Japan Has No Idea What They're Doing
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- Опубликовано: 9 сен 2024
- Japan is set on making new changes that are supposed to solve all the problems. But once again, they completely fumbled.
ARTICLE: japantoday.com...
Edited by Luke: / lukecraigphoto
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"Work culture" needs to be changed - less stress and more free time (vacations, etc.).
Will never happen with a capitalist party dedicated to neoliberalism at the helm.
Right, then that influences the economy positively too. Instead of the money just going into izakayas’ pockets, it can be spread elsewhere. The work culture is the main problem.
It's tough because there's a stigma to not overworking. But I guess all those salarypeople can take a page off their fellow factory workers and form a labor union. I rarely hear about car factory workers doing long shifts, and they make some of the sturdiest and most reliable vehicles out there.
I hope you know that the work culture is not the biggest problem here? Because most of the world has birth rate problems with other kind of work cultures.
The work culture bit is definitely the major factor but there are more issues too. Their culture still heavily favors a stay-at-home mom to raise the kids. Working women who get pregnant don't advance so they are discouraged to have kids. Company loyalty is favored over family life.
And there is the cost of living. Globally, raising a family in developed countries has become so unaffordable that it's an instant dealbreaker. Children = expensive hobby. If one can't even afford a home in this housing crisis, having kids is out of the question.
They just need to make it affordable for people to start families in Japan. That means HIGHER WAGES and LESS WORK HOURS.
This was my first idea when thinking about this problem. I think everything Joey mentioned are great ideas into solving this problem.
I mean that's like, the sort of go-to "goal" of probably every country out there.. I think what Joey suggests is pretty much a solid solution to the problem.. Not just that, but also just trying to improve the work environment.. imo if the work environment is healthy and stress-free, people are more kind, it also sometimes makes people content with long work hours and they might stick with their work hours but also be healthy and optimistic enough to make babies..
I wonder if their housing prices are better though, considering there are less and less people, shouldnt that make apartments cheaper?
it is affordable to start families in japan.
It's not about affordability. The men are betas and the women belong to the streets.
The answer isn’t bringing in more people from overseas, it’s changing the work culture to allow Japanese people to actually have time to go out and meet a partner.
It’s the daily grind of nonstop work that is killing Japan and until this is addressed, there won’t be any rise in the native birth rates.
It’s not only the adults in Japan that have no free time, children in Japan go to cram school after school and have a daily schedule that doesn’t end until 9pm every night. The children here do nothing but study and wind up alone when they reach adulthood because they have no friends and have no idea how to form meaningful relationships.
Right? There's no time or energy to have sex XD
I think it could be both. If you have a foreign population interested in living in Japan, allowing those people to work in more varied fields can take some of the burden off of the local population and would allow higher wages and shorter workplace demands to come in. Japan's available working population just isn't big enough to be able to take a hit like the initial revenue loss of implementing that, at least not without risk that the government will never realistically consider. In turn, you hire more people from overseas to make up the difference and add that safety cushion for the economy to build back up and to let both the foreign market feel more welcome which leads to more business and population, as well as more native people feeling comfortable taking extra time off, settling down, having kids, etc. Foreign business owners could also integrate foreign business practices like optional overtime and higher wages along with Japanese efficiency and hospitality, which could warm people up to it more organically. Of course there's that greater hurdle of cram culture and social expectations of "what makes a valued worker" that drives people to death, but that's a more sociological issue I don't have an answer for other than exposure and mandated reforms. The only way I think Japan will get that though is to lose that necessity, or at least that perceived necessity, and fight it when things get more stable.
@@nateroo1486 A lot of what you're saying is wishful thinking and best case scenarios. A more realistic (albiet still hard) goal is less hours, higher wages. Japanese work culture practically begs you to die for your work.
This is absolutely ridiculous, and that is exactly why not only Japan but all developed countries are struggling. We all think it's because of work and economics, but we never stop to think that our ancestors used to work a lot harder than our current generation, with longer hours and harsh work conditions, and they were a lot poorer. The problem actually is our culture and urbanization. In the old days children are extra set of working hands, today we see them as a burdren.
“Not enough workers? Well then make *everyone* work!”
This sounds almost dystopian
It is. and it is everywhere.
You misspelled "American."
Unfortunately this style of approach is to any problem in japan. Just increase X without thinking about the reason why X is not enough
@@SomeRandomJackAssIt's so much more than America in many ways
@@TheAyanamiRei True, but as far as this particular problem goes, America is decades behind Japan. It's absolutely going to get worse before there's any hope of it getting better here. There's no foreseeable solution in American society today. Japan has a solution right there in front of them, it's just hard for the government to acknowledge it. The Japanese are traditionally a very proud people. It hurts immensely to admit when you're wrong regardless of who you are, but it looks like they're budging on this issue. The government is starting to see the writing on the walls. Isolationism can be a boon, but only for a time. Everyone needs help at times.
Japan : **has declining birth problem because of the work culture*
Also Japan : *"Let's hire more women, pay them less, and make the birth problem worse!"*
Japan's government is really built different. They're like AAA game companies xD
can i cheat with married japanese women who work at my workplace?
@@kazumakiryuu2668 You _ought_ not. Though, I suppose it depends on how your partner feels about it. At the very least you shouldn't try to cover it up.
My favorite comment ❤️😂
Women already work.
A law that makes it more accessible for them, would actually be beneficial - if it includes stuff like making sure they get payed more, get proper health-care and pregnancy benefits.
Not to mention the law is also meant to include more elderly people, which should also help with need of more workers and help family budgets.
It sounds counterintuitive, but it could work in theory. By making women less dependent - it gives them more freedom, happiness and choices, especially if the situation of women in workplaces gets better. It rises the family income, it takes the whole bread-bringing from fathers - which allows for better split of house-work between both parents. Does it make some women decide to fully go for their career? Yes. But for others that's the flexibility needed to decide to start family.
Stabilising workforce makes workplaces less stressful and cutthroat, potentially making people more happy with their lifes and careers.
the real question the government should ask is if people have the opportunity to have kids or not and the time to have a family.
if having a family comes with a sacrifice in their work and time that isn't worth it, then why should they.
So the problem is the work culture... why the fuck being a slave to a corporation more important than having kids?
East Asian cultures tend to be more submissive to authority and have a higher standard for discipline. Which leads to workaholics who can't bring themselves to stand up their boss because they were taught not to and their peers will also judge them for being the only one not putting in the same effort as everyone else. This creates a vicious cycle which is hard to break.@@ArlindoBuriti
I think a part of the problem is the horrible working culture in Japan. many foreigners, aren't used to it being like that when compared to the Japanese. Foreigners not wanting to take part in the Japanese working culture may lead to them working a job via a foreign company, or just moving out of the country to get a job wit ha better working environment.
Also, any foreigner who disrespect to Japan should be blacklist like logan and Johnny
@@mahendrap1960you need to lay of the coolaid homie
@@mahendrap1960"Disrespect" isn't the same as pointing out the FACT that Japan's work culture is what's quickly killing the country. Stop being one of those people who defends everything Japanese just because you like some anime they create.
Well, Italy or Spain have a laid-back working culture but their fertility rate is still very low.
@@kairos_fluent Not like Japan not even close. I have lived and worked in Japan and Italy.
if they want people to start having more kids they need to give them more time to live outside of work
Japan's "work culture" looks pretty scary from overseas, i think that and having to learn Japanese are the 2 main things keeping most people who would want to come to Japan to just give up on the idea
It also seems really difficult for foreigners to find a rental.
I have more problems with the fact it requires a bachelor's for the work visa a bigger issue for myself than work culture and learning Japanese, I had family problems that prevented me from getting my degree so I have 0 chance to move unless they change that or I get a spousal visa
I wish I had the knowledge on hand, but there are ways around that in some cases as I have met people who got around it. I would look around the internet. I think if your country allows for work holiday visas you might be able to sidestep that@@princezero0
@@princezero0 You can go to college at any point in life, if youre in the financial situation to.
Or that we are lobbying for a 4 day work week instead of
As a foreigner looking in, my first thought was of how the Japanese people are meeting each other. I think in another one of your videos you said most Japanese people meet at work. This to me sounds like the Japanese government is trying to increase the amount of work place romances because they see that is how people are getting together and meeting before settling down. If Japanese men don’t have time to court and date because they are always at work, then increasing the number of women in the work place sounds like a bandaid to the problem of the work culture. The Japanese government might be worried that they will not be able to keep up in the global economy if they change their work culture but that is exactly what they needs to happen to give the Japanese time to meet, court, date and then settle down. I do worry that the increase of woman in the workplace could lead to them being taken advantage of at company drinking events. Not entirely sure how likely that is because I’m not Japanese or work in a Japanese company. Thank you for listening to my Ted talk.
Office relationships aren't very successful most of the time though.
@@8qk67acq5 How do they handle breakups? They will have to deal with their exes everyday.
If Japan still wants that Natural Japanese birth rate to rise then all they need to do is cut a bunch of hours a week of work, and weekends off with some holidays and more pay, make the work environment allot better for everyone, cut off dependency and rehabilitation for everyone effective of dependency. That way they have more time and they aren’t stressed out, every hikkimori get to live life allot more and not be depressed.
