion people? Would that be healthy for these countries? Japan currently has about 125 million people, which is significantly more than any European country. It's not going to disappear anytime soon.

[@merry_christmas]

It's because all our economies depend on the concept of endless growth (even though we're running out of resources, cities are full, life gets more expensive, roads are full, the climate can't keep up, the quality of crops is going down, etc., etc.). It's dumb but somehow no country seems to focus on the long-term sustainability/feasibility of wealth directly relating to demographics.

[@darinherrick9224]

This comment is extremely ignorant. The last time a super-developed country had a population crash it was the Roman Empire and the result was the Dark Ages. It literally took hundreds of years for the WORLD to recover from that population drop. When population falls governments collapse. Economy collapses. Food production collapses. There's WAR over resources since production is falling off a cliff. Read "What to expect when no one's expecting". The SHORT-TERM effects are massive blight (think EVERY city is like Detroit with abandoned buildings everywhere), animals retaking cities because there's no people to scare them away, roads and buildings falling apart, old people dying by the millions in hospitals with no one to take care of them. Businesses shutting down everywhere because there are 30 executives for every worker. Social Security programs are bankrupt with no one to pay into them. That's the SHORT-TERM effects. Long term effects are massive migration, new races that spring up from mass migration. Entire civilizations (Italy and Japan will be some of the first) will become "lost" civilizations as everything known about them will be forgotten. Entire technologies and sciences will be lost and have to be rediscovered. Tech will regress decades.

[@darinherrick9224]

The truth is that America could very easily handle a billion people. More people = more solutions to problems, more workers, more money paid into social programs, more labor so everything is cheaper, more choices among who to marry or have as friends. More people is better in every way except resource usage, but that's largely due to structural inefficiencies (eating meat instead of plants, burning coal instead of solar, etc).

[@ssssaa2]

Population stabilization would be one thing, but this is outright collapse with no end in sight. Population decline in Korea for example will be 3.5% a year in a couple generations time at this fertility rate. That will prove catastrophic and our current government and economic models will fail outright in an environment like that. The elderly with no children will make up most of the electorate and will probably just vote to raise the taxes on young people to as close to 100% as possible to fund pension schemes. Society will not survive that, the remaining young will revolt or leave en masse.

[@JJ-yl7mc]

In fact, Japan's land area is relatively large compared to the rest of the world, being larger than the United Kingdom and Germany. However, 70% of Japan's land is covered by forests, leaving only 30% as habitable area. Japan is already overpopulated.

[@yeticarlyeticarl2551]

Overpopulated implies that there is an “optimal” or “right” level of population. As far as I understand, such a number doesn’t exist. I just came back from a trip to Hokkaido and ‘overpopulated’ is the last word I would use to describe what I saw.

[@JJ-yl7mc]

@@yeticarlyeticarl2551 I’m from Hokkaido, but it’s rural... In every country, the population is concentrated in urban areas. It’s because there are no jobs. Either way, I personally feel that there are too many people all over the world. The air was so clean when people didn’t go out during the pandemic...

[@twowheelsintokyo7039]

In 1950 Japan's government voiced concerns that the Home Islands were insufficient for a population of 80 million people. Today's population is 123 million people. An odd thing about people is that they seem to forget that they are animals, and are subject to the rules of nature. People like to pretend that they are somehow different from other living things, and that their intelligence and ability to organize gives them the ability to rule nature. This is nonsense. Population is naturally limited by resources, and Japan's resources are not sufficient to maintain its current population, therefore the population is declining. Japan is not the only country which sees its population declining, this is an issue in many western countries, and by the end of this century, the world's entire population will begin to decline. Population decline is described as a major problem by some, and to some, it indeed is. The main party concerned is government, as all government spending plans assume future growth of at least 2% GDP annually. These plans are essentially Ponzi schemes which require an ever larger number of people to put their money in the system. Once the population starts to fall, these plans no longer work. The government solution is to collect more revenue in order to continue funding spending, but this makes it even harder for people to afford children, so the population falls even more quickly, exacerbating the problem. My grandfather was one of 12 children. His family was large because labor was valuable, and kids were an asset rather than a liability. My grandfather and his siblings went to work in factories when they were 7 years old. The factories paid for the labor, as well as supplying one meal per day, and teaching reading, writing, and math. When my grandfather and his siblings were old enough for "real work" they labored on the family farm. The labor of these 12 children bought and paid for the farm, which became one of the largest farms in their part of the state, and all of the kids, having learned the value of hard work when young, went on to live prosperous lives. Children today are not considered a family asset, but financial liabilities. In the past, having kids could help you get the money you needed to fund a larger home and all that went with it, today having kids has the opposite effect.

