The Future of Japan

[Tokyo]

Thanks for highlighting the BBC and Noah Smith links above. They both made great reading although they seem to point in opposite directions on the pessimism to optimism spectrum.

Will Japan gradually fade into irrelevance, or re-invent itself? My head tells me that to prosper anew Japan must embrace change. But my heart aches at the thought of it losing the things that make it so special.

Yes, yes, YES to this conclusion to the BBC article. I also want Japan to change towards a brighter future but I never want it to lose the qualities that have convinced my wife and I that, for all the very real problems and minor annoyances aside, there is no better place for my family to be living in. I just hope I can continue saying this for the next 20-30 years too before moving onto that big Ginza in the sky.

[goran]

Regarding the future of Japan, PM Kishida's statement about falling birth rate and considering how immigration could be a step to address these points, something that I am going through right now in my personal life is struggling to find a Japanese national as a guarantor to change my rental contract from my employer (changing jobs in a month) to my own name.

Not in a state to coherently articulate my thoughts, thanks to uncertain housing situation.
May be I just want to say that there are many hurdles to properly assimilate to/into Japan as a foreign national, even when you have been here for more than 6 years with stable job and OK-ish Japanese, which I don't expect to change even if I live here for another 20 years. (My main language at work is Japanese)

[Wales4rugbyWC23]

Ouch ouch ouch

https://noahpinion.substack.com/p/actua ... nged-a-lot

“Gerontocracy…” I love it!
It’s very seldom that somebody is able to add to my lexicon. So that just made my day.
What a succinct descriptor of Japan.

Given the combined age of the two previous American Presidential candidates was 150 years. It is not just Japan who lives in a gerontocracy.

[Isodora]

I get the feeling westerners (on Reddit and elsewhere) always just see their home countries with rose colored glasses when comparing them to Japan but never consider the opposite view. Japan has good social insurance, amazing infrastructure and affordable housing. It's a country made up of the middle class where
You can live a good comfortable life in Japan no matter your background and I feel people lose sight of alot of this as they complain about how the staff at McDonald's tried to read them the menu in Japanese.

I am not so sure, about the “largely middle class” thing. That may depend very much on the neighborhood you live in.

Even 20 years ago - when our children were young and first went to daycare and later Gakudo - we met plenty of families who lived precariously, often single parents. Amongst those who were doing somehow ok, most lived with the Grandparents or lived close to them.

Mothers struggling two Fleeter jobs, depressed Mothers who could not take care of children and household, mentally unstable Mother after divorce, families working in dead-end jobs round the clock to afford to buy a small apartment, alcoholic parents, working Grandma raising her grandson, elderly father with young daughter who was totally neglected (that was an extreme case though) to name just a few people we met, there were so many people who definitely did not live the “new house, new car, naraigoto, juku, private school, Mom not working outside home” dream, that made me realize that the Japan middle class is an idea more than a reality.

As working foreigners we were outsiders and I think there were therefore less inhibitions to interact with us.

This area was by no means a bad area, it sat right between a “rich”, a “normal” and a Shitamachi neighborhood, but was relatively expensive due to its vicinity to a good train line and the city center.

Also pride and not wanting to be a burden is a big thing, even if you are struggling badly, you try not to show it to the outside, or ask for help, that may be different to the rest of the world and can give a wrong positive impression of the reality.

[sutebayashi]

Hmm, some good points in the Noah piece, but some dubious stuff too.

I am a Tokyo resident and think it is indeed a great city. I live in a relatively green part of it, I feel. That’s what I was looking for.

But his arguments about housing seem off. It’s not like Japanese people actually load up on stocks and bonds because they don’t face expensive housing, as he makes out. Rather, the population of Japan are famous as cash hoarders.

I had to save money for a deposit on a nice home for some years, not wanting to buy some cheap place that would eventually be worthless. It was only around that time that I started investing, and it was only after that, that I guess age-based salary customs saw my income rise to really be able to do so. (Were I working in other countries I might have been on a higher salary sooner, I suspect, but this is just pros and cons)

Many people have various experiences with and perceptions of Japan, each to their own. It’s unavoidable, but I feel people needn’t feel so precious about things. Of course a person leaving Japan will have some negative reasons for doing so. And a person writing about Japan from abroad will have some positive reasons for thinking how wonderful it is. Those of us who continue to live here see many things ourselves, of course. My perceptions have shifted over time for sure, and part of this is me changing.