Edit: if Japan want to have mainly allot more people from other countries than their own national birth of their own country then Japan will look allot different in the future the Japanese culture will be gone little by little and Japan will be a country of mix people (minorities) and foreigners (majority)
If there has ever been a good reason for government and industry to collude is to force people out of the office. Some companies have lights out policies that force employees to clock out as the lights on the building are on a timer, so a similar system can be done to force employees to use their PTO to touch grass essentially
@@LouisSubearth Yeah but what company is going to let that happen? They need those to work or they’ll lose their money
@@PaulBen19 I agree. This solution to Japan's depressed birth rate and widespread psychological depression sounds great, but would itself cause an economic depression. Industry and government leaders would need to have the guts to tank those heavy losses, for however long it takes to right the ship. Japanese cultural dedication to 'not rocking the boat' suggests no radical leadership change can be expected.
More foreigners in Japan will work out right? Its so succesfull in the West, that they have the highest crime rates in the world.
Sounds nice but that would also mean that the companies they work at would have quite the losses too... Which could bring the economic growth down... Sure one company may not have much an effect but a lot of it could be really bad~
some small businesses are already succumbing as well due to not much profit plus the rising costs of things~ if they hired another person with such a wage that might have the opposite effect instead~
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Weighing the pros and cons can be such a pain to think about especially if it's in a big scale that affects a lot of things 😅
How are they supposed to start families when they barely get 10 days off a year🙄
Wait- people get 10 days off?? I only get 7
It really depends on whether you work at a 'white' company, or a 'black' one. There's almost 3 times the difference in days off. Sorry for the following info-dump.
Many companies in Japan have 2 day weekends, Saturday and Sunday. 2 days off per week. That's 52 weeks a year, so 104 days. Statistics show 43%of Japanese workers have Saturday off, and 63% have Sunday off. Most people off on Saturday are also off on Sunday, but not everyone. There'll also be those like me who have shifting schedules who take 2 weekdays off.
Combine that with the 16 or so national holidays (in 2023). If a national holiday falls on a weekend, they move it to a weekday, to make sure we get that day off. That's 120 days off. A company with 120 days off every year would be considered a 'white' company.
Of course not all companies follow this. Labor laws state that standard working hours must not be above 40 hours per week, 8 hours per day, and there must be 1 day off per week, 4 days off per 4 weeks, minimum. Not every job takes national holidays off, so that's 52 days off minimum.
Then there are 'black' companies that go against the law and ask you to come in on your days off, off the books.
The 10 days paid leave is legally required on top of that. You get 10 days off after half a year at a company. Every year of employment, your days off per year increases, until the maximum is 20 new days off every year for those who have worked 6.5 years or more.
At a 'white' company, HR will insist that employees take those days off. At 'black' companies, they'll insist that employees don't take those paid leave days off.
Added all up, that's 140 days off per year for those working 6.5 years at a 'white' company, and 52 days off, if even that, for those working at a 'black' company.
@@erurirideablenyaduckacorn4034 that''s not something you suppose to one up.
When covid nearly ended in 2022, my uncle hire me 7 day a week to work for him and I only got day off because we are all got the vi-rus tm, don't know about you, I just hope I got into accident so I don't have to work everyday.
And how would gentrification would solve the problem? I say this because Joey said the solution is having more foreigners.
@@kechidonick Well, if you take the easy explanation, more workforce immigration means more workforce. If those work in Japan that means more people paying taxes and more people living in the country, thus raising the population (a.k.a growth, the religion of politicians).
I don't know what you mean by gentrification in this context. If you mean people getting paid more, sure, they'll have more money, but that won't make them have kids in a country well known for not supporting parents how they should. If you mean the real definition of gentrification, thus having poor parts of a city becoming richer, that could also just mean that poorer citizen can't afford to live there anymore and richer citizen build new houses or renovate old ones when they move there, thus not really addressing anything except maybe security, but that's not really a problem in Japan.
I'm of a slightly different mindset regarding this issue, as I'm of the thought that if they want to encourage their citizens to settle down happily with many children, just lessen their workload while paying them the same they were before.
Workforce reforms regarding black companies, senior employees trying to mold the newer employees to their liking and pushing their workload onto them, casual and permitted leaves' policies, all of these can play a significant impact of boosting the socio-economic conditions of the Japanese, heck any nation's conditions, and this will definitely also attract more foreigners to immigrate to Japan for a better work experience.
People know just how much an hour or two off work everyday while getting paid for it, can mean to everyone.
But Italy/Spain has a good work-life balance but their fertility rate is still very low.
The part about pay... economics don't work that way. You can't just make it government mandated to pay twice as much without it causing a ton of businesses to go under, others to massively cut staff to a skeleton crew, and the currency to inflate causing losses to savings... it would actually destroy the economy.
Dealing with black companies I agree with you on. There needs to be more protection against outright abusive practices.
@@kairos_fluent yeah its the same here in america and you know what the problem is...... FEMINISM. men and women no longer want or have a happy relationship. everyone is out trying to get the bag men and women so now no babies are getting born. this is why women need to stop trying to be men and start acting like women again and do the job they were created for taking care of the family. this is what happens when you screw with gender roles that have existed since the dawn of time. you know which countries dont have this problem? the ones where women do the job they were intended to do.
@@ANPC-pi9vuNobody said twice the amount of pay, he said an hour or two less of work for the same overall pay would help people a lot, don't make shit up to strawman them.
@@ANPC-pi9vu Economics DO work that way. There are plenty of countries around the world where there are a lot of protections for workers, good pays, and not that many work hours relatively speaking, and their economy is still perfectly fine. If a company can't pay their employees properly, it's the company's responsibility. If it goes bankrupt, this means less competition for companies that DO manage to pay their employees properly without going under. Workers should not be the ones paying for executives' bad decisions.
But even then, that's not what OP was saying. The pay won't change, just the number of hours. Productivity is not increased when you work your workers to the bone. Giving them a few more hours of leisure per day is not going to have that much of an impact, because they will be well-rested and will be more productive for each hour they work. France understood that, that's why 35 hours a week for a full-time job is the law, there. As far as I know, France is still one of the top economies of the world, member of the G7.
What they need to implement is providing paid or partially paid maternity leave and subsidised childcare so women can have the security of having their jobs once they give birth and give them options to work part time or work from home after giving birth.
can i cheat with married japanese women who work at my workplace?
@@kazumakiryuu2668 No. Never cheat. That's bad behavior.
This issue is a lot simpler than people make it out to be. In order for the birth rate to rise, a single income needs to be able to support a family.
Easy saying that, but how exactly do you implement that?
If you doubled the nation's salaries overnight, things would just get twice as expensive. It's called inflation.
No
Or they support mothers in the workplace, which they don't really.
Japan: Has one of the most stressful work-life balance in the world causing the declining birth rate
Also Japan: LeTs EmPlOy MOrE WoMeN!
Also, Japan : make more jv movie than children. I mean seriously almost thousands of jv movie came out from Japan every year
@@mahendrap1960 That doesnt really matter, its not like making porn is anywhere near as important as the work-life balance
@@mahendrap1960There’s no problem with that. If anything it should cause more Japanese to have sex, therefore more children.
The first thing that came to my mind is when toddlers try to fit in the shape blocks into the wrong hole. That's japan trying to solve their problem
don't forget employ more elderly. fuck retirement. get those boomers back to work!
They need to implement free or subsidised child care, maternity and paternity leave, baby bonus and family tax benefits, and I guess reduce that work stigma of you have to go out and drink with the boss after work or overwork yourself into the ground. Healthy work life family balance. Would take a lot of time and effort to change culture and mindset
Couldn't agree more.
Exactly, also make education much cheaper who wants to go university
Thats prtty hard tochange with an ultra conservative elder generation in power.
What’s wrong with having a drink with the boss?
@@TheSupaman98they are being forceful sometimes they humiliate their employees , you have seen zom 100 anime
I think their reasoning is to get the women having kids and becoming stay-at-home-okaasans/housewives back into the workforce. They want people to have kids but are realising that not everyone will have the luxury of being able to return straight to work or relying on grandparents for childcare. The private childcare sector does need further investment regardless to help reduce the costs of having kids, since daycare costs so much.
I agree. I think that Joey is actually missing this point completely, most women cant work after having kids even if they want to. So creating more opportunities for mothers would fix quite some issues. Of course, they would also need to fix their attitude towards overhours and not taking holidays. But the japanes society simply cant afford it anymore to not have mothers not working.
Why bother popping out babies just to pay strangers to raise them? That is so damn stupid. No, single income households should be the ideal and accommodated so that families can actually function and raise their children.
@@ANPC-pi9vu nooo you dont understand it is """"supressing women""", i.e corporate profits... they need to pay people half while they get more profits. it is very necessary for "the gdp" 🤮
ANPC oh please Japan has a lot weirder stuff than daycare centers
In this economy you cant always have that ideal nuclear family
@@ANPC-pi9vuExcept there's actually statistical data that correlates availability/affordability of childcare to increased fertility rate.
Some Japanese people will literally tell you that they would rather see their village cease to exist before letting a lot of foreigners settle in it. I think they more or less feel that way about the whole country tbh. So it's not that they are missing it, they just don't see it the same way as westerners.
A lot of Westerners look at how Western Europe is doing right now, and concede that Japan should keep being Japan. They'll figure it out eventually.
Mass migration is a joke. It will destroy japanese culture.
I don't blame them, as a westerner I'd prefer Japan stay Japan. I don't want them importing a bunch of idiots who can't handle the emotional toll of words usually related to truthful statements about anything in general. Aka leftist nutcakes. No touchie my anime.
Exactly Danne,
Our RUclipsr is missing the point. Japan wants more JAPANESE people, not just more people. They don't want more foreigners to replace Japanese citizens.