[@ssssaa2]

Even countries with vast resources like Russia are declining in population. And humans can always just go and get resources from other parts of the world if they need to. Japan is not facing resource scarcity. Resource production per capita globally is the highest it has ever been and continues to grow.

[@michaelmartin9022]

>Population of USA in area of UK >People thinking population decline is a bad thing

[@ssssaa2]

If you live in a city, you have already experienced a population density far greater than that of Japan's. The economy and government cannot survive a rapid population decline and aging of the population, simple as. It will be catastrophic.

[@michaelmartin9022]

@@ssssaa2 Last time it happened, serfdom was abolished. This time we have AI and automation.

[@serafinapekala8849]

Excellent. It is fun to have kids. Life is an adventure. The ultimate element that has been missing over the demographic debate. I don't have kids, I'm 33 and married. My husband doesn't want neither and we are happy like that. And life will bring us other ways to take care of children and teens.

[@SkiraReed]

And it's not just about not 'wanting' kids, infertility is rising massively in the 1st world countries. You either have people who don't want kids or people who want them and can't have them. It's so frustrating. All I'd want is to have a normal family life like my parents had, finally having a child with my husband who I love. It amazes me how some insurances and companies pay for abortions but nobody wants to pay for infertility treatments.

[@itsalwayshalloweenexceptwh5118]

If you're in the US then in the large majority of cases elective 4bortion is not covered by insurance. If it is, it is most likely through a private insurance package (which is very expensive and in a lot of cases doesn't fully cover an elective 4bortion) or through one of the very few employers who include it in their employer sponsored health coverage plan. In some states elective 4bortion isn't allowed to be covered by any type of insurance. Some states even restrict non-elective (meaning medically necessary, or a result of r4pe/1ncest) 4bortion. There is no federal or state law preventing you from accessing fertility treatment. No states prevent you from getting a health care plan that includes fertility treatment coverage. All states include some coverage for fertility treatment in their state funded health insurance. So if you're in the US you get more financial support for fertility treatments and less barriers to fertility treatments compared to elective 4bortion. If you are seeking fertility treatments I wish you all the best and hope you will get the support you need. PS; this was the info I could find online from official sources, if anything is inaccurate please let me know and provide a source.

[@alphabetagamma12]

The last guy - being young should mean listening to adults advice halfway and ignoring it halfway 😂. I like that 👍🏾

[@jrk1666]

Inflation affects people's future lives, if you save money and it devaluates you're in a worst position than those who spent right away, this damages long term planning.

[@pocalypto]

Fun fact older Japanese have always lived in fear of the young. . . abandoning them it was the specter in the back of their mind that they never speak of but always knew

[@HaulinOats315]

Why do people assume that a population should continuously expand and never contract? A healthy population reaches an equilibrium with its environment wherein the population fluxes upward and downward in a continuous alternating succession. The number of people should go up and then down and then up and then down, always staying within a healthy range. But a part of this process is that the population goes down routinely without the whole of society degenerating into a panicked state.

[@clamshot6880]

Dude was so ass for saying , are you afraid that your pension will not continue 😂

[@9y2bgy]

There is one glaring factor that affects the birth rate of any country; education level and career opportunity for women. Plain and simple.

[@spiraleddays1870]

Japan need to sort out its work place ethics then the population will slowly rise

[@fatwombat2611]

Japan would be a great place to raise a family and hope the Japanese start having children again. Immigration is a lazy solution.

[@GreatWalker]

9:16 This guy is great.

