Japan's Growing Poverty Defies Glib Explanations
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Japan's Growing Poverty Defies Glib Explanations
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Re: Japan's Growing Poverty Defies Glib Explanations
#2Can't see why this would not happen to the rest of us as well as time goes along. Sure there will be basic income, but that does not mean that you won't be living in poverty despite getting it.
Re: Japan's Growing Poverty Defies Glib Explanations
#3Ah, Noah "I didn't get kicked out of academia for not producing research and being a low-brow blog hack, I left because SFO" Smith.
Re: Japan's Growing Poverty Defies Glib Explanations
#410 yrs of recession, or is it 20 yrs already?
Failure to compete in high-tech areas (when was the last time you got a mobile phone made in Japan)
Which is funny because Japan was very strong in the modern days of computing and videogames. What happened? My guess is that software got more complex and their vertical way of working is not productive for the complexity expected today
Re: Japan's Growing Poverty Defies Glib Explanations
#5Can't see why this would not happen to the rest of us as well as time goes along. Sure there will be basic income, but that does not mean that you won't be living in poverty despite getting it.
Yeah, stuff and food and automated services would be cheap, but real estate expensive. Like today, but even more so.
Re: Japan's Growing Poverty Defies Glib Explanations
#610 yrs of recession, or is it 20 yrs already? Failure to compete in high-tech areas (when was the last time you got a mobile phone made in Japan) Which is funny because Japan was very strong in the modern days of computing and videogames. What happened? My guess is that software got more complex and their vertical way of working is not productive for the complexity expected today
Japan has SERIOUS issues with NIH syndrome. They were on the cutting edge of technology when they led it. Not so much when it would require adoption from American and Chinese suppliers and service exporters.
Re: Japan's Growing Poverty Defies Glib Explanations
#7Can't see why this would not happen to the rest of us as well as time goes along. Sure there will be basic income, but that does not mean that you won't be living in poverty despite getting it.
Yeah, stuff and food and automated services would be cheap, but real estate expensive. Like today, but even more so.
Real estate, insurance, utilities, it all adds up. The living wage in many cities is at least 10/hr. Which means that just to pay for basics you need to get $1600 per month as a single individual. When they talk of basic income they never talk about money like that, usually around $700, just around poverty level.
Re: Japan's Growing Poverty Defies Glib Explanations
#8It's interesting that the author equates "Japan has very high labor force participation and low unemployment." with "No laziness or idleness here."
The Japanese workplace culture of the 'sarariman' who spends 14+ hours a day in the office, achieving almost nothing, is legendary.
Re: Japan's Growing Poverty Defies Glib Explanations
#9It's interesting that the author equates "Japan has very high labor force participation and low unemployment." with "No laziness or idleness here." The Japanese workplace culture of the 'sarariman' who spends 14+ hours a day in the office, achieving almost nothing, is legendary.
Japan has so many of these depressingly useless jobs - drive past any quiet street construction site at night and you'll see 3-5 people whose sole job it is to wave a light stick. The job isn't needed at all, the guy who does it makes peanuts, but that's what drives up labor force participation.
Re: Japan's Growing Poverty Defies Glib Explanations
#10"The survey compared the incomes of the bottom 10 percent of households with children to the average income of 41 countries who are members of the OECD or the European Union.
The income gap in Japan was found to be 60.21 percent, meaning the household income of the nation’s most underprivileged families with children was less than 40 percent of the average."
I'm not sure how to read this. Income gap be damned, what is the minimum livable income? There's a difference between being poor relative to one's peers and being too poor to afford housing / food / education.
I live in Tokyo at the moment. My experience (as a single person without kids) is that if one wanted to live frugal but happy-go-lucky life it could be done quite cheaply.
"The income of the poorest fell from about ¥902,500 to ¥840,000 during the same period, according to data compiled by Abe of Tokyo Metropolitan University"
So there are some numbers, but what is the cost of living and where? Moving from Tokyo to Osaka would probably cut my living expenses by 50% or more. What about living in a smaller Japanese town?
The cost of living disparity between major urban areas and rest of Japan is probably gigantic.