Poland has the attitude, which is great. America is the number 1 economy, but on a social level the most failed nation you can imagine.
Well well well… I got married in Japan, with a Japanese man, got pregnant, gave birth in Japan, and it (the birth) was an absolutely traumatizing experience. Then, I ended up unemployed because they want the mom to come back to work in 2 months after having the baby. Okay. So you want me to, of course, turn my baby off, put it back in the manko and take it back out once i’m done with my shift, right?
Now, one year later after having my baby, ✨nobody✨will hire me because I can’t leave work if daycare calls me to come pick up my baby if he has a fever. And, I can’t take random days off to care for my sick baby for as long as he plans to be sick. Example: my baby had hand, foot and mouth disease. It took him 2 weeks to recover. Do you think your 65 years old misogynistic boss will be like aww go mama go? no. They’re gonna be like “well I guess you want all your coworkers to fucking hate you huh”. This is why, after 12 months of searching for employment, I am still unemployed. To them, once you have a child, they have to make efforts to “accommodate” YOU. But in the world of capitalism and patriarchy YOU, the woman with a child, are literary nobody. Useless. Can’t work? Fuck off. Have to leave mid-shift cuz your baby is dying at daycare? Well it sounds like a you problem. You’re fired. And. So. On. You cannot have a child in today’s economy. Pardon me, you can. If you survive the birth cuz that’s fucked up too. What I meant was that you can’t RAISE a child in this economy. It’s either raise your child but live in absolute poverty (me) or have a decent living situation and be child-free. I genuinely encourage you to be child-free. Fuck it. My child gets 10,000 yen/month as an allowance. Are you fucking kidding me? Formula is 2000 yen, only lasts one week. Same goes for diapers. Not to mention that clothes are expensive too. Also gotta keep them warm in the winter. Denki dai 20,000 yen/month. YET, I am not entitled to a job because my baby makes my availability too unpredictable. Fuck off.
Well i can imagine how u feel but its only in japan this extreme (for a capitalism country) where i life also a capitalism country there a no such problems u even get holidays off to raise the child or only work like half the day if the child is sick u can leave work and go there u wont lose ur job since there is a rule that says u cant be kicked out of a company because ur pregnant etc. Same goes for many neighbour countries of mine maybe not in that extend but they are way better than japan
can't you breastfeed? why give your baby formula?
@@gamermasterL not all women can breastfeed.
Then why did you have a baby? Surely you researched all this before you got pregnant?
@@Hayri2011 @AncaBaciu story is exactly why so many people in developed countries don't have children. The companies get mad when women have babies. The government gets mad when women don't have babies. There's no winning if that's what women get, an absolute shitshow no matter what they do.
The extra funding they are giving to “parents” aren’t going to them because they aren’t any. The money is going into these politicians pockets. 👀
The first step japan needs to take is to set a hard limit of 40h + 8h overtime work week. It turns out that working more then about 40h a week is worse for everyone. The more tired you are the more mistakes you make, and the less productive you are. Its cheaper when comparing 'work accomplished' to 'money spent on wages' to work 6h days then 8h or longer. If your company need more man hours, get more people, or have multiple shifts, its better for everyone and gives more people jobs. How do you expect your company to earn money if people don't have any free time to spend their money?
Working less is good for the health, but wouldn't they need to earn more money to raise kids? Who's paying more for the same / less work?
@@kechidonickthat's why higher wages are also needed
Edit: and also give bonuses to people with children, maternity/paternity leaves, all the welfare that's needed to start and raise a family
I mean most countries governments miss the point and are incapable of dealing with the problems their old policies caused
yea like USA new polices letting anyone in from the southern border and the export of trillions of dollars of drugs to end up destroying the low income. Japan is a top nation you're no one
It's not a bug but a feature, inherent to every state.
Bigger government is not going to solve problems caused by big government.
😢👍🏻👍🏻
I agree that this would probably be the easiest way to get economy going but I am also worried that it's gonna cause a lot of friction and more crime. I've seen many articles about foreigners in Japan stealing pigs or illegally having multiple people live in a tiny apartment. It would be amazing if the people that come to japan are foreigners that appreciate the culture and make an effort to learn the language and assimilate, but in my experience, there are a lot of people who don't wanna do that and keep pushing their country's values onto Japan. Of course there are also a lot of foreigners who do appreciate Japan and its culture and it breaks my heart when I see "bad foreigners" ruin it for the ones that try really hard.
stealing a pig is your example of a foreigner crime? and too many people in an apartment? these are crimes almost nobody has to worry about, unless youre a struggling farmer, or a greedy landlord.
Stealing pigs? Somehow I _really_ doubt that is a common thing - and most likely made headlines exactly because of how bizarre that sounds.
As for cramming too many ppl in an apartment, I do agree that the government is performing a crime when such becomes a necessity. Or maybe the landlords, as a collective. Either way, yeah, it does indicate that reforms are needed in regards to housing, specifically cheap housing for people who are either too poor or too discriminated to get anything better.
@@adamvifrye2690yes, in a country where crime is rare, stealing a pig or not following regulations is a huge turn off
I know you are so disensitized to violent crime because of certain groups of people in certain neighbourhoods of your amazing Western and highly diverse shi- ahem, city, but in a place where people are not as inclined to commit crimes, do you know what happens when even small crimes occur? Outrage. Which happened in the West a few decades ago, until the cities became diverse and had an influx of immigrants to take up the workforce because the population was aging and oh no, the boomers wouldn't get to live off their pensions if the economy collapsed
@@LudwigVaanArthans okay dude, gotta love your nazi speech... but there are non violent crimes which people would consider actually bothersome... whatever, you can go live in your dying ethnostate, in 30 years, your government will buckle under the cost of supporting the old people who make up 50 percenjt of the population.
@@LudwigVaanArthansIt's the "economic refuges" that cause problems in the west, not the immigrants.
Its ironic how Joey says Japan doesn't understand when he himself doesn't understand 💀
Allowing more foreigners to be welcome to work in Japan will solve the birth rate problem??? REALLYYY??
Not exactly. It fixes the declining population problem and helps the economy not collapse. Western countries have been doing this forever. Lots of European nations, for example, have birth rates far lower than 2 (which is a bit less than the bare minimum to keep a population stable or growing)
@MrEriken it doesn't do either. Germany, UK, and France are good examples. The migrants are a larger drain on the economy than a plus. They also increase crime. Not to mention the cultural clashes. You also end up replacing your native population with foreigners and get to the point where certain towns look nothing like they used to. Once again, look at UK, Germany, or France where large segments are slums that look like middle eastern hoods
@@MrEriken Whilst that is true, like the article said in the video, Japan needs to quadruple that number for the economy to be stable again. That's a tall task to ask especially considering how Japan's work culture is.
Plus, Joey saying it like its the end all be all is a very naive statement to make
@@DeVoidAS I agree that Joey oversimplifies it. The answer is a combination of policies that make it more feasible for Japanese people to establish families as well as more foreign residents. As someone who has been visiting and living in Japan for almost a decade, I think making it easier for foreigners to come here is the easier of the two, though. As per now, the options to get here are usually either 1) being good at japanese and having excellent programming skills or 2) doing nursing/farm work etc at slave level labour or 3) being basically native at japanese and being a high level manager with 10+ years of prior experience overseas. Many people, especially in India and Southeast Asia would love to move here, but there are big hurdles. Quadrupling the foreign workforce would still be quite less of a percentage if you compare it to European countries such as in North Europe and Germany, though. So its not impossible.
@@MrEriken That's exactly the problem tho. The work culture in Japan has such a bad reputation that it scares off a lot of people from coming to work and live in Japan since the perception is that you'd work extremely long hours with little to no breaks. Not to mention the need for educating the Japanese to be less ignorant when dealing with foreigners coming in the country.
So long as those reputations persist it'll still be a massive hurdle to quadruple the amount of foreigners coming in, even if quadrupling it would still make it less than some European countries.
That said, As a SEA person and Japanese culture enjoyer myself, I am rooting for Japan though. It seems like a wonderful place to live someday, but it just doesn't seem realistic for my mental health to work and live there, so hopefully they do actually find a way to make it more welcoming for foreigners to come in.
Foreign workers is not the solution you think it is - just look at Canada, Sweden, France, the UK, and the US. Not sure where you're getting that info from.
The problem is affordability and work culture. Getting workers to actually go home and build a family rather than going to dinner with coworkers is the best start.
It is different with people fleeing from a country due to war and has to immigrate compared to people in Asia with the same collective background that are willing to immigrate to Japan. Heck all the Asian friends I have in Japan love this country and sometimes feel more Japanese than Japanese people. The problem is how Japan strategies the segregation issue, and treating them as any other human being. Immigration I see it more possible in Japan than in the west.
The problem is hitting the fifth demographic transitional level of civilisation, sure affordability and work culture makes it worse but it seems mostly linked to luxury and education... development and progress itself. The only long-term supplement is immigration which most in such stage or around use. Once everywhere reaches that stage humanity is f@#~'d.
@@ledian5 The issue with that isnt the Asian foreigners tho, it is the western foreigners who go over and want to change everything to their liking even culture.
@@Colourisedspoon can you specify what westerners are changing in Japan?
work/life balance in Japan is the big issue for low birth rate
But Italy/Spain have way better work/life balance but their birth rate is low as well.