[@iamski]

And yet... the Japanese government is playing the ignorance by apathy or ignorance by greed card. Or Both. Either way, until Japanese society comes to terms that capitalism is quite literally destroying their society by an overworked and underpaid society, this will continue to decimate their population... But I digress, we have too many humans as it is and I believe long term this will benefit Japan in 50 years. But until then, say adios muchachos to Japanese society.

[@violetsparkles5453]

Literally the only correct response here. The problem is capitalism. It’s becoming increasingly harder to survive in the world and naturally, people don’t wanna have kids when they can barely support themselves

[@iamski]

@@violetsparkles5453 Nobody ever wants to have that kind of discussion because it's the system that is at fault. Because it's too complicated, too convoluted, too controversial, and nobody has time for that anymore so instead they just throw their hands up in the air and give a collective sigh. The younger generation isn't stupid and yet the government refuses to hear their pleas that there is no work/life balance whatsoever, so their only solution is to forego the natural institution of giving birth because they have NO TIME or MONEY to do so. But again I digress, the government will never listen and it's already too late.

[@AIIIAKS-vn4co]

No, the Japanese government is actually revising labor laws to reduce working hours and crack down on illegal companies. The problem is that some Japanese companies are not following the government's policies and laws. Stop criticizing the government for everything.

[@taka1416]

There are many others countries in Asia that are in worse condition than Japan, like south Korea or China. Japan has fertility rate of 1.3 but South Korea has 0.7! Be worried more about Korea than Japan!

[@Byhvla]

Lol what a typical Japanese behavior, whenever someone points out how seriously f**ked your country is you think bringing Korea into the conversation will somehow make you look any better. However, you forgot to mention the part about how much more technologically advanced Korea is today compared to Japan, Koreans are actually keeping up with the world, unlike the Japanese, who’s country is run by 70+ yo people who are still stuck in the 1980s in every aspect possible. Same thing for China, which makes up around 19%-20% of the world’s economy today, and is competing with the US for technological superiority, especially in fields like AI, electric vehicles, semiconductor chips, phones, etc.

[@ssssaa2]

Korea is set to collapse outright at this rate.

[@marce8760]

In my experience you have to accept a lot of inconveniences when raising children. Your relationship with your partner will take a hit too for about 4 to 5 years. What really helps is having your parents around or a babysitter every now and then. From a societal perspective making daycare free or almost free is pivotal for many parents to cope financially. Where I live it's all too obvious that having kids is a very expensive endeavour. Too expensive for 1 parental income tbh. And being a single parent without support from parents will lead to poverty. That situation combined with the time it takes to complete education and having a decent job, our changing attitudes for craving fun and satisfaction in stead of being happy with small things and people around you, is imo the main reason for declining birthrate.

[@riowhi7]

Japan needs to address the societal and structural issues that led to the demographic collapse. Remedies like immigration, pro-natalist policies, etc are all good to certain extents but they are all ultimately temporary. In order to address the root issue, material conditions must improve for all Japanese, in order for them to even consider having children. I think degrowth is the most realistic pathway given the stagnant economy and concerns over the environment/climate. With degrowth, we could also see a sustained de-urbanization process, allowing for birthrates to naturally rise again. I think the old man at 1:55 is correct in that it's more of a cycle with periods of birth rates declining and then going up again.

[@void4955]

4:30 Uncle is right it’s the damn smartphone

[@OroguSaki]

The lady at 8:00 described the problem pretty plainly. It's not that they don't want children, the women have different priorities when they are naturally most fertile, in their 20s and 30s and miss out on having a family. Due to systemic misinformation, they don't have it as a high priority during that critical period, when in fact it's one of the most precious and time-limited goals they wanted to achieve. The government was eager to put women in the workforce to boost their post-war booming industries, the economy grew like crazy which seemed to pay off, but it was a short-term & short-sighted achievement. Now they have to deal with the consequences of having produced a ton of childless elders, a declining population and of breaking their society and family values.