[Bubblegun]

I wasn't that enchanted with the BBC article. I thought maybe he actually missed a few good points. The man holes while he sees it as a waste, I can actually see these things as a reason for people to go and take their kids out and do the tour things. I'm not sure but I think some other prefecture does this too. would be cool if they did Pokemon, or other famous anime characters.
His argument about over staffing, IMHO is totally way off, and is probably symptomatic of the terrible service Brits have come to accept.I see it as one way we get absolutely awesome service. I also it see it as a way of keeping unemployment down, giving some a job gives them respect, see esteem, and while the author complains about it, he would probably also complain and report about hundreds being unemployed and being a drain on the public purse, or think that they are just lazy. (depending on the press)Maybe not him but we can certainly see that in some of the cheap papers in the uk. I believe he is totally naive to think that the company would lay off it staff, and somehow just give that extra money to the staff, when they would probably just feed those profits to the shareholders. After all that's exactly what the googles, facebooks, et al are doing right now.
He has a point about housing but, I think I would rather be in the Japanese situation to buy a house that the UK system which seems to have locked people out of the housing market altogether. and forcing kids back into their parents home.Something we were surely ridiculed for years ago.Some are riduculed for even today. A house is supposed be a home, not money making machine. The rent situation in Japan also serves a social purpose and not a greedy landlords. Maybe he ignores that this is what makes communities stronger here, and while I have no evidence to support my hypothesis maybe actually contribute to a safer society, because we've gotta get along int he same neighborhood. The people buy a home and don't really look to flip for a profit. Maybe he looks back on the UK through a tinted lens, but I don't think id want to be living there now. People having to wait weeks to see a GP, People can't afford to buy a "HOME", students pumped up with debt.( which I see more as a tax). and a government over focused on political dogma, and party politics, rather than making the citizen happy. Blimey as I write this, I have to wonder if my option on the Japanese government is changing.LOL. As they seem to have tried to level up a country with a fantastic high speed railway which the UK basically can't even get out of the starting block, and will basically start in London and stop half way up England. sorry Scotland, Wales!
After 20 years in Japan, I guess I dont quite fit in back in the UK, because I see some much I love here, but I don't quite fit in here, because of the language problems, and always seen as a foreigner, but also because there are things I like there. Free health care at the point of delivery. free roads. Nobody poking their nose in and saying "its the rule". If anything maybe the UK could look to Japan on how to solve some of its problems. EG the NHS system. We don't have to follow the USA system or stay completely free.A hybrid system like Japans would be great. How about housing and pushing self builds, and making them 2 generation homes with even tax breaks.( although its better for a home builder to build two separate homes and make more money) How about a HS railway that locks the whole of the UK together and make those countries viable options for businesses, and internal tourism. instead of just feeding LONDON. So much to complain about in Japan but as my wife said " we don't need any more stuff", and we're happy.
Japan will do just fine, they'll find THEIR WAY. Probably much better than the basket case the UK has turned into. cough cough since the B word.

[Cracaphat]

I read the article and it wasn't really planting the flag in anything that those who've lived here long enough don't already know or have experienced.It felt like a sayonara whinge about the state of the country.But going back to the U.K. would hardly give me that much more optimism than living here.In fact it wouldn't.Not when the capital's new nickname is "Stab Central."

[Gulliver]

I think he is upset the inaka village didn’t react enthusiastically to the prospect of him and his family moving there.

Yeah, I wouldn’t be comfortable living in a village full of racist old men either. Unless I was racist…

[Gulliver]

I think he is upset the inaka village didn’t react enthusiastically to the prospect of him and his family moving there.

When I read that passage, it sounded more like they were warning him off moving there for his own good.

I.E, You probably are not going to like the lifestyle here, and we are all so old we aren`t going to change. Which would seem perfectly reasonable.

Not "You are not welcome".

That was quite a feat of mental gymnastics.

A racist backwater is a racist backwater no matter how much window dressing you put on it, or where in the world you are.

[TokyoBoglehead]

I think he is upset the inaka village didn’t react enthusiastically to the prospect of him and his family moving there.

When I read that passage, it sounded more like they were warning him off moving there for his own good.

I.E, You probably are not going to like the lifestyle here, and we are all so old we aren`t going to change. Which would seem perfectly reasonable.

Not "You are not welcome".

That was quite a feat of mental gymnastics.

A racist backwater is a racist backwater no matter how much window dressing you put on it, or where in the world you are.

I think you might be projecting onto a small anecdote. Furthermore being wary of outsiders does not necessitate racism.
Big city slickers are often met with suspicion in smaller towns.

In France, in a smaller town we had someone who refused to help us initially when we asked for directions. Was that racism? Nope, it's cause we had Parisian licence plates.

Once he realized we were foreign tourists he happily helped. Just as long as we weren't Parisians.