@@kairos_fluent
Did they make women compete with men for a living? Because that seems to be what caused the birthrate problem in the anglosphere. Women feel like they need to have a career first and that they need to put off having a family even if they want a family, resulting in them hitting a wall in their late 30's where they feel like they are 'ready' but that's not the life they built for themselves and many end up having fertility problems. It feels like the whole modern world is going through an experiment where we all decided to pretend biology isn't real and that sexual dimorphism doesn't matter and now reality is catching up with us.
@@ANPC-pi9vu Italy/Spain in the same boat as everywhere else. You be handing out too many red-pills bro.
@ANPC-pi9vu According to the CDC, there's a nearly even 50-50 split infertility between men and women (and an additional 20%-30% cited as a mix of both or by unknown problems for further disclosure)
I fathom to wonder why you should want the burden to be fertile on the woman and not just the man here.
Which of course no one should be placing any burden on anyone for a physiologically unavoidable problem but that should go without saying the kind of ethics we need at the moment for the kind of shame it would otherwise bring.
Very likely the factor is something else like having lack of economic independence to build a foundation to start, also likely less personal time vs the greater work hours eating away at personal time, and fewer continuous and multitudinous long-term familial safety nets to incentivise building a family.
(It costs a LOT of money to raise a child to age 18 that is put as a burden on both parents.)
This is a trend that tracks across the spectrum of developed countries that have adopted the grind-based career model for employees.
@@kairos_fluent A combination of being woke and the fact that it is still too expensive to have kids. There was also a study done where 30% of 20 year olds are unemployed, which means even less money to raise children with. There's no or little affordable housing near job centers, which makes it even worse for the current generation to make money. A better work/life balance doesn't automatically make you rich enough to have kids nowadays.
Japan wants things to remain traditional and probably thinks too many foreigners might “upset” things. 🤷🏾♀️
They’re not wrong
@@RoronoaZorosHaki No,immigration was always the susessful fill in historical ,always. look up what i europe happened when war wkilled a lot, immigration filed in and it did work..
They are certainly not wrong. We need some tradition in a world gone mad.
Only western people, Asian don't have problem with Japanese traditional because they share similarities
Just look at Europe, France in particular.
maybe the reason Joey is focusing on foreign workers rather than working conditions is that he thinks changing the work environment is even more of a difficult task than letting foreigners into the country. It's just my opinion.
I mean he was born in the West so he thinks diversity is the key to everything, but not all countries are like that
@@ssarellasexactly... diversity is actually never the key. Diversity, as ironic as it is, kills actual diversity. If every country is a mix of all countries, cultural differences die... for american people this is hard to understand. The solution would be to change the work culture in Japan and try to promote a more healty lifestyle by not idolizing the USA. But thats not going to happen sadly... also by not promoting some of the stupid anime and entertainment tropes like girls being disgusted by anything male and promoting actual social life instead of idol culture. But again, thats not going to happen...
@@dreadd90His not American.
@@phaseloli6668 i know. Joey is australian.
@@dreadd90 this is a pretty silly statement the overwhelming majority of economist agree that immigration is positive for nations economy, and is the best way to address a declining birth rate of a nation. If Japan wants to fix it that is the best path changing work culture would help, but Japan has a major problem. That’s not just gonna solve it when they have so many old people.
Yeah, employing more women won't increase the child birth rate, but neither will employing more foreigners. Employing more foreigners might help the economy a bit, but it doesn't solve the underlying social problems that make it so hard for young people to start a family. As many other people have said, there are many people who want to start a family, they just don't feel like they can because of Japans work culture, lack of support like childcare services and global economic problems like inflation.
Japan still has far better support than the US. The US has unaffordable university,no universal healthcare,barely any public transportation.
@@hokkaidosnow6643 That's true but I was talking specifically about services for young children. Apparenlty there are a lack of childcare services and theres a lot of pressure to not take parental leave and things like that. The US is way behind most of the developed world when it comes to things like university and health care so being better than the US isn't really something to brag about. I have heard that the work culture in the US is also close to or just as bad as in Japan when it comes to over work and poor work life balance and so on.
can i cheat with married women who work at my workplace?@@moyga
Old people on japan is another level of boomer
y tho?
@canesvenatici4259 Japan is a very Conservative country. Especially the older generation. They care more about "the old ways" than fixing any of the issues in Japan.
@@floppavevo5920Younger generation doesn’t have any solutions mate. It is why le progressive West has the same birth rates issues lol.
@@floppavevo5920Japan old tradition is more sensible than zoomer lgtv and child free nonsense
I would love to live in Japan but I have to many health problems
Take care of yourself bro.
@@mahendrap1960 I will
What happened this time?
Japanese birth rate is declining but at least tourism is increasing with lots of jonney coming to visit in Japan
Thank you very much for having the golden Aussie balls by addressing these important issues head-on. I've been residing in Japan for over 18 years, during which I've observed the negative impacts of rising taxes on the population. Additionally, there has been an increase in instances of Japanese mothers divorcing in order to access financial support from the government. Thank you again and to the TT boys.
if i say Japan is stupid, then will japan get angry with me?
It's a bad sign when a country has higher sales of adult diapers compared to baby diapers 😢
I don't think the problem the government really wants to solve is the decrease in population, it's the decrease in tax-payers that comes with it. If they can get more women to work and maybe bring some retired people back to work then they can increase the number of taxpayers even if the population declines.
Yes, but if they just keep working people to death, then the population is going to collapse completely. No time for relationships, and even if a couple manages to fall in love and get married, when are they going to raise kids with both them working full time? Why bother popping out a baby just to pay strangers to raise it for you because you are too busy? This is the problem the entire first world is facing.
Short-term useless policy even for taxes, if the population still decreases it'll reach a negative breakeven from the policies. Everywhere that has reached the fifth stage of demographic transition uses immigration from less developed counties to supplement the loss... but say... what do you think happens when those less developed countries become developed? Or perhaps is it that every developed nation leader would be inclined to disallow such from occurring?
@@V01DIOREwhen all "developing" countries finish developing, capitalism ends, as the "endless growth" model is no longer available. Post consumption societies would emerge.
@@LouisSubearth "developing" countries can't develop because of neoliberal capitalism. There's no "finishing development". If any government do anything anti-imperialist, you get sent back to the stone age by the US Military dropping some freedom in you country. Just look at any country in the Global South that tries to create some sense of national sovereignty.
@@LouisSubearth Hahaha then capitalism suddenly ends? Do you even truly understand what "capitalism" is? Capitalism isn't a mere system that can be interchanged but the greater manifestation of life's feasibility itself, of probability that benefits itself. Nature, evolution, The Blind Watchmaker. It is not because communism is "bad" that it doesn't work but because the conditions of nature disallows such to feasibly exist within human or otherwise. Yes the endless growth system would hit it's wall. What will happen is the system will consume itself, what may be that benefits individuals sought to be grasped, for the same reasons flames burn are people born and for the same reason there won't. Probabilistic collapse, propagation no longer adding cyclically, a reason for the fermi paradox in realisation. People will face the question of the end with all the knowledge developed, perhaps they will seek regression to avoid extinction but there is no overcoming nature in this innately flawed form.
I think japanese culture is so "hard" when it comes to making a family or raising kids specially. Every single japanese knows how hard their system is on people who are not great at school and then, even if they are good or excellent or a genius, they will definitely have to go thru all the steps of the company ladder. Which wouldn't be so bad if they were not killing themselves while working. Every japanese knows this in their heart. Specially women, they have to go thru pregnancy and leave the company and having kids will definitely take time from the company, so... they just don't want kids because they need the money to have kids in the first place. Having a kid and not the means to raise it is even worse. So this decision from the japanese government is pretty off the mark.
Why do you all want to rise to the top of corporations? What about trade work and farming? You guys are all competing to be at the top of a very shitty pyramid, and that is why they can treat you like you are disposable if you don't adhere to company culture.
can i cheat with married japanese women who work at my workplace?
whats the problem in the man getting money and woman being jobless for a while to raise a child ? women and men nowadays want both things they both want to raise a fuqin child but not sacrifice their career well guess what you have to sacrifice one for the other in japan thats just it its simple really, if you want kids ,woman has to leave work and the man should have enough money saved to raise the child on 1 income , or have the man leave the job i dont care .
More language support in medical and government facilities would go a loooong way in helping us feel more welcome in this country.
Who cares? Where do you want them to send it, the Moon?
Immigration doesn't solve he root of the problem either
After living in Japan for a year .My experience is everyone asking me when your going to leave.i guess they don't mean in a badway but it just feels unwelcoming.
Turn the tables on 'em. Respond with: "Until your birthrates gone up. It's why I'm here doing your job." You probably aren't there anymore. But it would be funny.
I think you don't understand the immigration dilemma really well. The mindset of "Just let foreigners in en masse" does not really work well as you can clearly see in countries like france, germany and sweden. That is a lot more complex issue that requires a lot of resources, preparations and detailed plan of requirements for possible immigrants and policies for integration. And thats just the tip of the iceberg.
^^^^^^
Absolutely correct. The thing is, the people advocating for mass immigration are usually the same people who either haven’t yet suffered from it, or due to a privileged position won’t and will let everyone else suffer.
People seem hung up on immigration as a magic fix. Meanwhile, it's nothing of the sort. Immigration can't fix a declining birthrate. At best, it conceals the underlying problem until it's too late.