[@ensommeille5315]

So what, women shouldn't be allowed to focus on having a career? Not only is a one person working household not achievable the way it was back during those times (good luck affording to both live and have kids with just the dad working) but male fertility declines around the same time a woman's fertility does. Older men and women alike can still get pregnant, but after your mid 40s it becomes difficult to impossible for BOTH sexes, so surely that also means men shouldn't be able to prioritise their careers also? Older dads have also been associated with greater genetic risks/birth defects (including rarer genetic disorders) and risk of miscarriage. Putting all of the onus on women is both sexist and not feasible like it was 100 years ago. I'm lucky enough to live alone but, even though I work full time, I have very little left every month after my rent and bills and essentials are covered. And I don't drive, drink, smoke, etc; I have it okay compared to other people who have to account for those costs, too. Childcare costs are through the roof, so the necessity of both parents working to make enough to survive ends up being even more expensive because of that. The exhaustion and burnout just isn't worth it. I can just about take care of myself, I can't imagine adding another responsibility like that. Hell, it would be irresponsible. The way the current system favours the rich and continues to screw us at the bottom over so the rich can get even richer is the real issue here. Misogyny isn't going to fix it. Not only is it unfair, but I guarantee you most men would be miserable trying to support a family (even with just one child) on his wage alone. Most men do not make enough for that, and that isn't their fault. This is an issue all over the world.

[@OroguSaki]

@@ensommeille5315 It's not a privilege to have a career, it's a means to an end, to bring food to your family's table. The company pays you for your time, they are not and won't be your family. It's fine for women to work, as long as they have a good understanding that they are not sacrificing their future families to do so. When it's made clear that in order to have a family in your 80s, you need to achieve children in your 20s and early 30s, having different priorities during that critical period is irational. This should be taught at schools and then have girls make their own decisions. And no, it's not at all the same for men and women. For women, 35 it is MEDICALLY considered elderly when it comes to motherhood. Men can still have healthy children in their 70s and 80s, e.g. Robert De Niro and Clint Eastwood. Currently they teach them that career is the most important thing in life, cause it's good for the economy. But actually even for the economy this system is broken.

[@OroguSaki]

@@ensommeille5315 About the expense argument, it's pretty clear that the poorer a country is, the more children they have, so it's not the cause of the problem. There is enough infrastructure to raise children even with low income, it was never a privilege of the wealthy. As for the single income argument, firstly, wages are a matter of supply and demand. When you double the supply, you half the demand, and then single income households are indeed difficult to support. But besides that, Japanese jobs are very time-demanding, they assume this is your main duty in life. It's pretty hard for women to adapt to this role and also have time to build a family. But they can choose jobs with better work/life balance, and still offer a significant support to the household finances. This should be admired, not frowned upon. It shouldn't be a matter of competition of who has the biggest career, they are a team, one family unit. A job is going out to bring food for your household, that's all there is to it. Who spends more time outside the house, working, is not something to be envied. And if some people do envy this role, it should be clear what it means so they make a conscious, informed choice, not brainwashing them since childhood that career is the most important thing there is.

[@MicahRdr]

@@ensommeille5315 This is an existential problem for Western liberalism: how can it survive as an ideology with a below-replacement (and falling) birth rate? And how can it maintain its progress with: women's' rights and at the same time bring back its birth rate to over 2.1? The above-replacement countries are pretty much all old-school patriarchies, where women are expected to marry and start families in their early 20s. We're basically seeing in real-time why that cultural strategy evolved in the first place; it produces a sustainable number of children. Some people will say migration is the answer, it isn't. If migrants fully integrate, then their birth-rate by definition falls to whatever the birth rate is of the host county. And if the young migrants from patriarchal regions do not integrate, then their patriarchal cultures will gradually displace the host culture's because of the difference in birth rates. Even in the best case scenario of mass-immigration with integration, the Western world essentially would indefinitely out-source its baby-making to patriarchies, and then paradoxically Europe would actually need those countries with high birth-rates to remain patriarchal, because we would need a continual source of young migrants! So basically, liberalism needs to figure out how to get to 2.1+ babies per women, but where women actually choose to have large families rather than being pressured into it.