@@jsi1091 Your approach to it is really idealistic and since we are living in imperfect world it would not pan out as you thing it would. In general the majority of immigrants to any country would be from the poorer side of the world since the idea of moving from those provide more potential benefits than negatives. There is no way to approach migration correctly without the integration plan and proper screening of potential citizens, that would be purely beneficial for the country in question. The point that Japan is an island state reinforces that if anything. The point of significantly limited land would be a point for controlled migration not the other way around. The other point in reference to Japan is that its possibly the least prepared county for a cultural clash since the organization in there is flawless. The impact of people who are not adjusted to this would severely hinder counties organization and overall approach to basically everything. This does not mean that I'm against any migration, I'm just pointing out that ESPECIALLY FOR JAPAN (but you can apply this logic to basically any country) its not as simple as just "lets bring people in". Correct approach to migration is a way more costly and complicated process.
@@jsi1091 Bro doesn't know about the existance of the UK
I agree with you and also as a Japanese, I don't know why everyone tries to judge Japan by the values of their own country, especially the West. By Western standards, Japanese life may be crazy. But that doesn't mean we are wrong and unhappy, does it? Different countries have different ways of being, and I don't think it's right to impose values on everything according to your own standards.
More women in the workforce means more people are paying taxes and helping shoulder ''the burden'' that having a lot of old people who don't work anymore and place stress on the healthcare system.
About, health care I heard Japanese shy to visit health care center like during 3 years ago
I think this is the take that people should read.
Fails as a way to raise the birth rate. Too many super-old men in Japanese leadership.
And then none of the women will be having children because everyone will be too busy trying to meet the overwhelming demands of Japanese work culture instead of merely most.
The push for women to livecand work like men is a major driver of sub replacement birthrates. It's not just a Japan problem.
It's also going to lead to less people having children.
I *high key* want to be a semi truck driver in Japan, but I still have no idea how to do that.
I chose to move to Japan last year, and I cannot wait to move back. The work culture here is awful. I have been bullied and harassed since I started working and when I went to my managers about it they told me it’s just the culture. I literally got physically assaulted and they did nothing about it. I had my diamond bracelet stolen/thrown out by my manager. When I try to talk to friends about it they will just nod their heads look down and wait until someone changes the subject. They don’t care.
The police (or whatever orgs you are meant to contact about power harassment in the workplace, theft, and physical assaults.) said the same stuff?
That sounds awful. You should contact the police or get the fuck out of there.
if i say Japan is stupid, then will japan get angry with me?
@@feha92 I mean, the Japanese police is pretty infamous for ignoring such issues, yeah.
their culture is known for their desire to not stand out, so Im not sure what you thought to expect from them xD
sucks though, hope you find a place you enjoy
It always comes back to one point: money.
If you barely "survive" with your job, you are very likely not to start a family. And even if you make enough money from your job, if you work for 80h a week, you are also very likely not to start a family. So you need good wages and fair prices. A gaijin won't make a difference, except if they get more wages and fairer prices.
My mom (a Japanese citizen) keeps saying "just wait till the old people die". But frankly, that won't happen soon enough, and now I think it won't even solve the issue cause apparently younger japanese politicians also don't understand. Japan is in a negative trajectory, and it's sad attempts at correcting it are seen as "anti japanese".
Literally every developed country has this issue of low birth rates.
@@c.k.1933 Ha and everywhere that does uses immigration from less developed counties to supplement... say... what do you think happens when those less developed countries become developed?
Waiting for the old people to die in the country with the highest average life expectancy is a losing game.
@@V01DIORE yeah lol. This is all just kicking the can down the road. What will happen when all developing countries become developed? Where will they get more immigrants from? Dumb af.
By that time there will be new old people.
I believe they should address the whole "work culture" thing(long working hours , low wages, etc.). Right now, working in Japan, feels like you have to follow an unwritten bushido code where if you disobey your boss, you will "kill" your career. The Japanese Government can address the birth rate problem by increasing wages, respecting the legal working hours and creating new laws that help families raise kids not creating more "opportunities " for female workers or elderly workers.
And about immigration, as long as Japan sees whats happening with Western Europe and its immigrants, such as increased criminality, theft, beggars, it will never, ever change its policies.
Japan's immigration policy is not as lenient as they know it's not good to take people in and leave to luck their livelihoods once in. However they don't want to provide a turn key plans for migrants who may not have the much needed labor skills Japan needs to fill in job positions, instead opting for fast tracking visa applicants with the skills they look for, it's the easy way.
The solution is not to simply pack your country with immigrant workers, we're feeling the burden from that rn.
The solution is less horrible depressing working conditions (hrs worked), giving men & women the energy needed to have families.
Forcing all the women into the workforce will also destroy the birth rates even further. Unless you implement very good maternity+paternity leave programmes, which will probably end up using all the extra tax money you may have earned from getting those women to work in the first place.
We also need to consider that pensions and social security are ponzy schemes that only function if you have constant growth, which was unsustainable to begin with. The system really needs to change at it's core.
Immigrants and migrant workers do work thats less payable than the average native worker that makes the developed world function.
@@traplover6357 How on earth is that a good thing for anyone...
Should we bring back slave labor because its "good for the economy"?
can i cheat with married japanese women who work at my workplace?
@@kazumakiryuu2668 man ive seen you leave this same reply on like 3 different comments. what are you even trying to say here? stop being a weirdo
Unfortunately for the Japanese economy, letting in more foreigners will taint the Japanese culture that people come to Japan for in the first place. It’s a hard choice.
Yeah, it's completely understandable that they want to keep their own identity. Half the reason people are so interested in Japan is because of these tight restrictions. They don't want the distributon of Tokyo to be everywhere.
its happening europe but they cant deny it or they will deemed to be rasicst
So I'm a 3d game artist and I'd really like to relocate to Japan, living remotely in the countryside in an akiya home. I'd work remote with my clients around the world and would probably do fine, just like I'm doing fine here. The "Artist Visa" is like one of the hardest visas to get in Japan lol. There's like 200 people total that have been accepted? You literally have to be a superstar, accolades out of the ass to achieve it. I gave up on the dream because of the visa reqs to just move to Japan. They're too steep.
Doesn't help with some of the Xenophobia that manu older Japanese have
(Not that American red states fair any better just look at how they treat minority groups in flordia)
years from now, we'll be getting plenty of reports of people that got into this akiya cheaphouse idea thats all the rage right now. reports of how it was a very bad idea
There is gonna be a moment when Japan finally realizes too much pride in tradition just becomes incompetent ignorance.
It has become impossible to compete with China and Korea on tech goods.
Especially when said traditions are terrible.
can i cheat with married japanese women who work at my workplace?
Joey, I am not a immigrant but even I can tell you what the problem is with letting more foreigners into a country. Most of the time they are economic migrants who just work to send money to the country where their family lives to build a house or a maybe a bussines. And because if worst comes to Japan, they can just move away again. Nothing is keeping you grounded in Japan, if NK decided to go nuts right now, you could easily flash your Australia passport and move to Australia to avoid a forced drafting into the country's defense.
The second thing is: imagine that Japan who is taxed out of its mind to keep all those old institutions in power suddenly have to tell those generations: "So dispite all the education and high standards we created for ourselves, we are basically hiring foreigners who never paid nearly as many taxes as you because... we just feel like you haven't done enough and we don't want to find talented people in Japan anymore."
Lastly, I can promise you that Japan is only the best economic powerhouse in Asia for 40 years now because of their culture and worth ethic. Literally the people in Japan work like robots to keep the country in the top. It is built on the backs of the people. Now imagine that you bring loudmouth foreigners who grew up on experimental socialism in collages and they get hired in Japan. I can promise you that what happend to Britain and USA and basically every wester country's economic degradation will slowly seep into Japan. You will start seeing Unions and protests everywhere. Sometimes for good reasons other times just for dumb fun.
Japan seemingly knows that how it became what it was was through a set of conditions that happened and they know that if those conditions change, then the success rate will not be achieved.
If Japan wants more kids then it is very easy to do. Make jobs more oriented on teaching people skills not to steal skilled people from each other. And drop the taxes on food and living. Make it easier for people to achieve financial stability and not overworking them to corporate slavery.
A lot of what you said is speculation, stereotyping or just wrong. Not sure how much you’ve been brainwashed by right-wing media, but you’re wrong on a few things:
Firstly, you assume that most foreigners entering a country are solely economic migrants who work solely to send money back home to build houses or businesses. However, the motivations behind immigration are diverse and can encompass reasons beyond economic opportunities, including education, family reunification, and personal growth. This oversimplification also fails to acknowledge the positive contributions immigrants often make to a country's economy, culture, and society. Also, you misrepresent the relationship between having a foreign passport and the ease of moving to another country. Your comparison to the situation in North Korea oversimplifies geopolitical complexities, and your assumption that immigrants lack commitment to their adopted country overlooks the personal and emotional ties individuals can develop over time. Basically, you overlook the intricate realities of immigration and its impacts.
On your second statement you exaggerate Japan's tax situation and misrepresent the reasons for hiring foreigners, suggesting it's solely due to natives not doing "enough." You assume foreigners pay fewer taxes without considering individual circumstances and oversimplify the talent search process, neglecting globalization's impact. You also overlook demographic challenges and oversimplify complex hiring decisions by attributing them to subjective feelings. You inaccurately portray hiring foreigners as contradictory to Japan's education and high standards, ignoring the benefits of a diverse talent pool. Everything you said lacks nuance.
You also oversimplify Japan's economic success by attributing it solely to culture and work ethic, ignoring the complex interplay of historical context, policies, and technological advancements. You stereotype foreign workers, misrepresent economic trends by suggesting that Japan will inevitably face the same challenges as Western countries, and oversimplify the dynamics of unions and protests. You assume Japan's awareness of its economic conditions and simplify the role of conditions in success. Additionally, you offer simplistic solutions to complex issues, such as boosting birth rates and improving job conditions. You have a thing for lacking in nuance and disregard diverse factors shaping economic outcomes, and simplify complex economic and social realities.
There's also gentrification raising prices for the locals.
@@Wieberleden810
There is nothing wrong with speculations or stereotyping when it is true. The real question here is do you or have you even lived here long enough?
This isn't even a political agenda throat-pushing bullshit and almost every Japanese or foreigner that lives here will likely have the same opinion.
"However, the motivations behind immigration are diverse and can encompass reasons beyond economic opportunities, including education, family reunification, and personal growth. "
And that is very little. The demographics say that most of them came from countries that have far lower economics and opportunities than Japan(me included) and that is backed by Govt. data, you can check it on the ethnic groups of Japan in Wikipedia.
Based on the general culture of most countries of the foreign people here, I don't think "family reunification" even fits. There is barely a family here and due to the work culture, it's hard to get your ideal job and make your skills grow. Therefore highly skilled workers like that barely go here. So with that generality, it takes out 2 of your points I believe.
The only fair point you made on that specific statement is regarding education. A fair amount of students who came here also stay after graduation as such. So on that point, they likely do contribute to society.
"This oversimplification also fails to acknowledge the positive contributions immigrants often make to a country's economy, culture, and society."
And specifically in the case of Japan how so? The only main thing they are contributing is supporting the corrupt and stupid system that keeps the many big old Corp. that exist to abuse the system and destroy the country little by little. (Let me know if you are curious about that)
"Also, you misrepresent the relationship between having a foreign passport and the ease of moving to another country."
How so? When it is technically possible for such a statement OP made. It doesn't matter what grammatical purpose such terms have when you can legally and technically do it.
" Your comparison to the situation in North Korea oversimplifies geopolitical complexities, and your assumption that immigrants lack commitment to their adopted country overlooks the personal and emotional ties individuals can develop over time."
Well, sad to let you know but this isn't the U.S. where a lot of people are patriotic immigrants or are in any way invested in being emotionally sided to Japan. You likely can see the reason why that's the case.
Given their long history at first, Japan also has a distinct culture when compared to most of their foreigners. And that's just one example of it. I have yet to see a patriotic one here that is foreign. If it's not something that huge of a love from the foreign majority then I highly find it unlikely that the exceptions you raised can be relevant enough as to when compared to OP's original point.
You likely have misunderstood OP's second statement. What he likely was indirectly referring to was that rather than Japan investing more in their natives, they take the ones from other countries and he has made this point again in his comment.
But I find this lacking out of context as dependent of it, will change the course of such conversation dramatically.
Japan has its success as a result of its groupism-like culture and as a country and it has its very own problem that also is the main contributor to their failing system today. So OP's comment is not that far away.
Especially when we observe Modern Europe. Japan has its problem already and based on the current system that they have, a loose system regarding foreign residence on a massive scale also has devastating consequences.
Therefore we watch carefully what's happening and has happened like to some countries in Europe as such, paired with the already homogenous society of theirs I think it is a great thing given their system and all they majorly need to do is to have a healthy and carefully planned relationship with the outside.
It doesn't matter what reasons they had to come here when the results are factors regarding your contribution to Japanese society and how you do it as such.
The thing is that with all I stated above, I find it quite ironic when you accuse OP of being subjective, etc.
You say a lot of "simpli-", "complex", "over-" but you never seem to even care to elaborate even a little to at least give a decent amount of logic against it despite OP's already solid enough comment.
A well-speculated stereotyping is way better than unpractical logic. (if you can even say it's a logical one in the first place)
@@Wieberleden810 they ruin everything, I don't need the media to see it in day to day life, its just a fact. If anything, the media hides as much as they can.
I'm sorry Joey, but I don't think you get it. Japan wants more Japanese in the working force, not foreigners. This is their problem. Not the amount of people in the workforce. That's why they'll "allow" more women and elderly into it, who are Japanese.
In my humble opinion, Japan is not a family friendly/supportive environment to raise up a family. No matter how much money they put into child support/allowances, if a parent is expected to value the company/organization they are working for more than the family they are creating and taking care of, children will always be a second thought.
This type of problem will not be solved by having more foreigners in the country. It is a deep cultural issue. Getting pregnant is a real hussle if you're a career woman. Having a paternal leave as a father is frowned upon, even though he has the right for it.
The proposed solution will not solve this issue. Period. (and Korea's birth rates are even worse than Japan's, but that's another beast 😅)
[ Hits the table ]
Thank you!
Interesting how you believe that "letting more foreigners in" would be more affective than: free/cheaper child birth, job security after child birth, and longer maternity leave - for me, these seem like far simpler solutions. Letting in more foreigners and encouraging them to have babies still doesn't tackle the issue of Japanese women not having babies.
I think the government might be worried that allowing too many foreigners in would mean less safety and less cleanliness (and let's be honest, everyone who visits Japan is in awe at how safe and clean it is). Other countries are already having problems, which sadly I think also leads to the rise of extremist movements in those parts of the world. Not saying that welcoming foreigners is a bad thing, only that the ideal situation, where they understand and respect the values of the country they move to, doesn't always happen and this comes at the expense of that country's residents. If there had been a truly easy solution, I'm sure they would have applied it already.
Immigration would also cause a lot of issues, especially with the culture of Japan. I don’t see this going well either way.
Immigration only contribute to the rich.
Cheap workers easy to abuse will the people pay for it.
This. It's not a simple problem tbh, having democrats moving to Japan sounds like an absolute nightmare.
@@jayp9158 No fucking way you're acting like leftism is a thing entirely contained to the US. Also, the vast majority of Japan's current issues are literally the result of the current right wing government in Japan. Not everything is about "democrats" buddy.
Not only did they took a detour, they did the whole course.
What japan really needs is affordable childcare. So women feel better about starting families so they don't get stuck at home. Look at northern Europe.
can i cheat with married japanese women who work at my workplace?
@@kazumakiryuu2668you can. But people will find you.
Not true, child birth rates in japan is 1.3 per woman and in finland it's 1.4.
I think you're completely missing the point too. If the natural birth rate is decreasing, that means that there are some very, very big problems with the inner workings of the work culture and Japanese society which they need to fix/change first.
It’s no use. The government is composed of old people, so they’ll never “come up with” solutions that help population growth at the expense of the elderly generation. They’re all probably thinking, “how can we all look like we’re trying our best to solve the population crisis for as long as we live (which is like a couple decades max)”
Hungary has it right, income tax breaks for each child a family has.
Bringing in a foreign workforce drives down wages due to an artificially increased supply of available workers, often willing to accept worse living conditions and pay just to escape their home country.
Buuuuut bringing in a foreign workforce, driving down wages, destroying the ability for any layman to have a family or own assets, or really do much outside of WORK 24/7 has an amazing boosting effect on profits and GDP.... Yes, I'm sure those companies lining the pockets of every politician would very much like to improve their profits regardless of what it does to a country.
Work life balance would also help. The more time people have outside of work, the more time one would have to establish connections with a significant other to build the relationship and start a family. Which would lead to population growth. The work culture is somewhat toxic and leave people too career invested and exhausting which leave very little time for anything else. It even affects spending time with friends or establishing social connections.
Would more time help if they eran the same regardless? I seen other people complaining about needing more money.
@kechidonick Of course making a livable wage would be a facor when starting a family, because with a family come more expences which one would also need make enough to support their family and household. And the work life balance ties into that as well. You also need to bond and spend time with the family.
Finland's birth rate: 1.37 *Finland is considered to have the best work-life balance in the world
Japan's birth rate: 1.34
your thoughts?
@asdfghjjhgf Well considering that Finland has a population of roughly 5 million + and Japan has a population of 125 million + and then apply the birth rate numbers as well as adding a better work life balance in japan we would probably see a boom in child births. Just my thoughts, none of this is concrete and there's probably many other factors that also contribute to birth rate increases.
@@asdfghjjhgfthe fact that a country with a Population of 120 Million has a smaller birthrate than a country with a Population of 5 Million Is fascinating.
Paid childcare and maternity/paternity leave needs to exist first to ATTRACT people to being parents. If the system is not set up to help parents, people who want to be parents will avoid it for fear of poverty and lack of societal safety nets.
It's not that simple actually. Back then maybe those things can help but now, not married become culture... Means there is shifting mind to not having child and pursue self-happines. Kind of why I need to sacrifice myself for my child , I rather using my money to get my own happiness.
What they dont realize , maybe Children is one of the biggest source of happiness 😊
@@fritzone2401and then they abuse their children, where's the happiness there
Bringing in people will bring in its own host of problems. Japan's homogeneity and hard traditions make it as great as it is and is what makes Japan, Japan. I am from Canada and we have the opposite problem of Japan. We're bringing in an unsustainable amount of people we can't afford to house or care for. And I wish our government would slow down or pump the brakes and bring living standards up to par before continuing.
Work culture needs to change and the misogyny. No woman wants to give up her financial independence and her only ticket out of a possible abusive relationship. Having to give up your income to stay home and solely be dependent on another person is a recipe for disaster
I am seeing a pattern when I learn Japan's history. Throughout history, Japanese Society as a whole struggle to adapt the changing ways of outside world until a sudden and violent event which forced them to accept this changes. The arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry and his US fleet, WW2 and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 1991 Financial Crisis, 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and lastly Covid-19.