[@awolpeace1781]

Why do a survey when you can talk to three people

[@Anonymouscpa2]

Subtitle translation is a bit off here and there.

[@jeffreysetapak]

The interview location is nearby Ueno 上野駅 station.

[@karld1791]

If the elderly want new taxpayers to pay their pensions they need to vote and change society to support young people’s careers, home life and families.

[@_KITE]

I think Japan will be fine, despite the demographic changes. The level of growth they experienced from Meiji to Heisei was unsustainable from the start; now Japan is simply looking for its new demographic steady state.

[@ShaiyanHossain]

western based media keeps overhyping this issue on either side to get dumb politics involved. The Japanese will find a way to deal with it, they're more resilient than people make out to be

[@DefaultFlame]

That may be, but you have to ramp down to that level over several generations with a birthrate just under replacement. Their birthrate is 1.2, that's sudden population collapse levels. Ignore the issues of elders and pensions for a moment and think of what that means for not just production but maintenance of infrastructure. Say you have 100 million people who are of working age plus another 30 million who are too old or too young. The infrastructure to support those 130 million people at it's current level requires the current amount of people working in order to maintain it. If you slowly decrease the amount of people working over generations you can compensate because there are fewer people total and therefore you need less infrastructure. If you decrease the amount of people working over one or two generations then the infrastructure cannot be ramped down and instead starts to break down as you focus on maintain the more vital parts of it over the less vital. These elders' parents had six to eight kids. They themselves had zero to two. That's four times less people of working age now than there were when they were young. The only reason Japan hasn't collapsed into a failed state during that time is because technology has massively increased the productivity and efficiency of each individual worker, which has compensated but it's not enough today. They have a labor shortage already, and every year it's going to get worse as more people age out of working age than age into working age.

[@_KITE]

@@DefaultFlame I agree with you on every point that you made. In fact, I think that the mass exodus of people from the countryside is a testament to much of what you pointed out. Abandoning the infrastructure in rural areas will have consequences, as will urban migration. I think we are all somewhat anxious to see just what sort of ramifications those will be, but the next fifty years or so will make it more apparent. And yet, I rather have the impression that this is something that the Japanese people have accepted or at least resigned themselves to - this less than ideal situation in which the population is both aging and decaying. They could have allowed in immigrants, but it seems like the consensus is that Japan values being Japanese more than ramping down over several generations. They chose to prioritize homogeneity over demography.

[@DefaultFlame]

@@_KITE Well, looking at the UK, US, Germany, and my own country Sweden, mass immigration isn't exactly a solution either, what with r***, m****r, and other crimes skyrocketing over the last decade. I suppose if they offered solid long-term incentives to immigrants while also having very strict requirements for acceptance they could make it work. But that costs lots and lots of money, which means higher taxes on the existing workforce, which would mean understandable resentment and potential ethnic or socioeconomic based clashes in their near future. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

[@_KITE]

@@DefaultFlame I would not attribute crime with immigration necessarily. I lived in Japan for many years and can tell you that Japanese people commit crime and perpetuate it against their own fellow countrymen, too. Crime and malignancy are eternal issues, really. Even homogeneous countries in a state of near-perfect autarky (i.e. the DPRK) have some level of crime. To put it bluntly, I do not blame Japan for wanting to die Japanese. It is a sensible decision, and perhaps other countries will even follow suit. I lament the fact that when I go back to some of the rural Japanese villages I spent time in, I have to go with the understanding that the people who I met there in the past have, in all likelihood, already left this world. The change is happening in real-time; you go to these place and are told, often woefully, that the situation has only gotten worse despite remedial efforts.

[@jhiro9370]

14:00 これ真理だな。日本人が本心を隠す習性のマイナス面だなー

[@SanToriNiku]

Was about to comment about pension problem sarcastically without watching it first, oh boy, the first minute. 0:59

[@xxnike0629xx]

Smartphones aren't really a problem in the grand scheme of things. But I can understand that reasoning. Something to really consider is that the current older generation did not really prepare their children for a situation like this. They also did not do things to prevent the current situation we're in. It makes it very difficult to do what is 'normal' to upkeep a society in terms of economy, population, job market, etc. A lot of people are struggling day-to-day. Dating let alone marriage, and even less children is the last thing a lot of people are thinking about. The cost of doing so just won't make sense and is not feasible. Another thing is that many working-age people are not able to afford buying a house so most either rent or stay/move back in with their parents. Overall this situation is commonplace around 'developed' nations and it's not going away.