What did the earthquake and covid 19 force them to change?
I moved to Japan about 8 years ago and I worked at a big well known company for about 3 years. I think they need to change a lot when it comes to how they treat foreign workers. Not even talking about how much discrimination there is but pay was also very different.
they made me sign papers saying I wouldn't tell anyone how much they where paying me and they legit told me on multiple occasions I was getting paid the amount I was bc i'm American..
So with no experience at all at a new job on day 1 I was getting paid more than the other Japanese staff and managers and lots of those people had been at the company over 10 years and I awas also getting a raise every 6 months.
They paid the other foreigners way less, Especially the southeast asians, They got paid shit and after me being there for 3 years, They where making basically what they made when I started there and I had continued to get paid more.
Was this an American company that shifted you to Japan for work ?
@@yashpatel261 no, it was a job I started fresh in Japan
@@PDGY77 wow
I've had friends who moved to Japan, started working there, and then came home only two months later because the work culture is soooo toxic. They had no life outside of work, and they were afraid of their boss to the point that they felt the need to hide their plans to leave the company until they had secured their exit from the country entirely. I don't think foreigners coming into the Japanese workforce is going to help the birth rate issue TBH. The work culture need some serious reformations so that people can have lives outside work.
I don't agree that Japan necessarily needs to make it easier for others to immigrate. Sure, it might solve the social security problem, but at the cost of a significant change to their culture. The US has a very young culture that has been a melting pot of various other cultures from the outset, but Japan has a many-centuries-old culture that I can't blame them for wanting to protect to some degree, or at least have any changes to the culture be driven by Japanese people. Mass immigration brings cultural changes with it that the Japanese are within their rights to not want.
I’m against allowing more foreigners, the best way is to enforce more family supporting services because currently it’s financially and socially so hard to start a family in Japan especially for young people so people start thinking about having children after the age of 35 and at that age the fertility of the couples had already decreased a lot which makes having children biologically harder after it was financially and socially hard during the younger years
also maybe prevention against child/teen-suic1de would be helpfull
If you haven't watched Nobita's (The Japan reporter) latest video about this issue, I highly recommend it. His perspective as a Japanese national is very interesting. Immigration might not be the en all be all solution, although it can be one of the strategies to a certain extent.
I think for these sorts of issues, a reformulation of the issue is a helpful place to start. The issue, when you get to its root, is the following, if you restrict yourself to the economic aspect: how much work is needed (and where), and how do you get it? Starting from this point makes the analysis and evaluation of all possible measures easier.
From this point of view, increasing the amount of women and elderly in the workforce is indeed helpful, but at the same time, it's clear that these are not long-term solutions. Elderly people are not able to do every job that needs to be done, e.g. construction work. And with a shrinking population, at some point, you have no reserve left to boost employment; if all elderly people and women were working with a shrinking population, you still get the same issue as right now.
Another solution is to decrease the amount of work needed, i.e. increase automation. This is a path Japan has been exploring for a while, but it's questionable whether this development will be quick enough in a country that still uses fax machines and where digitalization is worse than in even Germany (if you know you know).
So the solution then is to stabilise the (working age) population (combined with the measures mentioned before). This can be done by either increasing the birth rate or increasing immigration to Japan (or both obv). The government has been trying to do the former for ages, and as we see, without effect. The issue is simply Japan's work culture (probably some other factors as well, but this is certainly one of the most decisive factors), and this culture will also affect any immigrants to Japan! Increasing immigration is, in some ways, an "easy" solution, as you don't need to fix the systemic issues with e.g. the aforementioned work culture, and it would also improve Japan's innovativeness. At the same time, it's deeply unpopular, given Japan's relatively old and xenophobic population.
There really is no easy way out. All of the points I mentioned will have to be addressed, and I don't see Japan's politicians being brave enough to tackle these kind of systemic issues.
It's not the work culture, Italy and Spain have way more balanced work-life but their fertility rates are so low.
@@kairos_fluent Work culture is an important aspect for Japan specifically; Italy, for example, struggles with opportunities for young people, youth unemployment is quite high, many young people still live with their parents, i.e. their livelihoods are just not suited to starting a family. Japan also has this issue, but I'd argue it's not as pronounced as in the case of Italy.
Last time I checked women (and men) can't be at 2 places at the same time. How would the women have and raise said children if they have to be in the office?
@@kechidonick improving access to social services such as kindergartens would free up more time for women to go to work. It's really not hard to come to these sort of conclusions. After all, women have been going to work despite having children for decades. Improving their conditions would indeed help bolster employment overall.
@@kechidonick Daycares and kindergartens. Even SAH mothers struggle raising kids by themselves, because they need to take care of the house and of themselves, too. Daycares and kindergarten are essential for families. A mother could also have a part-time job, and still be on time to pick her child from daycare and spend time together at home.
Immigration is not the be-all and end-all of solving the demographic issue. It all starts with work-life ballance.
Some dramatic measures : make it illegal to work over a certain number of hours per week for certain professions. Make it illegal to force workers to attend outside work events more than once a month (i.e. drinking culture). Create generous family payments, and maternity and paternity leave. Legislate that companies have permanent part time paid work for mothers. More foreigners than 1% in Japan - How about no? Mass immigration to Japan will be an absolute disaster for Japanese culture.
Working 996 isn't conducive to population increase. No amount of subsidised childcare is going to change that. As a woman, a mother, working crazy hours wouldn't make me WANT more children, it would make me wonder if I should have had any at all. Large scale childcare like that isn't like raising children in a loving family, it's farming children. Totally different thing.
No. No! Just no, Japan, DON'T!
Joey, I hope you didn't miss the whole of Europe when you checked how the other countries "fixed" the problem.
It is a mess. And it will continue to increase. Employing foreigners will help with the work force, which will not even guarantee a help with the economy, but it should not be a permanent move. The birth rate will increase, yes, the birth rate of foreigners. The birth rate of Japanese population will continue to decrease, until there will be nothing left, and with the diminishing of the Japanese (native Japanese) population, so will the Japan itself.
Foreigners will never be fully assimilated by the society. They will not continue the traditions that make Japan, Japan. They will change the social scheme.
The focus of the country will be on getting those people in and having them feel comfortable, hoping that they will fix the country, instead of simply fixing the country.
No first world country has (wants to, very important to understand this) the solution to the decreased birth rate and economy. This is the era we live in.
The world is advancing too fast, and this requires more workers to keep the pedal down.
But the country doesn't wants to raise more workers, because the life is not affordable.
To make the life affordable for big families, the cost of living has to decrease, especially the cost of accommodation.
But a cheaper cost of living means smaller profit for companies, CEOs, politicians, etc.
BUT those leaders want more money, from an international point of view.
People, if given the chance to be rich, they will not want to be rich in their country, but internationally. This is for the argument that a cheaper cost of living means richer people. It means richer people in Japan, but people will not want to be rich in Japan, they want in the world, because they have access to the world, since the world is advancing so fast.
It is a situation impossible to fix. And the foreigners are not the solutions.
I am an immigrant in a beautiful country. It is depressing seeing how it changes for, and because of, me, and and other immigrants. As a sign of gratitude for taking care of me, giving me the chance to live here, I promised myself that I will not chose this country as a permanent residence.
Although you may be right in some aspects, you're sounding mad gate keeping and creepy, dude. Yes, foreigners are not the solution, but not because they will make Japan less Japan. That's just insane. The problem is the rampant neoliberal capitalist ideology that runs the country. It's the thing that dictates work hours, "work culture", market prices in everything that is essential to life, like housing, food, energy, transportation, etc. Most immigrants will have the worst job in the world, working 12h shifts every day of the week, for a minimum wage, and will not be able to raise children. They will work, save some money by living on the edge and bounce back to their home-countries. That's how immigrant employment works most of the time. Just look at the EU and USA.
I think it's a good thing to help families with childcare. Actually this is the way to go. Don't know how it is in Japan but in Germany it for sure is a concern of parents. Especially if you are thinking about a second or third child and if you really can afford childcare at this point, or if you had to quit your job...resulting in even worse budget to raise your kids. So this might be a good way to "motivate " or just make I easier to have kids if you want them.
don't know about employing more women....it's a good thing in general, but how would it motivate a woman to have kids?
Women who want to start a family and have kids should be incentivized to be housewives untill all the kids are school age, honestly. What is the point in having kids just to hand them off to strangers right from the start? Of course career women aren't having kids even when they have financial ability to do so or government resources for daycare. It's not just a Japan problem, most first world countries have sub replacement birthrates. Japan is just the poster child.
Unfortunately, once a reliance on paid childcare is created, childcare *companies* keep upping their prices until they become leeches riding on the back of the working economy upping prices and hiring less capable staff.
It's at the point where childcare centres are closing due to poor staff behaviour and parents can no longer afford childcare. The Government keeps putting money into childcare and... the level of service from childcare companies keeps dropping due to profit taking.
This is what happened in New Zealand.
And Japan still has awful birth rates and too many immigrants.
who's paying for that childcare? With who's money?
It won’t motivate women to have kids at all , I actually think it will do the complete opposite 😅
They should focus on work culture. People that have work too much time, doesn't have time for kids or even have time for dating.
Maybe try to get people out of the big cities with good benefits.
5:25 A Finn commenting: make the maternity leave longer, make it PAID maternity leave that the employer HAS to pay BY LAW, also paternity leave for fathers who want to stay with the newborn should be mandatory. Also some subsidies for couples with newborn kids and somekind of maternity box as we have here in Finland. Every mom get's a box that basically has almost everything the baby needs for his/hers 1st year. Even the box can be used as a crib for the couple 1st months! DYOR on this!
I think the better solution is work-life balance. People in Japan doesn't want to have kids because it's too expensive to start a family & they are too stressed at work. Less working hours, more free time, maybe higher wages?, less stress.
I think the number one problem is the work life implications and japan being among the most expensive to have children in. (Us in germany and friends in japan had children roughly the same time but just the birth costed them several thousand out of pocket while we have never even seen a bill.)
Yet the economic situation in japan has not gotten better even for regular employees (consider the number of irregular employees though).
But the destruction of the birth rate, i think, happens way before that.
The working culture with insane hours for little pay (it‘s common for overtime not to be payed but being functionally mandatory) leaves little time to even start relationships that could,in the future, lead to children. Average age for relationships, first sex (if even), marriage and all rose across the board while the number of people engaging in it crashed.
It‘s always the same: black numbers are privatized and red one‘s are socialized. Companies work the people to the bone with no regard for their wellbeing and the public at large is left to foot the bill in form of low birthrates and a wide spread aversion to engage in real world relationships because of a low social stynding, economic hardship or whatnot.
AND very common in literature (if i remembet correctly) is, that mothers, who were technically caring for their children alone, due to an absent father (usually work related), look back at their motherhood time with frustration, regret and very little positive feelings. (It is very common for companies to shuffle employees randomly among their locations. People who own a house and live in tokyo with a family suddenly having to spend years in kansai or even abroad. Something that usually leaves mothers with a lot uncertainty and stress for hundreds of reasons). All that rubbed off on child generations who don‘t feel like fucking up another generation.
It has nothing to do with economics. That's an excuse. The child birth rates in japan is 1.3 and in finland it's 1.4. Poor countries always have the highest child birth rates. The birth rates in japan decreased immediately as womens got more rights and the idea of feminism was introduced. It's not possible to have feminism and high child birth rates.
I'm such a monkey brain. I legit thought that in order to solve low birth rates, was to promote an increase in sexual activity.
you increase wedding activity and kids pop out if you increase sexual activity HIV pops up and degeneracy
That's what hentai is for my guy
It won't work becauce people are scare to be in relationship and they don't want to be force to marry and have kid anymore becauce how much it cost to live that life
You can have people fuck all days it doesn't mean they'll want to make a child.
Within the context of starting families, yes, that is what is needed. And pushing women to all be career women is only going to make that unobtainable given Japan's terrible work/life balance.
"More immigration is the solution!" Not for people who don't want to see their country destroyed. That's not a solution, it's colonization. _Anyone_ who doesn't want to see Japan destroyed wouldn't even think of this for two seconds.
@@KikiKiki273 Right, what's having your entire society replaced in the face of budget shortfalls?
I could agree with you on letting people get into Japan more easily, but looking at UK, France, Germany and other countries that tried to let people more easily made those cities burn, increased crime and a lot of those people do not want to work at all, they simply want to suck out social.
So I am simply not surprised that they are reluctant to do the same stuff that European countries did to themselves.
The idea behind the Japanese government saying that they "will promote market reforms to maximize the employment of women, the elderly and others" is that, that will provide a secure working environment that will make Japanese people feel like they have the economic security required to have kids.
That in itself is not a bad idea and it will probably improve the birthrates by a bit (it might not actually improve them, but it will at least slow down their decline).
The Japanese birth rate problem though, is a lot more fundamental and it's deeply intertwined with the Japanese culture and is not something that will be fixed without the government making some big changes.
On another note, Japan could go for the approach that Canada has gone for and welcome more foreigners by making it easier for foreigners to get visas, appartements etc. They would also have to improve the average Japanese people's English speaking skills by making changes in how English is taught at Japanese schools, since that would promote more communication and understanding of the different cultures that exist in English speaking countries and in the west in general, as well as introduce Japanese people to the English speaking part of the internet which would also further promote more communication and understanding between cultures, which would in turn fix the xenophobic problem, at least to some extend.
Edit: 9:41 The 3.5 trillion yen (25 billion usd) is a sum of money that will be spent with the goal of increasing birth rates. Such an example would be giving more money to people that become parents, which is a thing that would make Japanese people see the idea of having kids in a more positive way.
I don't know if it's true because I don't live in Japan but from what I see online and youtube work takes up a large majority of a person's time over there, leaving little time to socialize or even attempt to form a relationship. If that's true, then even if you bring in more foreigners and they integrate into Japanese society they'll have just as little time outside of work as actual citizens.
It’s a complicated issue that can’t be summarised with one point. But a very important one, I’d say is regarding gender roles and expectations clashing with modern lifestyles. Both women and men are nowadays in the workforce, yet within a heterosexual couple it’s still expected for women to take the parental leave which will ultimately hinder the woman’s career prospects. So a lot of women prefer to stay childless.
A big part of it is also long work hours. Even if they increased wages it's not gonna do a damn thing to birthrates if you don't even have the free time to start a family. Cut down work hours, increase wages to compensate and give people the option to work from home. General changes to work culture also need to be implemented, it needs to be more flexible.
I think that helping women get back to work after having kids would probably be more helpful. I gave up after having two kids because the work culture is so strict and it's difficult to come in later and take days off. I think that Japan also treats single mothers like crap. They want more babies but they only want them from the "right" couples, eg a married man and woman who aren't too young and aren't too old. There isn't enough support for single parents, and many women feel too afraid to have a child outside of marriage.
single motherhood should not be encouraged.
So... again, the problem is irresponsable women... go figure... you sure like to copy american worst values uh
can i cheat with married japanese women who work at my workplace?
The problem with importing a foreign workforce is that they also have a tendency to get old, so at best you're just kicking the can down the road (and given global birth rate has been declining since the turn of the century the road itself is getting ever shorter). The government's proposal isn't a bad alternative - currently around 53% of the female population are employed (versus 69% for men) so if they can persuade more to join the workforce you get the same temporary fix without creating a bigger problem further down the line.
So what i hear is, u are about to start your Harem arc IRL and do your duty for your country
God speed sir
things will probably get better just give it time
when you hit rock bottom the only way is up from there
Look up demographic transitional model, look at the end which is more deaths than births, realise it will never get better.
As a wise man once said: “Fine, I’ll do it myself”
I'm one of those new foreign residents 😂 So far I'm loving my life out here in Japan, even if my language skills are much to be desired.
0:53 Joey needs to take some math classes lmao
Employing and bringing in foreigners is a short term solution, data shows that when the children of foreigners have children of their own it's usually in line with the native birth rate. Along side this the birth rates are dropping globally most countries in the industrialised world are below replacement, and they are dropping in the developing world as well, although they are still above replacement.
This is according to the data scientist Steven Shaw who gas been tracking this for a decade.
Uh Joey the only way to have children is between two Japanese nationals not some picking other foreign nationals marrying or to be engaged with someone. In Korea they are similar as well they are called interracial people who married a foreigner in which cased they are not strict of their government compare to Japan. Like I said before these three countries are not to be tainted with other foreign bloods to engaged with. They remained pure blooded as a citizens.
Most of the comments that want open borders are the ones who actually think diversity is a factual good thing. They're simply brainwashed by western propaganda. Majority of them just think for themselves.
Imo, they doesn't just side step it for the sake of sidesteppin' but more like it's because the "better solution" is "out of the question" with the old generations that reigns in governmental bodies sticking to their old beliefs and traditions (which is clearly outdated). And this problem plagues not only japan, but some other Asian countries like mine. Its a sad world we live in
I tried living in Japan several times but the work culture and the constant feeling of isolation made it difficult for me to stay. It's very sad because I love Japan and there were many aspects I loved but I felt like I would never truly be accepted there. I do think when these numbers are taken they tend to not include half-Japanese children who are born which really doesn't help the situation either. I do agree they should be more welcoming and accommodating to foreigners and also to their own citizens with measures such as paid maternity/ paternity leave if they don't already have these things in place.
A HUGE part of Japan's charm is its grip on history and lack of globalization. It is still Japan and not just another generic "everywhere" that happens to exist in a particular location.
Work life balance, single earner households, family support services (childcare, food/housing assistance, etc) and improved international trade would all help more than globalizing.
But I agree that more foreigners need to be accepted too. Possibly as high as 10% of the population for a while... But without compromising the history and culture that makes Japan its own place.
Employing more women would decrease the sausage fest that is work and possibly simulate a co ed school enviroment, but i have a feeling there will be a rise in another issue since its Japan. As for me if I meet no one during work I sure as hell will not go out of my way to go to public places in my free time to increase the probability of running into a potential love interest, im too damn tired of dealing with work and I want to stay home and rest.
What kind of work do you do ?
Healthcare in the US , but my comment on the sausage fest is pertaining to Japan. @@kairos_fluent
Don't most companies at the very least frown upon coworkers dating, if not outright bar couples from working together? Also, when will the wife have time to have kids if she's a career woman? Will you just have kids and hand them off to strangers to actually spend time with them?
I definitely think you guys need some sort of change to not just get you more free time away from the workplace, but to also get men and women socializing in person again.
Even with gender segrigated schools, I think there should be co-ed cross school clubs and events to help young people socialize and not fear the opposite sex.
all the Japanese people I know have met their partners thru 合コン's - not at work.
Employing more women is what causes Japan and other developed countries to have awful birth rates lol.