[@nzgamingfan]

Declining birth rates will lead to less young people being able to look after the older folks.

[@helveciog]

It's going to happpen everywhere. Even in some regions in Brazil for example there's a birth declining rate, imagine in developed countries like Japan, US, Canada etc.

[@petra3632]

Sehr guter Beitrag!!!

[@AhidoMikaro]

Seems like the old people themselves say they had 1-2 kids. Even 2 is not enough to stay at the same total population! Lacking self-awareness. Though of course, this is the truth. The birth rates have been going down for a long, long time. Steadily to the point where we are today. Not just Japan, most of the world.

[@zhen86]

Baby boomer generation started to have less children as the government thinks that people will keep having 4 or 5 or even 8 to stop population increase too fast. However, what they did not account is the amount of people dieing was not as fast. Japan issue is not just not giving birth to not enough kids, it’s Aging population. Once the baby boomer generation die off, population of the developed countries will decline. That is good for many countries as this means less old people. The issue is never about too little people, it’s about not enough workers to support the last gen.

[@heididlr5433]

Despite their life experiences, the individuals in the video express a desire for the current generation to adhere to traditional values, even though they acknowledge the challenges of raising children in today's world. One interviewee notes that a declining population could impact their pensions, suggesting that the issues faced today are not solely the fault of the current generation but rather a result of systemic changes over time. Their viewpoints appear to be outdated, which highlights the generational differences I, as a Gen Z, am addressing.

[@salwa_sj6476]

I grow up in a large family and I agree totally with "smartphone mind" men 😂.. i really love him 😅

[@matchalatte29]

It’s heartwarming to hear what these men and women are sharing here! I hope they do communicate with their loved, younger ones, sharing their insights and feelings with their loved (younger) ones. I also hope young men and women will take into consideration what their elders have to share. I believe Japan will navigate this population challenge well.

[@elizabethbaker473]

Thank you, Asain Boss. Love you ,on the street interviews with local communities. Keeps me educated on different Asain problems & attitudes of that countries peoples. Being Australian🇦🇺🌏 we are in the Asain regions .So I take great interest in the Asain regions. Japan, South Koria, China, Indonesia, Philippines & rest. ❤ASAIN BOSS on the street. 🇦🇺🌏fan.

[@sknbbx]

India??

[@exploringapis4495]

"why are you worried? are you worried about your pension?" the interviewer was quite rude here.

[@jillipepper5353]

There is also the increasing problem of infertility contributing to the decrease in pregnancies.

[@jmatthews5685]

Underdeveloped countries have higher populations because women have no choice & and fewer obligations outside the home. Developed countries are declining in population because women have the same obligations as their male counterparts plus motherhood/child rearing. The children of the generations wherein the mother has done both, know better than to subject themselves to it😖

[@お節介じい]

日本失落了30年。其间日本经济停滞不前。其他亚洲国家渐渐赶上日本了。如：韩国､台湾､新加坡等等。因为近几年日元的价值一直贬不停的关系，日本人确实变穷了。因此养儿育女实在不容易。日本的出生率急速下降是在所难免的。

[@hallucinatingsisters]

interesting

[@Ray-mo6ke]

I think no one seems bothered by and it will continue... however, foreigners will take the initiative and mate with japanese women. Japanese men 90 percentile will stay the course, 10 percent will marry a American, western girl or a sweet pinay. Peace ✌

[@vlogkitsune6785]

Looks like the gist of the problem is wide spread content around hardships of childcare and scaring young people from it.

[@cheerfulturtlegirl]

I'm American, and though I probably won't have a large family, I still hope to have children in the near future. I still have to find meet the right man and marry lol.